Close call at the woodshed

[begreen]

I just had a bit of a heart stopper. This is the first year that we've used the new wood shed. The front rows are 8' wide x 8' tall. We've gone through our first row of wood and I was out getting a fresh cart load. As I was bending down loading the very bottom row, I heard a creaking sound, a bit like a falling tree. Fortunately, I didn't keep working, but literally jumped backward about 3 feet which was enough to just miss getting clobbered by the entire next row keeling over right on top of the cart and where I was just standing. It would have cold conked me for sure and in these temps it wouldn't take long before I was a popsicle!

Bummer, but no harm done and the cart was filled up instantly. Our property slopes slightly so it looks like I will have to load the rows leaning slightly backward from now on. And when I remove wood I will need to remove the top 4 feet, then start removing from the top of the next row. Be safe out there with those new wood sheds and big, tall wood stacks.

 

[fossil]

Wood shrinks as it seasons...what was a stable arrangement when you stacked it can become unstable as the wood changes size/shape. Sure glad you jumped outta the way, BG! Rick

 

[begreen]

Funny, my wife had this sort of disappointed look when I told her :roll:

 

[Jags]

I can picture BG dancing around falling logs to the "Mexican hat dance" song. :lol:

Thats a quick way to load the cart. Glad nothing permanent came out of it.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

8' is beyond my ability to stack reliably.

 

[LLigetfa]

What does the shed have for a floor? I stack my wood 9 feet tall by 10 feet wide and the ends are cross-piled so they have no lateral support. I've never had a pile topple over sideways but I have had a cross-pile on one end let go. My shed has a concrete slab floor.

Cascading your rows is probably a good idea. One time when I built 10 foot tall stacks in my roundtop shelter on long logs laying on a gravel base, I cascaded the rows mainly so I could reach the next row by standing on the row in front of it which was the reverse of how I laid them up. I'm sure if I hadn't layered, that I might have had a row topple.

Glad you escaped unscathed.

 

[Shari]

Close call! Glad it missed you and you seem to have invented a new way to fill your cart fast!

I clipped the bottom corner of one of our face cords the other day when I was plowing the driveway and adjacent sidewalk. My stack is still standing but a couple of pieces got pushed out on the bottom. I think only ice is holding my stack together.

Shari

 

[RedRanger]

Good to hear that you escaped unharmed BG.

A small miracle considering how this recent horrible cold spell is making us numb out here on the West Coast.

 

[begreen]

8' is beyond my ability to stack reliably.

Yes, and that might have had something to do with it? It's just the front most rows that are this tall. The row height decreases with the sloping roof.

What does the shed have for a floor? I stack my wood 9 feet tall by 10 feet wide and the ends are cross-piled so they have no lateral support. I’ve never had a pile topple over sideways but I have had a cross-pile on one end let go. My shed has a concrete slab floor.

Cascading your rows is probably a good idea.

No floor, just palettes, which I leveled out. By cascading do you mean alternating split direction per layer? That may be a good way to prevent this.

 

[begreen]

I can picture BG dancing around falling logs to the "Mexican hat dance" song. :lol:

Thats a quick way to load the cart. Glad nothing permanent came out of it.

No time for dancing, imagine about a 2000 pound wall collapsing about 2' in front of your nose. Happened too quick to think. It was one of those 'o sheet' moments for sure.

 

[savageactor7]

Good thing you got out of the way...sounds to me like you're more than a little familiar with collapsed wood rolls. And that would be reason #27 I pile wood instead of stacking it. You can pile way higher than stack and the interlocked pieces are almost landslide proof. Good heads up BeGreen

 

[Dix]

BG, glad you're OK.

And stay warm Although dodging those splits must have warmed you up some !

 

[LLigetfa]

By cascading do you mean alternating split direction per layer?

No, I mean taking from the top of the second row when half of the first row is depleted.

Another trick is to salt in a few double-length pieces to lock the rows together. I do that on my cross-pile ends.

