Woodshed... Done (New Wood-stack Pics added!!)

I know most people would have said to left the 2 sides off. BUT... I went ahead and put the sides up. I cut the Old boards off my old Horse fencing. Some pics of all of it together and others from when it had just the back on it..

I am only gonna store "Dry" Seasoned wood in it. I have 2 racks built and filled with mostly seasoned wood . 4 more "Rutland" Brackets are coming this morning (Wednesday Morn) The racks are 12' x 4.5' So each is a Half Cord. Will have 3 Cord in Racks and roughly 3 cord i the shed. I have almost 1,5 cord laying on the ground waiting for my racks.... I have barn out back 30x40 that I am gonna put a couple years worth into. (Barn can be seen in a pic)
Since we got rid of the horses, we have nothing back there in our Barn. That and I am going to do a Little Experiment. I am going to leave one cord In my Barn and Leave One cord outside. To see which has a lower M/C after 2 YEARS. Will Hopefully start this in about a month (Will start another thread and revert back to it fairly often for updates). But my barn has fans in it for the Horses. They were large "Dayton" fans to keep the horses cool. I figured with the heat of the barn and the wind from the fans, I could season wood "Faster" in my Barn. That's the reason for the Experiment anyways.

Here are my pics... Barn is in the Backyard. About 100 yards from house. Figure Its gonna be the best place to store the wood. Gonna try and get 4 years ahead or better this year. So it wont really matter if its indoors or out.

P.S.- Burning pellets too. So 4 years for me is about 2-3 good years for everyone else. Only plan on burning around 3 cord a year. Hence the 3 cord woodshed. 3 cord in stacks. 6 cord in Barn.. Anyone store and "Season" there wood 100% Indoors?????

Very nice, and I'll be interested to see the results of the experiment...

Wish I lived where I could build a shed , Small city lot That I have 1.5 cords on . Any more and the neighbors will yell

Wish the Mrs. would let me say bye-bye to our horses...so many things I could do with the barn.

I'm planning to build a woodshed this summer and I also plan to enclose 3 sides or at the very least have 2 sides with pull up tarps. I figure if the wood is already seasoned I don't need as much air flow, but I will provide some to keep the wood as "fresh" as possible.

The experiment will be interesting...barn should do a good job as long as there is decent air flow?

Good for you Dexter and we will be waiting for the report on the experiment. I love to see experiments like this.

Maybe you should start training the horses to pull out tree length firewood . . . although I am thinking Mrs. Muncybob might not appreciate you attempting to train them to do so . . . especially if they are not work horses.

It was best for our Horses. Not much riding and a lot of money/work.. 2 of the horses we recieved from the Cleveland Mounted Unit/Police Horses. My buddies Father used to be a "Big Shot" in the North Ridgeville or North Royalton police dept (Cant remember which one now). Either way, he had a contact in the Mounted unit when they were shutting down. We got TNT and Cody, Cody was the most beautiful and well behaved Tenessee Walker you had ever seen. Could fire a Pistol right between his hears, without a Blink.... I still miss him..... Ok... On with the Barn..

The barn has "High Sides". Was built that way by design for the horses. There is a 5" gap around the entire barn for air-flow and that grows to around 8" when you get to the doors, on the Front and Back.

There are 3 large Dayton 3/4 HP 36" fans back there. Im figuring on single row stacks, In front of the fans. Set the fans on a timer. So they only run for around 3-4 hrs a day/ or 1 hr at a time, for 3 or 4 times in a day? Not really sure. Was back there yesterday and realized that it had to be 10-20 degrees hotter in the barn than in the Sun. High Heat along with High Wind, should be interesting.

Either way, I have yet to start it. Still have to fetch my wood from the tree-line and fill my Woodshed. The Woodshed breathes better than one would think. All the gaps in it are 1" gaps. Some bigger, some smaller. Re-purposed boards, cant all be straight. Its right on the back corner of my garage. So the Westerly winds hit it, before it starts to bounce all around. Also left the top open, So air could could move up there too.

Great job Dexter.
I also enclosed all but the front on my shed.
You are not alone.

Was watching Norm build a "playhouse/shed" yesterday, and all I could think was......"I wonder how much firewood I could get in there?".

LOL...I hear ya..... Everywhere I go and Everything I do. I am on the "Look-out" for other peoples stacks and sheds. I thought I had it bad with the pellet thing..... My Wife loves that its cheap, but hates my obsession... LOL

Jake, you're right about what the Mrs would think on that! I think using my tractor would be safer for me...besides, horses would wonder what the heck is going on being in the woods w/o a saddle on

Dex, maybe you should start a poll to cast votes on which wood will reach 20% MC soonest? Perhaps you can have 2 indoor stacks??...one w/fan and another w/o? I too have fans in our barn but we are probably not the norm on that.

No, Prob not the Norm at all. . . If it were not for the horses, I would never had put them back there. I am pretty tempted to move one up to my Garage and leave 2 back there. They are big units. Move a lot of air. Again, still in its infancy stage. But its a great idea. Would never be wet, always have good circulation, and the HEAT during the Day. Forget about it.. . I am thinking it would dry Faster. BUT, Ya never know. Thats the reason for the experiment. Even if its a (I know, Not how we measure wood) a Rick, 1/3rd cord, or Face cord. One face cord outside. One Inside barn with Fan. Another inside with No Fan. Measure the M/C every 3 months for 1-2 yrs 4-8 measurements?? Still a ways to go, but would like to bounce ideas off of people?

