green wood delivery on snow-covered lawn

[MegoryInVermont]

I am about to order a few cords of green wood. It will be dumped as close to the lean-to wood shed as possible but this means it will have to be stacked in there within a month since I am having solar installed very soon and the conduit pipe must be dug right where the pile will be. My question is, since I will need to have a guaranteed log-free section come digging time, what tarp (or equivalent) would be best to lay down before the logs are delivered? I am assuming correctly I believe, that a tarp will prevent the logs from attaching themselves to the earth via freezing. If they freeze to the tarp, that should be easy to haul away when I get down to the lowest layer of logs.
I think.....
There really are no other available areas besides this one spot that will soon have to be free of debris by late March in order for digging to happen.
Any advice would be lovely, thank you.

 

[all night moe]

Most likely, the tarp will freeze to the ground. I'd have it dumped without the tarp. Any that freeze to the ground can be knocked loose with another split of wood or hammer.

 

[MegoryInVermont]

thanks so much. This is a load off my mind!

 

[Montanalocal]

Best thing to do is put a couple of “sleepers” down first crosswise, for the rest of the logs to rest on. That way only they will touch the ground. If your deliverer is unloading with a crane, that should be easy to do. If they are just dumping, then putting a few pieces of scrap lumber down first would be a good idea.

 

[all night moe]

Best thing to do is put a couple of “sleepers” down first crosswise, for the rest of the logs to rest on. That way only they will touch the ground. If your deliverer is unloading with a crane, that should be easy to do. If they are just dumping, then putting a few pieces of scrap lumber down first would be a good idea.

Oh, I somehow thought split firewood was being delivered.
Yes, sleepers are the way to go for logs....

 

[peakbagger]

An unsolicited comment on your upcoming solar install. Make sure the installer puts in a surge suppressor on the main house panel. Much of VTs power system is rural and power quality can be very poor especially in winter. Old rural power systems, solar farms and grid batteries can make things worse. Inverters are very sensitive to power quality and the guarantees usually exclude damage from surges. I lost an inverter from a strike on a nearby power line before I installed one. I now have a good quality surge suppressor on the main panel and highly recommend doing so. The model that is very popular in the solar field with a good reputation is a Midnight Solar SPD https://www.midnitesolar.com/productPhoto.php?product_ID=601&productCat_ID=23&sortOrder=1&act=p . It installs on either the main house panel or the line side tap (if they do not tie the inverters to main panel). If its an array remote from the house, I recommend a second DC SPD at the array to protect the house from any induced voltage coming in from the array or nearby strikes. Nothing protects from a direct lightning strike but a SPD may protect from a nearby strike. A good SPD will pay for itself if it avoids one incident and if your power ever blinks that has potential to take out an inverter (and other random electronics in the house)

BTW, back to the wood, in order to dig, the ground has to be thawed unless the contractor has a big rig and wants to make a big mess. Ground freezes from the top down and freezes more in areas that are clear of snow. The difference in frost depth between a yard covered with snow and a nearby driveway can be a couple of feet of frost. Piling wood on the ground acts as an insulator, although snow melting on top of the pile can run down and case the base to freeze. In this case tarp the top of the pile until you process it. The alternative is to get some hay bales and line them up over the area where the trench will go then cover the top of the bales with plastic so the snow doesnt not melt on top and refreeze. Ideally the width of the hay should be at least the depth of the trench and a bit extra will be better. When I had big construction projects that got delayed into winter in nearby northern NH, if at all possible, we would lay out hay and it saved a lot of time and frustration.

 

[BillBurns]

I agree. Put down a few smaller logs or pallets. They are free around here. Keeps it off the ground, which could wick the water up into the upper logs.

 

[MegoryInVermont]

Oh, I somehow thought split firewood was being delivered.
Yes, sleepers are the way to go for logs....

yes, it was split firewood delivered. I put down nothing.

 

[MegoryInVermont]

An unsolicited comment on your upcoming solar install. Make sure the installer puts in a surge suppressor on the main house panel. Much of VTs power system is rural and power quality can be very poor especially in winter. Old rural power systems, solar farms and grid batteries can make things worse. Inverters are very sensitive to power quality and the guarantees usually exclude damage from surges. I lost an inverter from a strike on a nearby power line before I installed one. I now have a good quality surge suppressor on the main panel and highly recommend doing so. The model that is very popular in the solar field with a good reputation is a Midnight Solar SPD https://www.midnitesolar.com/productPhoto.php?product_ID=601&productCat_ID=23&sortOrder=1&act=p . It installs on either the main house panel or the line side tap (if they do not tie the inverters to main panel). If its an array remote from the house, I recommend a second DC SPD at the array to protect the house from any induced voltage coming in from the array or nearby strikes. Nothing protects from a direct lightning strike but a SPD may protect from a nearby strike. A good SPD will pay for itself if it avoids one incident and if your power ever blinks that has potential to take out an inverter (and other random electronics in the house)

BTW, back to the wood, in order to dig, the ground has to be thawed unless the contractor has a big rig and wants to make a big mess. Ground freezes from the top down and freezes more in areas that are clear of snow. The difference in frost depth between a yard covered with snow and a nearby driveway can be a couple of feet of frost. Piling wood on the ground acts as an insulator, although snow melting on top of the pile can run down and case the base to freeze. In this case tarp the top of the pile until you process it. The alternative is to get some hay bales and line them up over the area where the trench will go then cover the top of the bales with plastic so the snow doesnt not melt on top and refreeze. Ideally the width of the hay should be at least the depth of the trench and a bit extra will be better. When I had big construction projects that got delayed into winter in nearby northern NH, if at all possible, we would lay out hay and it saved a lot of time and frustration.

Thank you SO MUCH for your input. I will do a search with the suppressor words of the many documents I received about my solar install to see if that is included.
Wood has arrived. Nothing was put down on the ground because I was in bed with flu!
Yes, they are bringing the big diggers to handle frozen ground (that was my first question to them when they said they'd begin digging in March!) and I do expect it to be quite a mess. But I guess I had to take what I could get for scheduling since they are a very busy company.