just moved houses and brought 10 cords of wood with me. Didn't have time to build a shed at the new place. Just piled it up on the grass and covered it with a tarp. Been getting lots of snow and rain lately so there's been quite a bit of moisture. Today I stacked it all on pallets and noticed a bunch of the pieces already had some white mold growing and some had a greenish mold. probably about 20% of the pieces were damp and maybe 5% total had some mold. I stacked on pallets and tarped all 4 sides of the stack. Will this cause any problems because of the moisture/mold and lack of air flow? I've never not stacked wood in a shed before. It is a red fir/tamarack mix. I keep about 2 cords at a time in my basement next to my stove which I think will help dry out anything that has gotten to much moisture. The rest will be outside buried in about 8 feet of snow (which is why I tarped all 4 sides) and will bring it inside as I need it.
Damp wood under tarp
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I think in Idaho you'd be better off letting some air get into the stacks. Cover the tops and allow the sides to breathe. You have relatively dry air out there, so let it do its thing and dry the wood.
hickoryhoarder
Minister of Fire
Yeah, cover the top only. Or let the top row of wood be the cover.
I cover my single stacks that can't fit into the "drying shed" with tar paper. It's cheap, and lets the wind and sun wick at your logs. Covering all sides caused your moisture problem. Keeping the snow clear of your stacks is better than covering all 4 sides with a tarp.
CheapBassTurd
Minister of Fire
Woody5506
Minister of Fire
If you can get spare pallets stack them on top of the piles preferably overhanging the sides a bit with a bit of slope to one side or the back. Then lay a tarp or some other water repellent material on top of the top pallet. This puts an air gap at the top of the stack so moisture can flow out while keeping snow and rain from soaking the wood again.
Paulywalnut
Minister of Fire
nrford
Minister of Fire
I see you are correct, my bad. If you live where you consistently get 8 Ft of snow, you should invest in a way to keep it clear. Otherwise, good luck keeping your stacks dry.
snow drifts around piles not on them. ive never covered the sides, we get serious snow and wind. just cant easily use tractor and stuff jan and feb, I keep the piles 10 ft from the door so its not such a pain trying to shovel to them when it gets to be feet
Thanks for the replies I'm just covering the top and will have to regularly remove snow until I get a shed built next year. Yes I moved every piece myself. My truck can fit 1.25 and I made 8 full trips and one small one. I've had enough for the year, split and stacked everything early summer, unstacked it into my truck, hauled it, dumped it in a pile, moved it and re stacked it. 
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