Any thoughts from anyone?? Anyone else besides Jags done this? Curious... Some people have to do 100% Indoor storage.

Dexter,

I have been doing some kind of experiment for the last couple of years, comparing drying wood in & outdoors w/ & w/o a fan from my barn to garage. Here is what I would suggest.
First off, more important than a moisture meter, use a scale ~$12-20 (HF) & measure in grams. Then you always really know how much moisture your wood has lost. My moisture meter will vary by up to 15% on the same split depending on where I place it and as others have pointed out, you should use it on a fresh split each time which wrecks your sample for the experimental. You also know how the pieces compare with each other to start with which also affects how quickly they dry.

Your barn with its warmer temps will dry the wood very well with a bit of air movement. Even though you have the big fans, I would suggest you try it with just a small house fan. It will use a lot less electricity and you can keep it running 24/7. It also isn't likely to lower the temperature which will help keep the RH lower increasing your drying speed. In one week with fresh splits, you'll be able to easily measure the difference in drying speed between the two places especially if the barn temps are higher than your new shed and it's not overly windy outside. Constant high wind might favors the shed over the barn but probably isn't typical.

One thing to remember is that your wood will dry the fastest at the beginning (that is, lose more grams/hour) because the difference in its moisture content and outside conditions is greatest. This has the effect that as one pile gets ahead, the other seems to catch up when conditions are favorable. As far as procedure, I would divide the splits of the same rounds for the two different places and stack and weigh immediately. You can loose 10% of your splits starting moisture in a couple of days if conditions are right and they start out wet. So if the pieces are hanging around in uneven conditions for a couple of days, they won't start out the same.

Out of curiosity, I looked up Akron's weather for today and using the calc here http://www.dpcalc.org/ I show at 6 am your EMC is about 22 and at 6 pm ~ 8.5. If your barn adds 20 °F that would lower the EMC to around 5. This is why your wood dries mostly during the day and not at night and why with a bit (you don't need much) of air movement your barn will dry wood nicely.
But after 2 full years, there probably won't be much difference. My guess that after 2 months the barn will be ahead as long as you have some air movement.

On a side note your shed would work for the bottom rows if you put a vapor barrier (plastic) down beneath your pallets (same on the barn but not as important) as the ground will release a lot more moisture than your wood. Sorry if this advice is too late :cheese: I'll post results of my experiment so far on a new thread.

Wow is all I can say... Lots of info. Not to late at all. Just cut down an Ash this morning. Prob gonna use this wood for the experiment. (ash dries quick anyways). Thanks for the info. Gonna be looking forward to your Thread.

DexterDay, looks good but up in this area the roof would need more pitch because of the amount of snow we get in the winter.


Zap

I too think it should have more pitch. When I built it, it was my Dogs kennel, and we only had him in it, in the summer time. Northern Ohio gets a fair amount of snow. But if it ever got so bad, I could rake it off. Could still change it. Wouldnt take but a couple hours. But that would take away from my Wood Cutting and splitting. Doing an Ash now. Its HOT Outside, so I am taking many breaks. This is my last week on vacation then back to work.... Ugh

Well. I liked the racks sooo much.. I have bought more.. You can see from the pics above, that there has been a little work done in the last month.. Killed all the grass with Killz-all weed killer, Laid down River Rock and laid out Landscaping Timbers to keep the rock contained.. Thats as pretty as "Momma" is gonna get it. I do have to admit, it does look pretty good. Over time, I am pretty sure the bark falling off the splits/stacks will make it look messy. But its a road I will cross when I get there.. Now just gotta fill up these last 2 stacks (12ft long x 4.5 ft tall/ Half Cord per Rack. Still have over a cord of wood left from a guy i made a "Trade" with. So far I have got over 2 cord from him. Its all 2 years old. Some Cherry, Silver and Sugar Maple, and Ash. I was trying to Identify and stack accordingly when I got it home. But that was taking way too long. I have the Cherry contained in certain stacks.

I know that some say its a little over-kill. But the Ol'Lady wanted it to look good. So I made it look good.....

Looks great. A light pass with the garden rake will take care of the bark without disturbing the stone.

Yes I put green wood in shed and will never do it again , but I had no fans, that should help. My shed has spacing in side boards like yours and was brand new, just had to put something in it.

Great job,very well done.Never get tired of seeing nice orderly stacks of wood.

Thanks... Like I said, Some have said its Over-Kill.. But it makes the Wife happy.. She dont mind my "Wood Habits/Hobby" as long as its Not Ugly. I keep the Heat Cheap. That keeps her happy. Everyone that has seen it, has liked it.. My one buddy said "It Looks to Nice to Burn". I told him, it will be re-filled every year.. Garuanteed....

That and the neighbor next door just built a Gazebo and put up a pool. Right behind his house. . You can barely see it in the 4th photo from the left (1 firewood rack).. Its like keeping up with the Jones'.

I like how the propane tank sits right in the middle of all the wood. I can almost hear the firewood mocking it. Judging by the litany of biomass equipment in your sig, I doubt the propane man comes around much though.

Propane man comes once every 3 yrs. We only use it for Cooking purposes. Hiding the LP tank was another plus. That's the tank for my Garage/Shop. Almost 45 x45. Split in half. Half garage. Half Shop.. No LP furnace running in the Shop or the House. Love it.... $20 a year to "Rent" the tanks.