Darn snow on firewood all the time

[colsmith]

Not having a woodshed and living in WI, I have the recurring problem of having snow on my firewood. I am getting really tired of brushing off most of my firewood with my snowbrush. I have my wood piles covered with tarps, mainly just on the top although generally hanging a few inches or more down on all sides. But it snows all the time (about every four days since Dec. 1) and it snows a lot. A foot today, although that is exceptional even for here. Although the wood is on pallets, that puts some of the wood well below the snow line. Then it is windy and drifting, so snow gets all over the wood, especially on the bottom and sides of the pile, even right under the tarp sometimes.

I know everybody says a little snow doesn't matter, but it is also cold enough in between snowing sessions that often it doesn't get the opportunity to melt off. So I have been brushing the snow off the wood before I pile it on the porch or bring it into the house, but I am TIRED of that. Any great advice on what to do about all this snowy wood? I am thinking that next winter I will say the heck with the advised method and cover more of the sides of my wood piles. Hubby talks about building a woodshed, but he is a procrastinator, and for me the garden shed I have needed for years has to come first (or be a combination purpose building.) So without a woodshed, what are we snowy clime people supposed to do?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I use old tarps that are no longer fit to cover the boat.

Matt

 

[rickw]

Grab a split in each hand and smack them together, gets loose snow off pretty easily. Re the woodshed, I'm using covered woodpiles (pile with a real roof). It works much better than tarps and wasn't too difficult to build.

 

[savageactor7]

Because of time constraints this year I didn't stack my wood...

...I piled it high using the bucket in a long row about 30' long then put a hasty tripod made with saplings at each end. Then I connect the tripods with a long sapling at the top...about 7' off the ground. then using 2 tarps I covered the wood secured with bits of line...so in effect my our wood is in a long tent.

You can't get away with this cob job everywhere but everyone that has seen it is amazed...it's dry in there and I can stand up in there with the wheel barrow with no problem.

the benefits are the wood is away from my house about 30' and so are the critters that hang in them...and I save all that time stacking.

One of the downsides is that when it warms up it get muddy in there. So I use my lacrosse boots to wheel the wood out to the back door...then slip into my slippers moving the wood to a stand in our house. the stand holds about 3- days of wood. also I have to remove the snow from the sides of the tent.

Next year I'm going to make up a 'gambrel' (barn) style frame and tent that over to eliminate snow removal an enable me to stand up near the sides.

So Some Like It Hot if you live out in the country something like this might be for you.

 

[billb3]

Cover the side of the pile.

Remove side cover when the horizontal rain is gone.

 

[Wolves-Lower]

I know what you mean. Of course it has been a good year for snow, especially in the Midwest.
How come you don't have tarps that cover the whole woodpile?

One of my first investment when I started burning wood was a good canvas tarp. A big one at that.
Eventually even I tired of knocking the snow off the tarp to get to my wood.
I built a wood shed and it has been great.

Cheap designs are out there, build it yourself and get motivated!

 

[woodconvert]

"Any great advice on what to do about all this snowy wood?"

Move a lot closer to the equator
I hear ya bro. Tarps are not the best solution but are a pretty good bang for the buck. I guess the next best step would be bigger tarps that do cover the sides all the way to the bottom of the stack.

 

[Henz]

I use old metal roofing. I think its the best for covering piles with..I have 12" of overhang on each side and about 15" on each end..works really well..

 

[woodzilla]

Same problems here. I just tarp the entire pile top to bottom. I tie a small piece of wood to grommets at corners to hold down and to throw corner of tarp up for fetching or the occasional airing out. The wood is consumed before it ever comes close to going south.

 

[Jags]

Marcia,
The concern with not having the sides covered is only an issue when you are trying to season the wood or possibly long term storage. It allows for more air circulation and for moisture to escape. When the cold weather hits and the snow is a blow'in, GET THAT WOOD COVERED. Bring the tarps all the way to the ground, or darn close. As others have stated, secure it with small pieces of rope and tie it to a split at the corners and on the sides. This allows for easy access to the wood pile without messing around too much and keeps that darn snow off of it. This ain't the season to worry about drying out wood ;-P

At the end of the burning season, if you have any wood left, bring the tarps back up the sides so that no additional moisture will collect under the tarp.

 

[gyrfalcon]

I know everybody says a little snow doesn't matter, but it is also cold enough in between snowing sessions that often it doesn't get the opportunity to melt off. So I have been brushing the snow off the wood before I pile it on the porch or bring it into the house, but I am TIRED of that. Any great advice on what to do about all this snowy wood? I am thinking that next winter I will say the heck with the advised method and cover more of the sides of my wood piles. Hubby talks about building a woodshed, but he is a procrastinator, and for me the garden shed I have needed for years has to come first (or be a combination purpose building.) So without a woodshed, what are we snowy clime people supposed to do?

Well, the lazy man's solution (that's me!) is to let the snow melt off inside the house. Takes a few more days then to dry out, but it's the easiest way to deal with it. I got several extra-long plastic boot trays from Gardeners Supply and I loosely stack my several days' inside supply of wood criss-cross on those. Snowmelt drips into the boot tray and evaporates pretty quickly.

 

[hfjeff]

I'm in the same boat you are and grumbling about it. I have an 8' overhang on my house where the roof extends on the east side. Unlike years past, this year I constantly have to brush off the snow (we had 16" officially on Wed). I then bring it in the house and spread it out on the hearth before burning. It does help but is kind of a mess and doesn't burn near as well because it is still damp.

 

[colsmith]

Evidently I misunderstood about not having the tarps covering the sides of the woodpile, always read that was a no-no. I don't cover most of my wood piles in the summer at all, unless for some reason I feel inspired and we are going to have tons of rain. We have a lot of sun and wind, which more than makes up for the summer rain we get. We cover the piles all up in the fall.

Having something hang over the sides a foot like the roofing someone mentioned, that wouldn't do any good here. We have really assertive snow. My front porch is about 8 feet deep, yet it is all the time snowing against the far inner wall, I have to keep my wood there buttoned up tight in a tarp. And the wood pile is about 4 feet tall, starting against the back wall, yet it snows up and over the back of it all the time. Do the geometry, still 4 feet up after going 8 feet in, my snow is basically horizontal, lucky me. We do have a lot of tarps, fortunately Menards has them free with rebate a lot and we have a large number of them. And we had recently started the tying a small piece of wood to the corner grommets. Also my brother liberated a giant tarp that someone was throwing out, good condition and enormous, he gave it to me. I have it folded into thirds this winter, but will have it all spread out next year. Live and learn!

 

[Genex]

An idea I have been considering is get an old defunct vehicle from a scrap yard and filling it with wood. Probably a largish van. In summer leave it in the sun leaving the windows open half an inch at the top to let the moisture out - probably needs a few holes drilled in the floor pan to faciliate air through put. In winter close the windows.

 

[cmonSTART]

Genex, now that is a cool idea, except my wife would have a cow if I started parking junk vehicles in our yard.

 

[marky_mark896]

Genex, I'd reconsider that. My wife's grandmother had an old bus parked out on their property for 30 or so years. That's what they used it for. It was a snake haven, and then after her husband died, and we had to clean up and remodel the house for her, we had to have it hauled away. Major PIA IMO.