Anyone tried drying wood on black asphalt?

[ilovedougfir]

I just came into about 1/2 cord of mix Cedar/Maple. I split it pretty fine and laid it out on my asphalt driveway. Any chance this will be dry enough to burn this winter (Nov-ish)?

I dont really have storage to keep it another year, so hoping I can get it down below 20%.

Thoughts?

 

[clancey]

Sounds like a good idea to me but in your area I do not believe that you get a lot of sun but I could be wrong here for I do not know much about your beautiful state--maybe you get wind or something...Sounds good to me..I do not know if you could speed up the wood drying and they have portable kilns out there that store wood and dry them...Just another idea here..clancey

 

[stoveliker]

You'd have to take it away with any rain as the rain won't dry from between the wood and the asphalt. Many, many time moving the wood....
I know from having a pile on my driveway for a while. Pieces touching the asphalt remained soaked (dripping).

Make a single row stack (2*4 on blocks) in the sun (possibly at the edge of the hot asphalt?).

 

[hickoryhoarder]

I stack all of my wood on an asphalt driveway (much lower volume than the rest of you, and a big driveway). And spread out pieces that need help. It's all on top of pressure treated 4x4s. The spread out stuff dries very fast.

In November I bring the pieces I'll burn the next three weeks and lean them individually against the stone siding in the sun, under the soffit. That works well too. I split kindling in December and cross stack it in the sun under the soffit. That's good for faster seasoning. I put it in the driveway stacks in March, and it's ready next November.

 

[stoveliker]

I stack all of my wood on an asphalt driveway (much lower volume than the rest of you, and a big driveway). And spread out pieces that need help. It's all on top of pressure treated 4x4s. The spread out stuff dries very fast.

In November I bring the pieces I'll burn the next three weeks and lean them individually against the stone siding in the sun, under the soffit. That works well too. I split kindling in December and cross stack it in the sun under the soffit. That's good for faster seasoning. I put it in the driveway stacks in March, and it's ready next November.

Yes, the crucial point being not on the asphalt itself as in the pic. But on 2*4s. Either on blocks or not - I found moisture creeping up through stringers that were directly on the asphalt so I used blocks under the 2*4s

 

[coaly]

Since covering the black asphalt creates reflection instead of absorption, I would lay parallel stringers in the center of the black area and cross stack with air space around each piece. Top cover with anything rigid that will overhang as much as possible. That way the hot air created by heat absorbed and reflected from the asphalt around it moves through it as much as possible.

 

[Simonkenton]

That's a good idea. Never heard of it, on the other hand I have a dirt driveway. Seems like it would dry if you made space where the sun was hitting the asphalt in between firewood sticks.

 

[stoveliker]

It won't if it touches the asphalt (or ground). I've had wood on asphalt in the sun. Where it touches it will remain wet.

 

[Bad LP]

Wood does not completely dry without full air circulation. If it’s touching the ground it stays wet.

 

[EbS-P]

So… the driveway may give you more solar collection area but the sun isn’t hotter because it’s on asphalt. Once it’s all covered with wood the black absorber now isn’t doing anything. Using the driveway as an absorber /collector for a solar kiln may improve drying. In the end for the quantity you need to heat full time unless you have lots of stave and time, You might be ahead to to just get a pallet of compressed saw dust bricks. And stack all of it for the next winter or two. Burning wet wood sucks. Takes all the fun out of it.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I just came into about 1/2 cord of mix Cedar/Maple. I split it pretty fine and laid it out on my asphalt driveway. Any chance this will be dry enough to burn this winter (Nov-ish)?

I dont really have storage to keep it another year, so hoping I can get it down below 20%.

Thoughts?

View attachment 280591

stack the wood... the asphalt under the wood is not heating, rain will wipe away and gain your getting.. you could do a quick kiln to get it down, do it tomorrow with clear plastic it may be able to burn if you get on it

 

[ilovedougfir]

Thanks for all the insights! @Clancy Western WA (Seattle area) used to have pretty mild summers, but of late it has been HOT, SUNNY, and not much rain. Everything everyone says here makes sense. I am going to keep running my experiment just to see what happens. Just 1/2 a cord. Hard to justify going to too much work for that. I'll come back here after I pull the wood in for the rainy season and update what moisture reading I got to.

