How best to remove wood during burning season from a tarped stack of wood

[velvetfoot]

From the ends or down the sides?
If down the sides, easy to load in wheelbarrow, but then tarp doesn't cover sides of wood, unless long to begin with.
If from the end, maybe harder to load?

This is the stuff I think of as I think of alternatives to stacking in garage.

 

[LLigetfa]

When I had tarped stacks I put long poles on top of the stacks and then the tarp over the poles. That way I could remove the wood from the middle leaving the cross-piled ends to hold up the poles and tarp.

Tarp doesn't need to cover sides, only the top.

 

[velvetfoot]

I like that idea, although I'm thinking snow might be a complicating factor.
On a drive today, I saw some stacks about 2-3 pieces wide, covered with a permanent cover with a peaked roof, what looked like 4x4 posts, and slats with spaces on the back. While my description isn't too good, it looked real nice and seemed practical

 

[LLigetfa]

Snow was never a problem. I just knocked it off when it got too built up. My stacks were three rows deep.

 

[velvetfoot]

Mine are 3 deep as well. A permanent cover would be nice, so that there's space above the wood.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

A simple broom works very well for a quick clean of snow from top of wood pile.

 

[Slow1]

last year I didn't cover my pile until about half way through the winter. I figured there wasn't much point as I could always just knock the snow off... that is until i realized the snow would melt on top of the pile, trickle into the wood and freeze! I had a couple sections that were more like block of ice than anything at one point. Of course it doesn't help that the pile is between two driveways and snow gets thrown in the general direction (i.e. right onto the pile half the time).

So, I covered it with a couple mattress bags (heavy plastic) that I happened to acquire at Christmas time. I stuck a couple splits inside the plastic bag corners and basically tossed the bag over the pile and then would lift the weighted edge to pull the splits out - much easier than digging for splits each time I needed them. I worked from side to side, front to back of the pile, but staggering the layers so that the cover ended up with a good slope most of the time and thus shed the snow load.

This year I have a much larger pile sitting there, it is a lot taller as well - a serious cube. I plan to cover it again (earlier than last year - before the first chance to get ice build up I hope), but don't yet know if it will be a tarp (default if i don't get time) or something more rigid as I would prefer to do. I'd like to run some 2x4s across the top somehow to at least make a frame to staple a tarp to make a sort of a roof if not put better material on top. I wonder if I could get away with this rigid cover being supported by the wood itself for much of the season then just have the front held up by some poles to make a temporary lean-to as the pile is used up....

 

[velvetfoot]

I've been thinking (too much) about what to do with my wood stacks as well.
I like the idea of getting the top cover above the wood, for condensation as well as ripping.
But, the addition of staples would create a bunch of holes that might be enlarged by the weight of snow or rain on this flat plastic.
I think it would have to be sloped. There wouldn't be any standing pools of water as well.
Since we are just covering a pile, we don't need any side supports to lean the wood against, all signs would point to one of those portable garage tent things.
Except in my case, I'd want a long one about 5-6' wide.

I'm thinking too much about this stuff.

 

[Slow1]

You aren't the only one thinking too much about this.

Since my stack is in a highly visible spot - basically in front of house between my and my neighbors driveway I don't want whatever solution I go with to be too unsightly. Compounding this is that I don't want it to look anything like a shed in case someone wants to pull a "zoning issue" complaint on me since it would in now way clear the required offset from property lines. So... back to the temp cover thoughts... I have another couple months to come up with this years plan right? Then change for next year and improve every year after that... Part of the fun of this 'hobby'

EDITED to correct - 'yard' to 'driveway'

 

[LLigetfa]

You could make your own hoop cover. Drive in a bunch of T-bar posts, say every 3 or 4 feet down the two long sides of the stacks. Cut lengths of poly pipe to form half circle arches to slip over the posts. Fix them with hose clamps.

 

[velvetfoot]

My ground is rocky, but that's a good idea.

 

[Wet1]

So, I covered it with a couple mattress bags (heavy plastic) that I happened to acquire at Christmas time... This year I have a much larger pile sitting there, it is a lot taller as well - a serious cube... Since my stack is in a highly visible spot - basically in front of house between my and my neighbors yard...

I'll bet that goes over really well! :cheese:

 

[firefighterjake]

I'll have a woodshed this year, but last year I tended to take off the top of the tarped woodpile . . . starting from the middle first and taking off wood equally . . . which had the effect over time of lowering the woodpile and making it shorter and shorter. Honestly, it wasn't that bad taking wood out from the tarp (covered the top only -- weighed down with chunkwood) . . . but I have been working on the shed this year just so I don't have to go through the hassle of knocking snow off the tarp, knocking ice off the wood, etc.

 

[Slow1]

So, I covered it with a couple mattress bags (heavy plastic) that I happened to acquire at Christmas time... This year I have a much larger pile sitting there, it is a lot taller as well - a serious cube... Since my stack is in a highly visible spot - basically in front of house between my and my neighbors yard...

I'll bet that goes over really well! :cheese:

I just realized (and corrected) that I should have typed "driveway" not yard there - in any case, have a good relationship with the neighbor so it isn't a problem (yet?).

Their driveway is about 3 foot higher than ours - steep sloped rocky 'wall like' edge. So the top of my pile is just a couple feet higher than their driveway. At this point I think they just enjoy the entertainment of watching me haul/split/stack wood all summer. I'm sure it looks like even more work than it is since I never get more than a couple hours at a time to do it and spend 1/4 or more of that time cleaning up the mess.

 

[Wet1]

Yeah, I suspect my neighbors think I'm nuts as well.

 

[m0jumb0]

I've been thinking (too much) about what to do with my wood stacks as well.
I like the idea of getting the top cover above the wood, for condensation as well as ripping.
But, the addition of staples would create a bunch of holes that might be enlarged by the weight of snow or rain on this flat plastic.
I think it would have to be sloped. There wouldn't be any standing pools of water as well.
Since we are just covering a pile, we don't need any side supports to lean the wood against, all signs would point to one of those portable garage tent things.
Except in my case, I'd want a long one about 5-6' wide.

I'm thinking too much about this stuff.

here's my carport canopy thing that I just set up yesterday: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/40799/ It's 10' x 20' from TSC

 

[m0jumb0]

You could make your own hoop cover. Drive in a bunch of T-bar posts, say every 3 or 4 feet down the two long sides of the stacks. Cut lengths of poly pipe to form half circle arches to slip over the posts. Fix them with hose clamps.

I really like this idea.. What sort of poly pipe do you mean? PVC? Would that be resilient enough to not break from flexing in the wind?

 

[Highbeam]

So I have a long long double row of firewood stacked on a long long row of pallets. On top I have a 5' wide strip of plastic that is held to the wood stack with criss-crossing mason string stapled to the pallets. I start at one end and simply roll the plastic strip into a roll on the top of the pile. As I take more wood I keep rolling the plastic until I run out of wood. So I go from the ends. No snow to worry about here, just lots of rain.

 

[velvetfoot]

Pallets, pallets, pallets. I'm calling around and can't find any. I realize it's feast or famine, but last couple of times it was a PITA too.

 

[LLigetfa]

What sort of poly pipe do you mean? PVC?

No, not PVC, HDPE polyethylene pipe. It comes in coils.