Degradation of stacked but uncovered hardwoods?

[mcdougy]

I fully understand that top covered wood is the best route.......but....

How long can you leave HARDWOODS (ash,oak,maple) not covered before a notable amount of degradation of wood quality has set in?

Can one leave it in the stacks uncovered for 3 years Then move it into a 2 year (10 cord) supply woodshed that is used for the current and next year burn? Therefore, spending its last 2 years under roof.

I am lucky enough to have a approximate. 5 year supply of CSS wood and will easily stay at this level moving forward. I don't really want to put wood sheds everywhere (looks and feel it's a unnecessary investment) and tarps seem like a PITA.

With a wood program like this will my wood quality suffer significantly from spending its first 3 years exposed to the elements not top covered or be just fine?

 

[begreen]

If you can keep it off the ground it should work for a lot of hardwoods. Top covering will help. It should be ok with maple, oak, hickory, hedge, etc. but I would not do this with alder, aspen, poplar, cottonwood, birch, etc.

 

[mrc]

I cut my wood and store it in metal baskets. By spring each year I always have 2 years supply. Never cover it. End of August wood for that winter is moved under cover. Ash , maple, cherry, and hickory. No problem with it.

 

[johneh]

As long as it is stacked off the ground with air circulation
under the stacks, it will last indefinably

 

[peakbagger]

IMHO Stacked but uncovered wood piles do deteriorate far quicker than covered stacks. My former wood supply was another lot where I did most of my cutting in winter and did not have access until summer when the woods road dried out. I usually laid down a few sleepers to get the wood off the ground but other than making sure the bark faced up, no cover. There was not a major impact for one season but in couple of situations I had to leave the pile for a two winters and I noticed the wood was deteriorating faster. This was especially noticeable on 3 deep stacks but I even saw it with two deep stacks. I eventually went to single row stacking and then got my own wood lot. I now cut and haul rounds so they only sit in the woods for 6 months tops over a winter and then when its split at home its under cover up on pallets. The wood deteriorates far less with a cover. Without a cover snow ends up on top and then during warm days the water runs down into the stacks and refreezes at night.

The person who now is cutting wood for his own use at the lot I used to cut at, cuts splits and stacked by did not fully cover his wood two or three years ago and he is encountering punky wood. I have no doubt if had covered it with an air gap on top that would be far better shape.

Old roof tin is great stuff and my plan is to use it over at my woodlot, which could become a future homesite, so I am going to leave it there in the woods to season until I decide if I build or not. Its going to go up on pallets and will end up with some sort of roof on top of a pallet set on top of the pile. The top pallet ensure and air gap to let out moisture from the stack. It dries much quicker with vertical air flow.

 

[mrc]

I’ve been carrying a 2 year supply(18 cords) for the last seven years uncovered. The only punky wood I’ve had was wood that was sketchy to begin with. I do cut some like that sometimes. Never had fresh solid wood get punky after two winters uncovered. I have covered it in the past but it was a lot of work. I’ll never go back to that.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

We laft a 7 cord cube uncovered for about 2 years. The wood is still good, but there are areas that stayed wet after rain and grew some mildew/fungus. Otherwise it's fine.

 

[mcdougy]

I do currently have these 2 deep stacks sitting g on pallets, keeping the wood "up" off the ground.

Maybe I should consider a larger wood shed that will hold at least 15 cord.
I suppose I can stack very tight and 6' to 7' high as the wood will be well on its way to be seasoned if it spends the first 2 years out in the elements and then potentially 3 years under roof.

I am planning on taking down and moving a horse run I shelter that I built for my dad to use as the new outdoor storage. I believe it is IIRC 12' x 24' with a salt shaker roof and 10' sidewalls.

Until now I had been throwing fresh cut and split wood inside my barn and then stacking it. The wood (Ash) seasoned fine indoors within 2 years but getting it back out of the barn to bring to house seemed a wateful effort. With a shed outdoors I plan to pull up my atv and trailer and be done with it much easier. I can stack aprox. 2/3 of a cord on my covered back porch and be done with hauling for a month or better to feed the stove.

 

[cahaak]

I have a similar backlog of supply and have three years covered in my shed. What I do with my extra, outside wood is I leave it during the summer where it does get rained on and then dries and I tarp it all up and cover it in the winter so the whole thing stays dry. In the latter part of the spring when I get to processing again, it gets uncovered and stacked in my shed. I find that most of the moisture damage occurs when it gets wet and can't really dry and snow is bad for this with thawing and melting. So that outside sitting wood finally gets burned four years later, which is nice because it is all bone dry by then.

 

[Eman85]

Good wood like oak and locust will keep a long time uncovered and be good quality. The thing that seems to damage uncovered wood the most is leaves. I have a stack that gets leaves from a big oak. The leaves deteriorate and hold rainwater on the wood causing damage.

 

[mrc]

This is how I handle mine. It would take a lot of tarps! Covered before with 20‘ long sheets of corragated fiberglass. Big job to do and no matter how I did it it was trouble in a big wind. I’ve eliminated all the stacking and restacking.
At the end of the second summer the baskets are moved under cover with my tractor. I have Hearthstone stoves so I would know if there was a problem with the wood. They don’t like wet wood.

 

[mcdougy]

This is how I handle mine. It would take a lot of tarps! Covered before with 20‘ long sheets of corragated fiberglass. Big job to do and no matter how I did it it was trouble in a big wind. I’ve eliminated all the stacking and restacking.
At the end of the second summer the baskets are moved under cover with my tractor. I have Hearthstone stoves so I would know if there was a problem with the wood. They don’t like wet wood.