Side note: One small adjustment I did make based on feedback here was I spaced the wood out a little so more of the asphalt was showing between logs. Not a ton of space, but hopefully enough to suck in some heat.

 

[Highbeam]

We've always had very nice summers in WA but we had some record hot days this year. Yes, it is dependably sunny for most of the summer here. Pretty dry compared to you inland folks and very comfortable. Don't tell anyone though, we're trying to keep them out! Oh and our heating season starts next month for 9 months. During that 9 month stretch it is grey, dark, drizzly, muddy, and pretty awful.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

We've always had very nice summers in WA but we had some record hot days this year. Yes, it is dependably sunny for most of the summer here. Pretty dry compared to you inland folks and very comfortable. Don't tell anyone though, we're trying to keep them out! Oh and our heating season starts next month for 9 months. During that 9 month stretch it is grey, dark, drizzly, muddy, and pretty awful.

We usually start the 2nd week in October. So we have like 7 weeks before fire time.. trust me.. I cant wait..

 

[Highbeam]

We usually start the 2nd week in October. So we have like 7 weeks before fire time.. trust me.. I cant wait..

This year is odd, it might be later than usual.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

This year is odd, it might be later than usual.

Ill open the windows and make it cold in the house if I have to.. just to get my fire fix

 

[ilovedougfir]

Soooo..... the conclusion is.... after 2 months of letting the wood sit on the asphalt (and making my best effort to cover with a tarp when it rained) I threw in the towel on this experiment. The wood hardly dried. I started in the 60% range and only dropped about 10%. I feel like I get better results in my run of the mill wood rack.

Anyway thanks for all the insights and suggestions.

 

[stoveliker]

Do you have data for the same wood load but stacked on your racks?

10% in two months is not crazy imo for wood that is that fresh/green in summer. It could be that it did as well as on your racks...

 

[ilovedougfir]

Do you have data for the same wood load but stacked on your racks?

10% in two months is not crazy imo for wood that is that fresh/green in summer. It could be that it did as well as on your racks...

I should have done a comparison... but I didnt. I was magically thinking that some how green wood put in enough sunlight and heat would dry in 60-90 days. It was a pretty hot and dry summer here and the results were that that it dried pretty minimally (-10 to 15%). I think my expectations (or hopes) were just unrealistic.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I should have done a comparison... but I didnt. I was magically thinking that some how green wood put in enough sunlight and heat would dry in 60-90 days. It was a pretty hot and dry summer here and the results were that that it dried pretty minimally (-10 to 15%). I think my expectations (or hopes) were just unrealistic.

making a kiln will change the atmosphere inside the kiln.. as the aire heats up it makes the air drier.. speeding up the process.. the constant air movement through the kiln helps strip the moisture out of the wood.. air move up through the bottom and out the top if set up correctly.. in 60 to 90 days you wood could have been about the 15% moisture content range.. you could do as little as a half cord to 3 cords in one shot..

 

[Hap Shaughnessy]

Im in Wa too Key Peninsula and stack all my wood on plastic pallets since the ground gets and stays wet here for months. Used to use wooden 2 x 4s but they sank a bit in the dirt and moles came up between them pushing the ground up on the wood. Ever since the switch to plastic pallets the wood dries faster as air can get under the stack and keeps it off the ground plus the plastic pallets dont rot or absorb water like the wood ones do. I throw tarps on top during the rainy months basically 9 months a year here. Just my thought.

 

[Caw]

Here in MA my stacks are in a pretty ideal location. They are top covered, western facing so they get prolonged afternoon sun exposure, and get hit with the prevailing winds. I double stack them with an 8" air gap connected by a few branches for stability.

I like to split to reasonably small sizes for easy loading (like 3-5") so I'm able to season some of the softer hardwoods in one season like red maple, cherry, or standing dead ash. Red oak, even if standing dead at 30% and split, still takes a full 2 seasons to be ready. This is all under about as ideal conditions as I can get around here outside of a solar kiln.

The bottom line is it just takes proper planning and time. The only way to really rush it is with a solar or traditional kiln. That's why you always see all of us here yelling at the new people posting just thinking of getting a stove in a year or two to get started on their wood stacks now!