Inexpensive wood storage ideas

[Chas0218]

So I am looking for a way to store 1 maybe 2 cords of split wood up off the ground. I'm not to concerned about it being covered just looking to keep the wood from absorbing moisture from the ground.

So far the best option for me is to stack the split wood on pallets but would like to get other ideas. Pallets are free for me so if you have other ideas that are free or relatively cheap I am open to suggestions.

One catch is my property has small swails going at a diagonal across my property about 10' from trough to trough. So it would be difficult to get anything long leveled and keep the pile from tipping over.

 

[Woody harrelson]

Pallets with a tarp over the top of the stack is the most common.

 

[billb3]

I have to run my stacks on pallets uphill


I've levelled skids on top of cement blocks and 4x4 PT posts but it is a lot easier just to sacrifice the skids. They rot on the bottom after a couple years but either bust up what's left for kindling or toss them in the woods to finish the wood and nails decomposing.

 

[CountryBoy19]

IMHO, pallets are best for numerous reasons.

#1 Free/cheap means they can be sacrificial. After they begin to rot just throw them in a compost pile.
#2 They can follow the contour of your ground and you just have to adjust the stacking style/pattern to follow as well.

 

[Fred Wright]

If you have access to 'em, small junk wood logs will serve. They make up for uneven ground and last longer than pallets. These are sweet gum saplings; have been out here for years.

 

[Monaco]

I built this from green maple trees. Overall it cost probably $200... but that's because I could nit find old materials for the roof. leave the roof off and it would just cost the 8 bags of concrete and bits of rebar to pin it all together.

 

[Monaco]

I have to run my stacks on pallets uphill
View attachment 162367

I've levelled skids on top of cement blocks and 4x4 PT posts but it is a lot easier just to sacrifice the skids. They rot on the bottom after a couple years but either bust up what's left for kindling or toss them in the woods to finish the wood and nails decomposing.

Looks good. It's all hilly here too, going to have to start doing this myself.

 

[jeffesonm]

I use pallets on the ground and then pallets on either end as bookends, screwed to the bottom with braces. Swing by your local lumber yard and pickup a few old lumber tarps to cover and staple it to the pallets/splits. Should be able to do this all for free.

 

[sportbikerider78]

A place by me sells 4'x6' small tarps for $1. I actually like them better than big tarps.

 

[maple1]

Plastic pallets are the ticket for this. No worries about rotting. I found a bunch used here a couple years ago for $3 each. Well worth that big cost.

If using wood ones I would still get those off the ground. I hate dealing with rotting pallets, they usually leave nails behind right where I would be driving with the ATV, trailer, splitter or mower. I'd usually just put a split under each corner to accomplish that. Maybe one in the middle on each side if the pallet is weak in the middle. You can replace the splits when you empty the pallet and before you fill again, and add the old ones back in to the wood pile. Now that I have lots of plastic pallets & still have some wood ones in good shape, I put a plastic one down then the wood one on top. All my stacking pallets have sides on them also made from pallets (another reason I want them to last as long as possible), so I can move then around with a FEL & into the basment with a pallet jack.

I top cover with tarp the same width as the pile - just get it on there then cover with another layer of wood. No need for tieing or fastening, and the top layer of wood acts as a sunbreak so the tarps last.

 

[ErikR]

Lots of good pictures of wood on pallets here....... https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/stacking-on-pallets.142355/

 

[laynes69]

I use straight branches around 2-3" in diameter cut 6 to 8 feet long as rails to place the wood on. Locust is everywhere here, they don't rot. If using a different wood, just replace as things decompose. Keeps wood off the ground, and it's free.