View attachment 306081

This is what I have going on currently with the stacked wood out in the elements....I plan on the wood shed in the same general area. It's a pretty windy spot with all day sun and feel tarps or sheet metal may be a tough task to secure long term. Thats about 10 cord stacked on pallets and the start of this year's harvest. I cut and process in the winter.

 

[mrc]

One year I had about 20 baskets covered with the corrugated fiberglass and then put concrete blocks,tires, and 6x6 blocks of wood on top. Wind blew it off. Used ratchet straps to hold it down one time. All of it was a lot of work. I got in to wood burning later in life. I quickly figured if I was going to continue to burn wood I was going to simplify everything I could. Stacking,moving,stacking again,covering,uncovering,restacking after stacked wood fell over,recovering after covering blew off. I’ve eliminated all of that and am happy I did!

 

[Stinkpickle]

I have uncovered wood older than that, and it’s fine. I just keep it off the ground and out in open air.

 

[mcdougy]

I have uncovered wood older than that, and it’s fine. I just keep it off the ground and out in open air.

Do you have it stacked on pallets? If so do you have any trouble with your stacks tipping over with the multiple freeze thaw cycles and frost? This will be the 2nd winter for the stacks I started placing last year and I wonder about them falling over even if stacked well.

 

[weatherguy]

We laft a 7 cord cube uncovered for about 2 years. The wood is still good, but there are areas that stayed wet after rain and grew some mildew/fungus. Otherwise it's fine.

Same here, I have a cord of oak and hickory that was covered until the wind blew it off, after three years most of it is good but I had some punky. I really should have made sure it was top covered, but I didn't stay on top of it. I have is stacked on pallets which helped quite a bit I'm sure.

 

[Stinkpickle]

Do you have it stacked on pallets? If so do you have any trouble with your stacks tipping over with the multiple freeze thaw cycles and frost? This will be the 2nd winter for the stacks I started placing last year and I wonder about them falling over even if stacked well.

I stack it on old cinder blocks or bricks and scrap 2x4s. The stacks get wobbly as they dry, but I keep them under 4 feet high and have only had a few topple.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I fully understand that top covered wood is the best route.......but....

How long can you leave HARDWOODS (ash,oak,maple) not covered before a notable amount of degradation of wood quality has set in?

Can one leave it in the stacks uncovered for 3 years Then move it into a 2 year (10 cord) supply woodshed that is used for the current and next year burn? Therefore, spending its last 2 years under roof.

I am lucky enough to have a approximate. 5 year supply of CSS wood and will easily stay at this level moving forward. I don't really want to put wood sheds everywhere (looks and feel it's a unnecessary investment) and tarps seem like a PITA.

With a wood program like this will my wood quality suffer significantly from spending its first 3 years exposed to the elements not top covered or be just fine?

If your sitting on that much wood.. Id do 1 of 2 things
A... build a wood shed or
B.. Just build a permanent roof structure to put it all under..

This is why.. It sounds like your having to move the wood twice.. your stacking it.. then moving it into a shed to dry.. thats way to much work, also your wood will degrade some and babysitting sucks. The people that process like myself, I work hard for that wood and BTUs Im not letting any of that go to waist.

I have both, sheds and roof.. the roof has 3 cords stacked under it , 2 splitters and a skidsteer that we use for processing at the house.. The object is to keep the wood dry for as long as possible without losing any BTUs and never having to touch it until its ready to burn and have the wood ready to burn in 18 months

 

[lml999]

I've got some two year old unsplit oak that was not properly stacked. It sat on the ground, in a pile, under a pine tree. It's got some fungus growing on it. I've restacked it on a pallet, out in the open, and am wondering if it will ever be usable in the stove.

 

[Eman85]

I've got some two year old unsplit oak that was not properly stacked. It sat on the ground, in a pile, under a pine tree. It's got some fungus growing on it. I've restacked it on a pallet, out in the open, and am wondering if it will ever be usable in the stove.

It's wood, why wouldn't you burn it? Fungus burns

 

[peakbagger]

Oak is a preferred wood for growing mushrooms. Folks buy plugs inoculated with mushrooms spores and insert then in holes drilled in oak logs. The log are left in damp shady places and the mushrooms feed off the nutrients in the wood which is part of the heating value of the wood. The mushrooms usually start sprouting the fruiting bodies (the part of the mushroom life cycle you can see) when there is a rapid change in the temps. Put the logs in a dry place and the mushrooms stop growing.

 

[Sawset]

This is what I have going on currently with the stacked wood out in the elements....I plan on the wood shed in the same general area. It's a pretty windy spot with all day sun and feel tarps or sheet metal may be a tough task to secure long term. Thats about 10 cord stacked on pallets and the start of this year's harvest. I cut and process in the winter.

View attachment 306084

Looks similar here. The oldest here is from 2017-18. Mostly oak with some others mixed in. Sunny, stacked 3 deep, no cover. I haven't noticed degradation from the weather. Woodchucks from below, that's maybe understandable and another story. Been through covering with tarps (tears and rips), tin (heavy, not enough to cover it all, one hole concentrates all of it). Finally got lazy and left it all to the weather and found that even when snow covered and rained on, it didn't take long to steam and bake the surface moisture back off. I bring in this years supply under cover during the typical August drought. So far wood stays heavy and dry. Splits have a nice dry ring when brought in.

 

[lml999]

It's wood, why wouldn't you burn it? Fungus burns

Well, if it's wet and punky, I won't burn it. Right now it just has fungus on the outside. It doesn't really look burnable now, was wondering if proper stacking/covering will recover it.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

It will dry it out so you can burnt it, yes. We have done the same.

 

[Woody Stover]

I've got some two year old unsplit oak that was not properly stacked. It am wondering if it will ever be usable in the stove.

You may want to scrape the punked sapwood off with a hatchet, but the heart will still be good.