Building a portable-garage style wood storage solution

Here is my woodshed that I built here in the North Carolina mountains. This little shed is 8 x 12 feet.
It is a little building, but it holds an unbelievable amount of wood.
It holds 20 Nissan pickup loads of wood.
I built this building against the prevailing wisdom of wood shed construction. No ventilation. This shed gets sunshine all day, the little shed heats up. Water vapor leaves the wood and passes through the plain pine walls, and floor.
I am getting hickory to 17 percent in 8 months.

Nobody on the forum believes that you can dry wood without ventilation. Follow me, Grasshopper, and build a non ventilated woodshed, follow me and you will attain wisdom, and, you will attain dry firewood.

NoobTube said:

I live in suburbia on a roughly 3/4 acre lot. I have a fenced in garden that I don't use for gardening, rather I store my wood in there. I currently stack and then cover with tarps my cord wood, on top of some left over lumber and composite decking material.

The area is roughly 24x16. I was thinking about doing one of those portable garage canopy things to make it easier to store wood in. I figure i could keep the sides off it in the summer to promote good drying.

Anyone done this? I've seen some of those hoop-house ones, but I'm a little worried about snow-load being here in the North East. I am open to suggestions here.

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You are right to be worried about snow.

If you can keep the snow from accumulating on top, no reason this won't work. Expect only a few years of service out of the cover, but most allow you to replace just the cover and reuse the frame.

You probably only need the top year round.
They sell purpose built ones for this, that allow for greater light transmission, and are intended to accelerate drying time.

I have the same plan, I have the materials but not the time. I'm building a 10' X 16" wood port. Its doesn't look that hard to do just need a little time.

Simonkenton said:

View attachment 241133

Here is my woodshed that I built here in the North Carolina mountains. This little shed is 8 x 12 feet.
It is a little building, but it holds an unbelievable amount of wood.
It holds 20 Nissan pickup loads of wood.
I built this building against the prevailing wisdom of wood shed construction. No ventilation. This shed gets sunshine all day, the little shed heats up. Water vapor leaves the wood and passes through the plain pine walls, and floor.
I am getting hickory to 17 percent in 8 months.

Nobody on the forum believes that you can dry wood without ventilation. Follow me, Grasshopper, and build a non ventilated woodshed, follow me and you will attain wisdom, and, you will attain dry firewood.

Click to expand...

Simon,

If the sole covering of the woodshed is board and batten then I think that characterizing it as being without ventilation is perhaps an overstatement. It may well have an ideal amount of ventilation. After living in a board and batten clad cabin for two winters I would say that unless one takes extreme steps, the level of ventilation is substantial. The shed has excellent over hangs, is nicely elevated up off the damp ground, has a nice solar collector of a dark roof and is loosely sealed enough and vapor permeable cladding to allow substantial air as well as vapor both in and out of the unit. I bet the interior heats up nicely on any sunny day and creates a substantial stack effect drawing air from cracks in the lower wall and venting it via the hupper wall portions as well as any unsealed areas at the eaves. It doesn't take a 20mph wind to carry the vapor away just a slow steady movement.

Hugh

NoobTube said:

Thanks for the replies all. I spoke to a builder friend of mine and he told me to run away from the portable garages. He used to use them for storage of some of his heavy equipment and other items on his lot. He said he got really tired of clearing snow off of them after 2 of them caved in, not to mention the replacement of the tarp material.

He recommended building something. But for the cost to make it look right, my wife put the kibosh on that. I think what I'm going to do is take the garden area and level it out, put down some weed protection, and put down some rock, then bring in some pallets. I'll stack higher (around 6 feet) so I can have a walk-way down the center between the stacks, then just buy a big tarp and cover it all in one shot. I should be able to put the less seasoned stuff towards the back and the more seasoned towards the front. I think in this configuration, I can get around 8 cords in there.

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Sounds like where I am. Cheapest and easiest way to go in the short term.

Perhaps you can scavenge enough building materials over time to mitigate the cost. I've found everything I need except the roofing materials. Would love to find some old corrigated tin, but that's hard to find in these parts.