 

[begreen]

Good suggestions all. I will heed them. This is the first time anything like this has happened to me. It was odd, my body just took over and protected itself. There really wasn't anytime to think about it. It's good to know those reflexes still work after all these years.

 

[cityevader]

My stacks are only seven feet tall and ten feet wide under a tarp-style carport/woodshed.

One early morning about 3 am and couldn't sleep, so headed out with a cup of tea to bond with my woodpile in the full moonlight. I was at the entrance to the carport, and heard a noise like leaves sliding down the roof. Turned around the moment it CRASHED and felt like an earthquake. Two rows toppled over!

Now I use a hanging string to define vertical, and when stacking, every 20th piece or so gets overlapped between two rows to mechanically tied them together. Also, I never deplete a full row before starting the next. It was hard enough to stack it much less remove from it! Get it down to where I can just step up on the first row to reach top of second row easily.

 

[sgcsalsero]

Part of my first Holz caved in on itself, but that was b/c I was tugging on a piece frozen to several others while in the dead of night while the entire top was covered with roofing shingles. With shrinkage, freezing, stumbling around in the dark, etc. ... I think row (or Holz) 'minor' collapses are a right of passage to know if you are a committed pyr--- er uhm -- wood burner.

 

[raybonz]

I just had a bit of a heart stopper. This is the first year that we've used the new wood shed. The front rows are 8' wide x 8' tall. We've gone through our first row of wood and I was out getting a fresh cart load. As I was bending down loading the very bottom row, I heard a creaking sound, a bit like a falling tree. Fortunately, I didn't keep working, but literally jumped backward about 3 feet which was enough to just miss getting clobbered by the entire next row keeling over right on top of the cart and where I was just standing. It would have cold conked me for sure and in these temps it wouldn't take long before I was a popsicle!

Bummer, but no harm done and the cart was filled up instantly. Our property slopes slightly so it looks like I will have to load the rows leaning slightly backward from now on. And when I remove wood I will need to remove the top 4 feet, then start removing from the top of the next row. Be safe out there with those new wood sheds and big, tall wood stacks.

Kinda scary and luckily you reacted as you did! My stacks are only 3' or so tall but I am thinking of increasing that to 5'.. Being all oak that's alot of weight and at the very least a trip to the emergency room if that topples on you.

Glad you have cat instincts!!

Ray

 

[LLigetfa]

Now I use a hanging string to define vertical

Whew! I was starting to worry that I had OCD.

I used the back end of my canvas roundtop one year to store three courses of 20" splits, 12 feet wide at the base and 10 feet tall. The sides sloped so it would take a bit of math to calculate how many cord it was (~2.5). My 12 cord wood woodshed was full that year so I used the roundtop for overflow, not wanting to leave Birch outside. It was three years before I got to that wood but it was very well seasoned despite the limited airflow. ISTR the pile shrunk about a foot in height.

If you are well ahead of the game, a roundtop makes a good woodshed despite the limited airflow. I set mine up off the ground on those green stamped steel fence posts, so it gets some air underneath and I cut a vent into the rear panel.

 

[ansehnlich1]

All my wood is stacked outside and I don't stack it that high, maybe 5 feet at most.

HOWEVER, I stack 3 rows wide and always place a 2x4 about 3 feet high and lateral across the rows every 8 feet or so, I even screw it in to a split in each row, that takes care of anything fallin' over

Dang good thing ya got outta the way, or BeGreen woulda BeenBruised!

 

[LLigetfa]

Dang good thing ya got outta the way, or BeGreen woulda BeenBruised!

or BeBlack and BeBlue! :bug:

 

[sgcsalsero]

I used the back end of my canvas roundtop one year to store three courses of 20" splits, 12 feet wide at the base and 10 feet tall. The sides sloped so it would take a bit of math to calculate how many cord it was (~2.5).

Could you please explain what a canvas roundtop is, or point me to a thread if already covered, thanks

p.s. I guess BeGreen will BeCareful more... (ok had to join in)

 

[LLigetfa]