Crushed Stone or Process in Firewood Shed???

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M

Mike.O

Burning Hunk
Dec 20, 2017
166
..
14x27 firewood shed going up in a week or so. Sonotubes are in the ground. Was considering getting a tri-axle of material delivered. What do you guys find is best for the "floor" of the shed. (Just a roof with slatted spaced sides).

I'm leaning towards process because I think I will be happier with a tight pack of material vs loose stone. I'll place pallets on the stone when stacking. I also think the process will clean up much easier.

Which will have less weed growth?

It's back in my woods so looks isn't too important.

Thanks,
 
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QP will pack nicely and can be a little more resilient to a quick blow off or racking to keep the bottom area clean, but 3/4 crushed is great for drainage to, but it will eventually fill up, unless you put a tarp down in the most heavily traveled area's when stacking or re-filling.
 
EODMSgt said:
I put three-quarter stone down in mine ten years ago and stack right on top of it (no pallets). Haven't had any real issues. A couple stray weeds once in a while and the bottom layer sometimes is a bit damp but otherwise it has worked great.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/just-another-wood-shed.175486/
Click to expand...
Really nice. Exactly the look I'm going for.

kennyp2339 said:
QP will pack nicely and can be a little more resilient to a quick blow off or racking to keep the bottom area clean, but 3/4 crushed is great for drainage to, but it will eventually fill up, unless you put a tarp down in the most heavily traveled area's when stacking or re-filling.
Click to expand...

Exactly my thoughts. I had visions of the 3/4 crushed stone filling up with firewood debris and becoming a mess.

I just ordered a tri-axle of 3/4" process. Delivered Monday. Didn't realize how much it would cost. $20 /ton. Almost $500 a load. Should more than cover my shed base with 6-8" and have a little left over for misc. driveway stuff.
 
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Mike.O said:
Exactly my thoughts. I had visions of the 3/4 crushed stone filling up with firewood debris and becoming a mess.
Click to expand...

I've heard others mention this however after ten years of constant use, I haven't noticed any problems with the 3/4 stone. Once a side is emptied, I use a leaf blower to get rid of the majority of debris left over from the previous stacks. I opted to not put pallets down because to me, they invite more debris. They may help for ventilation to the bottom layer of firewood however any pallets I've ever used here just fill up with leaves, acorns and critters. Might be situationally dependent on where you live and what surrounds your shed. If I were to do it over, I would add another bay and go with a saltbox roof.
 
EODMSgt said:
I've heard others mention this however after ten years of constant use, I haven't noticed any problems with the 3/4 stone. Once a side is emptied, I use a leaf blower to get rid of the majority of debris left over from the previous stacks. I opted to not put pallets down because to me, they invite more debris. They may help for ventilation to the bottom layer of firewood however any pallets I've ever used here just fill up with leaves, acorns and critters. Might be situationally dependent on where you live and what surrounds your shed. If I were to do it over, I would add another bay and go with a saltbox roof.
Click to expand...

What's the benefit of the salt box roof for a wood shed? I'm a novice.
 
SpaceBus said:
What's the benefit of the salt box roof for a wood shed? I'm a novice.
Click to expand...

Saltbox-style has a small roof for the front and a long sloped rear roof so there are two reasons for me. First (and main reason), if I added a third bay to mine, to keep an ideal peak for snow load the roof would be way too high in its current configuration. Second, snow would mainly dump off the back instead of the two sides.

The only drawback for me would be that I removed the rear slats so I can load/unload from both the front and back. (Keeps it much simpler for accessing the most seasoned wood and I don't have to rotate stacks anymore.) With a saltbox roof, it would be doable to access from the back, but a bit more of a PITA.

Here's an example:

6x14-woodbin-natural-pine-siding-fire-wood-shed-kit-rhode-island.jpg


Of course you could just go with something like this:

wood-shed-.jpg
 
Mike.O said:
Really nice. Exactly the look I'm going for.



Exactly my thoughts. I had visions of the 3/4 crushed stone filling up with firewood debris and becoming a mess.

I just ordered a tri-axle of 3/4" process. Delivered Monday. Didn't realize how much it would cost. $20 /ton. Almost $500 a load. Should more than cover my shed base with 6-8" and have a little left over for misc. driveway stuff.
Click to expand...

Don't just toss the processed into the holes and expect it to stay in place. It WILL just blow right out. The area needs to be scarified to at least the depth of the potholes.
 
EODMSgt said:
I've heard others mention this however after ten years of constant use, I haven't noticed any problems with the 3/4 stone. Once a side is emptied, I use a leaf blower to get rid of the majority of debris left over from the previous stacks. I opted to not put pallets down because to me, they invite more debris. They may help for ventilation to the bottom layer of firewood however any pallets I've ever used here just fill up with leaves, acorns and critters. Might be situationally dependent on where you live and what surrounds your shed. If I were to do it over, I would add another bay and go with a saltbox roof.
Click to expand...

That is what mine is going to be. Saltbox style. 3, 9' bays. 14' deep. Front overhang maybe 3' x 3'
 
Dug and poured my sono tubes last week. Ordered all my materials last week, but am still waiting on the metal roof to come in. Lumberyard would only deliver once, so I went down today and picked up all my posts and 2x10s. Basically all lumber under 16'.

Truckload of process is coming Monday, so looks like that will be waiting until the roof is done. Too much bracing in the way now.

Posts are set and braced. Need my 16' rafters to continue, but my truck isn't really setup to transport 16 footers, so I'll be waiting till the roof delivery comes in.

Thinking I'll use some inexpensive PT deck boards spaced out for the sides.

Should hold 5+ cords per bay.
IMG_2310.JPG
IMG_2308.JPG
 
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mcdougy said:
What's your front and rear height? What is roof joist size...2x8 ?
Click to expand...

To the bottom of 2x10 beams (Lowest clearance point):
Back - 6'8"
Front 10'2"

Roof rafters will be those heights plus 10"... So Back is 7'6" and front is 11'0" to the bottom of the rafters.

It is very high in the front. I did consider lowering it 6 - 8" after I set the 2x10's to lower the roof a bit, but I'll just live with it. I guess higher is better than lower.
 
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