Gale Force Winds

[Craig S.]

Heavy wind/rain storm here last night, blew the tarps off my stacks. Didn't think it was possible, but the tarps must have turned into a sails ... had heavy (I mean heavy) bluestone holding down the tarps in at least four spots. Top few layers of wood pretty wet now. Will have to dig a few rows down in the stacks for tonight's wood. Just the ends are wet, should burn ok anyway.

What do those of you who don't cover your stacks do in this situation? Probably have some of the wood brought in ahead of time, right?

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

I lost a tarp over my shoulder wood pile. I'm not too worried, this wood is meant for the upcoming spring burn. My other top covers are all doing ok (so far).
My current wood supply is on the covered porch, all comfy cozy under the roof.

 

[Jags]

Surface moisture is not a big worry. It will dry quite quickly even on a new startup. Maybe use a little extra kindling than normal. You should be just fine.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

When we did cover with tarps, we always kept plenty of wood on the porch so that we did not have to go to the wood pile when we needed wood; especially during and after a storm.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Do you have any type of covered porch that you can put a few days worth of wood on, I have a section on my back deck that holds about 2 weeks worth of dry wood or me, it works out great, no wood indoors too....

 

[Paulywalnut]

For the first time in a while I covered about ten of my stacks with plastic. They're as wet as my uncovered stacks.
The rain yesterday and today was heavy and windy, but I'm not going to worry about it anymore. Once wood is seasoned
the surface water will burn right off. I do bring a few large wheelbarrow loads into the shed when we know a storm is coming.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

and today the drying begins...we have 15 mph winds sustained. That will help put a dent in the drying process

 

[velvetfoot]

I used an electric stapler to staple down 6 mil plastic on a pile on the driveway, and it held up in the wind. I've taken some wood off an end and put a wheelbarrow against that end. I was kind of testing the concept, figuring it would be easier to broom snow off the top without splits in the way.

 

[osagebow]

I had some roofing tin with rather large uglies on it sail on me in that storm. Like Oslo, that was my spring stack. My other stuff is in the shed. I did bring a lot into the basement for that storm,, barkless locust and some clean mulberry without knotholes. Funky stuff that might hide hibernating widows stays outside until burned.

 

[Ralphie Boy]

I guess I'm a rebel without a cause...or brain? I don't top cover at all. About mid to late September I bring about a cord and a half up to the rack on my covered lower deck. There it faces the sun and winds most of the day. When my supply gets down to about 3 weeks worth, I bring up the replacement wood. If the replacement wood is wet with surface moisture it will dry in nothing flat. No chasing tarps or sheet metal for me.

 

[trguitar]

I never top cover. But, I do have a screened porch. In mid-October or so we bring all the porch furniture inside and I load up the porch with 1 or 2 cords, and then refill when necessary. I'll always refill right before a big snow storm, because I really don't feel like wading through all the snow to get to the wood piles. Just open the sliding glass door to the porch, and fill up the tote. It's worked out well.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

I never top cover. But, I do have a screened porch. In mid-October or so we bring all the porch furniture inside and I load up the porch with 1 or 2 cords, and then refill when necessary. I'll always refill right before a big snow storm, because I really don't feel like wading through all the snow to get to the wood piles. Just open the sliding glass door to the porch, and fill up the tote. It's worked out well.

How tall is your covered porch? My covered porch is 7 steps up from ground level. I also load my porch with wood, about 2-3 cords.

 

[Ralphie Boy]

How tall is your covered porch?

9 feet from deck floor to the bottom of the upper level joists and add 10 inches more for the space between the joists. The length is 11 feet; I had to shorten the 2x6's I used for the base of my rack by a foot to fit and be stable.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

9 feet from deck floor to the bottom of the upper level joists and add 10 inches more for the space between the joists. The length is 11 feet; I had to shorten the 2x6's I used for the base of my rack by a foot to fit and be stable.

What routine do you use to getting the wood up onto the covered porch?

 

[trguitar]

My porch is fairly good size about 15' x 20'. At the apex of the roof it's probably 15' high, and the screen walls are about 9' feet, maybe. It's about 3 feet off the ground, though, so no storing wood under it. But, that makes it fairly easy to bring wood onto it.

The stacks are about 30' away, so I just fill up the wheelbarrow and roll it over to the door, prop the door open with a big split, and pile everything on there.

I also collect dropped tree branches from the yard during the year (mostly red oak), so I have a huge pile of kindling in the middle of the porch. That stuff is awesome for kindling!

I could easily fit more than 3 cord on there, but I'm scared of overloading it.

I think I may actually throw a top cover on the wood on the porch this year before a snow storm. If we get a big storm the snow blows right through the screens and covers the wood. If we get a good storm (12"+) there will usually be an inch or so of snow that blows onto the porch. Not a huge deal, but I may try that this year.

 

[Ralphie Boy]

What routine do you use to getting the wood up onto the covered porch?

A Kubota BX 2660 with an Ohio Steel 12.5 cu. ft. polly ATV cart attached. My wood piles are either 400 yards down the hill or 400 yards up the hill from my home. I drive to the lower deck, back in position and dump the cart and 3 trips later I'm stacking the splits in my rack. I need to make extensions for the sides of the cart so I can carry more and make fewer trips. I don't worry too much about snow or rain blowing on to the wood because my Buck 80 works well for me, although I do sometimes have a problem with the cat getting hot, I've not figured that one out yet, so in 24 hours I'm only burning 12 to 14 splits so the 6 or 7 splits on my hearth are always dry. Even though we have a little snow on the ground now, burning season is generally not as cold or as long as it is for our Hearth friends in the great frozen Northeast and Northern regions.

 

[eclecticcottage]

We don't top cover, and keep about a day's worth in the house. Once it's in the stove it's dry pretty quick if it isn't dry after sitting in this low humidity house for a day, lol.

 

[Ruby Gilmore]

I already have one of the strongest freestanding greenhouses on the market. Of course I did not built it, I bought it from http://envirotechgreenhouse.com/gale-force and its so strong that these gale force winds do not affect it at all. Even though there is snow on the ground now but its still keeping up. I really appreciate the greenhouse

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That is good to know Ruby. I have heard some others say good things about that company. Thanks for posting that and welcome to the forum.