A properly built board and batten structure is virtually air tight. I can't speak for the one you have.

Simonkenton said:

A properly built board and batten structure is virtually air tight. I can't speak for the one you have.

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Do you caulk under the battens?

Do I recall you have some ventilation around the soffit area?

No caulk. Boards and battens attached with 3 inch screws, lots of 'em.
No ventilation around the soffit or anywhere else.

Like I said, nobody on here believes you can dry wood without ventilation.

Simonkenton said:

No caulk. Boards and battens attached with 3 inch screws, lots of 'em.
No ventilation around the soffit or anywhere else.

Like I said, nobody on here believes you can dry wood without ventilation.

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I believe you. Looks like you built a wood solar firewood kiln. I suspect the water collects on the underside of that metal roof and slides right down and out. Or moves through the wood boards some how. But however it's working, it's working. Sometimes bucking conventional wisdom yields great results.

NoobTube said:

Thanks for the replies all. I spoke to a builder friend of mine and he told me to run away from the portable garages. He used to use them for storage of some of his heavy equipment and other items on his lot. He said he got really tired of clearing snow off of them after 2 of them caved in, not to mention the replacement of the tarp material.

He recommended building something. But for the cost to make it look right, my wife put the kibosh on that. I think what I'm going to do is take the garden area and level it out, put down some weed protection, and put down some rock, then bring in some pallets. I'll stack higher (around 6 feet) so I can have a walk-way down the center between the stacks, then just buy a big tarp and cover it all in one shot. I should be able to put the less seasoned stuff towards the back and the more seasoned towards the front. I think in this configuration, I can get around 8 cords in there.

Click to expand...

For the cost of a portable garage you can build a structure with a roof. I bought some 4x4s my roof is 3 10 foot pallets and some deck blocks to hold the 4x4s. Haven't thought if roof material yet, might just buy some metal roofing to cover the pallets. I spent a few bucks on Simpson connectors for the 4x4s.

weatherguy said:

For the cost of a portable garage you can build a structure with a roof. I bought some 4x4s my roof is 3 10 foot pallets and some deck blocks to hold the 4x4s. Haven't thought if roof material yet, might just buy some metal roofing to cover the pallets. I spent a few bucks on Simpson connectors for the 4x4s.

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It's the roofing that runs the cost up. And very hard to find scavenging.

Simonkenton said:

A properly built board and batten structure is virtually air tight. I can't speak for the one you have.

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Hook up a blower door on that shed and see how air tight it really is You'd be amazed how much air flows through the small gaps.especially if it's constructed of rough-sawn lumber.

As you can see I have a great deal of board and batten on the log cabin that I built. It is there in large amounts on the gable ends.
Also there is a dogtrot that is 14 feet long with 9 foot high walls, all framed and board and batten. Rough-sawn white pine.
If the board and batten were not tight against the cold winter wind, I would not have used it. All boards and battens are attached with 3 inch screws. These screws keep the boards and battens completely tight.

Water vapor condensing on the ceiling and dripping off is not what happens. My woodshed works because water vapor passes through walls. My floor is at least 16 inches above the ground, and it is also pine. The woodshed sets in the sunshine all day long, this makes the walls dry and warm, and it heats up the shed and the wood in it, water vapor is released from the firewood, and it passes through the walls and floors. Believe me it works and I get hickory to 17 percent in 10 months.

Nice cabin, when did you build it?

Simonkenton said:

View attachment 241199

As you can see I have a great deal of board and batten on the log cabin that I built. It is there in large amounts on the gable ends.
Also there is a dogtrot that is 14 feet long with 9 foot high walls, all framed and board and batten. Rough-sawn white pine.
If the board and batten were not tight against the cold winter wind, I would not have used it. All boards and battens are attached with 3 inch screws. These screws keep the boards and battens completely tight.

Water vapor condensing on the ceiling and dripping off is not what happens. My woodshed works because water vapor passes through walls. My floor is at least 16 inches above the ground, and it is also pine. The woodshed sets in the sunshine all day long, this makes the walls dry and warm, and it heats up the shed and the wood in it, water vapor is released from the firewood, and it passes through the walls and floors. Believe me it works and I get hickory to 17 percent in 10 months.

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Ok, passes through the walls. Knew it had to be getting out somehow.

Did you mill all that rough cut pine yourself, or have a local source? If you are buying it from a local source, is it a good deal compared to lumber of similar dimensions from the big box home improvement stores?

Simonkenton said:

View attachment 241133

Here is my woodshed that I built here in the North Carolina mountains. This little shed is 8 x 12 feet.
It is a little building, but it holds an unbelievable amount of wood.
It holds 20 Nissan pickup loads of wood.
I built this building against the prevailing wisdom of wood shed construction. No ventilation. This shed gets sunshine all day, the little shed heats up. Water vapor leaves the wood and passes through the plain pine walls, and floor.
I am getting hickory to 17 percent in 8 months.

Nobody on the forum believes that you can dry wood without ventilation. Follow me, Grasshopper, and build a non ventilated woodshed, follow me and you will attain wisdom, and, you will attain dry firewood.

Click to expand...

8x12x9ft high would be about 6 cords.
3 pickup loads per cord times 20 would be about 6 cords.
I bet in in the summer with sun on it in NC, it gets very hot inside. Ever put a temp gauge in it to see?

So I built this for kids to climb on, but I’m thinking about another only make it 8x12 Instead of 8x8. It’s 10’ 4x4s for the verticals and 8’ for the horizontals screwed together with 8” timberlocks. Made two sides on the concrete driveway then stood them up in to holes and then then added the two top horizontal pieces. The right and left sides have horizontals sitting on found under the mulch. Modifying for a pitched a roof would be easy enough as would lattice sides to look good. I will probably just level the ground best I can then add heavy plastic vapor barrier and stack on top of treated 2x4s. I looked at wood shed plans and at lot of materials went to making a floor to support the weight. I’m all about fast and cheap and this fit the the budget and time to construct.

Evan

EbS-P said:

So I built this for kids to climb on, but I’m thinking about another only make it 8x12 Instead of 8x8. It’s 10’ 4x4s for the verticals and 8’ for the horizontals screwed together with 8” timberlocks. Made two sides on the concrete driveway then stood them up in to holes and then then added the two top horizontal pieces. The right and left sides have horizontals sitting on found under the mulch. Modifying for a pitched a roof would be easy enough as would lattice sides to look good. I will probably just level the ground best I can then add heavy plastic vapor barrier and stack on top of treated 2x4s. I looked at wood shed plans and at lot of materials went to making a floor to support the weight. I’m all about fast and cheap and this fit the the budget and time to construct.

EvanView attachment 241211

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Very similar to my design, mines 8 x 12, I bought some metal tiles that attaches the 4x4s, makes a strong bond.

My house is 2 log cabins joined together. First one I built in 1996. Did the addition 3 years ago. Joined with a 14 foot long dog trot that is 12 feet wide. Dog trot framed with 2x6 all board and batten, inside and out. I did all the work, cut the dovetail notches with a saw and big chisels etc.
The board and batten is rough sawn white pine I got it from the local sawmill.
I bought the white pine logs from the same sawmill, they saw a 15 inch log so that it is 6 inches thick, left with the bark on top and bottom, and then I cut the notches.

I know what y'all mean about board and batten letting in the breeze, I have seen buildings like that. Built with nails. Obviously I could have used paneling.
But I like the look of board and batten that is why I used 3 inch decking screws to attach all the board and batten. These screws don 't back out they don't move at all.
Up on top of this mountain in NC we get 50 mph wind in the winter, blows all night at 20 degrees, if you don't have a tight house, you are gonna need a bigger wood stove. Or two.

I have a 10x20 carport converted by adding stockade fence to the sides,rear and front with an opening with 10' aluminum roofing sheets on the top. Some small leaks but OK, holds about 6 cords.