Its funny but sad watching

[SolarAndWood]

They have a monster pile of splits; at least 20' x 30' that I have noticed they keep adding to the top as they get drop offs from the local tree services. I can't imagine that there is any possible way the stuff gets properly seasoned when it's in such a pile and surrounded on three sides by those large cement blocks

Has anyone conducted a study on the effectiveness of the heaphausen? My pile for next year is 20x20x12H. It sits high on well drained cinder/asphalt and gets full sun and wind. I'm not worried about it drying. I do agree that the constant drop offs of fresh cuts from the tree companies, that get processed, heaped and delivered to customers this summer/fall will likely not be ready to be burned this winter.

I'm also considering adding a couple rows of those 6x2x2 cement blocks around the bottom to keep the sprawl under control and make it easier to drive the loader into the pile. With a 12' high pile, any split that gets thrown on tumbles a long way before it stops.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Not to change the entire course of this thread, but this is sorta in line with it...so today as I was topping off a couple of stacks with some nice cherry splits, my wife comes out and asks what my plans are when it comes time to cover the stacks. Before I could say anything, she adds "and don't even think about using that tacky blue plastic stuff" as it will make our yard look like a junk pile. So, as I make my way through my garage, I stumble upon a roll of roofing paper and it got me wondering; let's ask the folks on the forum about this! There's plenty there and the roll is 3' wide so on a stack that's around 16" deep, it should provide some protection down the side.
Ok...let's open the floor to the group.... :shut:

heatit, don't think you are highjacking this thread. It is all about wood piles.

I agree with your wife. If using plastic tarps, the blue ones are the worst of the bunch, but plastic is certainly not the best way to go. Rolled roofing should work just fine. It is a good way to use up some of those partial rolls. If using just tar paper, you would probably have to put some boards under it to keep it straight else it would tear up pretty fast. In fact, tar paper under plastic tarp might help the tarp. Perhaps an idea worth trying.

Now on that 3' roll, I would advise you cut it. Then you have double the amount to cover rows. You do not need any protection on the sides of the pile; none at all. Holy cow, we have wood that is 6 years old or more and we never cover the sides or ends.

 

[BrotherBart]

For anybody that does end up using tarps of any kind, put down cardboard between them and the top of the stacks. Just the motion from wind will cause the wood to "sandpaper" through those tarps in no time.

 

[LLigetfa]

Good idea on the cardboard. I always put choice pieces on top, bark side up to be kind to the tarps. Later, I cut long poles to lay on top so that I could remove the wood without disturbing the tarps. I found that the tarps leaked and froze to the wood. I always stacked three rows together.

 

[kbrown]

BWS - Thanks for the advice. I never thought about the wood itself tearing up the plastic; makes sense. Had that happen on my pile last year, by the end of March, it was just threads blowing in the wind. Took another walk in the garage and found quite a few 2x2 PT left over from ripping down lumber this past spring for my racks. I'll probably fashion some type of support structure out of these and secure the roofing paper them and use them to set over the tops.

 

[Skier76]

Irony from this weekend: Guy had his stacks covered to the ground; 10' away, a nice log splitter...uncovered. Oh, rained like hell in Southern VT this weekend. I felt bad, guy wasn't around.

 

[Wood Duck]

Around here (Central PA) I see a small number of woodburners who seem to be a couple of years ahead, about half of the group who stack wood in the spring or summer for use the following winter, and the rest who cut and split no earlier than the fall and perhaps right before they burn. So I would say that at least half of woodburners seem to appreciate the concept of seasoning wood before burning it, even if they don't all season their wood long enough. Still ,that leaves half of the woodburners receiving log loads, bucking, splitting, and burning without much seasoning time.

I see a lot of stacks covered on top or even most of the way down the sides, but don't see too many that are completely covered in plastic the way some others have described. I don't cover my holz haufen at all, and the wood doesn't seem to get very wet in the rain. The top gets wet, but the sides stay fairly dry most of the time, and from what I can tell the wood inside doesn't get nearly as wet as i would expect. The rain that falls on the top follows a few paths through the stack, leaving most of the wood dry. The wood seems to be drying well, but I haven't burned any wood from a holz haufen yet, so I can't be sure.

 

[quads]

Most of the people around here leave their stacks completely uncovered, with the exception of the one guy that left his heaped pile uncovered and untouched for years, then covered it completely to the ground a couple weeks ago. People in this area also quite often burn their firewood within a month or two of cutting it, sometimes putting pieces in the stove the same day.

I never cover mine at all, but I do season it for years before burning it, much to the snickers of neighbors. They think I'm nuts "to have years worth of wood cut and stacked", when it's so much less work to "cut it today and burn it tonight". Although, when they run out of wood in the middle of winter, guess who they look to for help? Ha ha! There are a couple reasons why I never cover it. I have way too many stacks of wood spread around to cover them all anyway (some almost a mile away in the woods). The tarps would only last in the wind and weather for a few months before they were riddled with "funnel holes" for the rainwater and pieces of them blowing all over the countryside. And in the winter when we sometimes have 3+ feet of snow on the ground (and even deeper drifts), it's almost impossible to get the tarp to move enough to get the wood out from under it, with all the ice and snow on it. Without being covered, I just dig down until I find the firewood and pull the pieces out of the snow. When there's snow on the ground it's COLD, so the snow just falls off the wood when I move it and very rarely sticks to it. In which case it can be quickly and easily brushed/knocked off.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

quads, we use old galvanized roofing for covering the wood. It works much better than tarps and much easier to work with too.

 

[Bobbin]

We did a lot of splitting and stacking last summer and fall (about 7 cord). This past week we moved 2 cord under the filon shed roof on the back of our home and today moved another cord to the north side of the barn (my workroom is upstairs). Last year we stacked the splits on pallets in areas that were open to the prevailing breeze and in as much sunlight as we could find and not have the stacks all over the lawn. We covered them with sections of stockade fencing (recycled from the garden) and put a piece of tarp over the fence sections. We leave plenty of space between the stacks (for the cats to get in there and go after mice) and felt the benefit of keeping the top of the stack dry outweighed the possible downside of covering. Seems to have worked just fine by the looks of things this year.

The wood stacked on the north side of the barn has two sections of the fence atop it and has the same tarp over the top, handing down by about 6" on all sides. I'll be interested to see how nicely it burns when the weather really starts to turn.

We have a good deal of splitting ahead of us this fall, too.

 

[quads]

quads, we use old galvanized roofing for covering the wood. It works much better than tarps and much easier to work with too.

I wish I had a bunch of that, I'd put it on the roof of my house! (only half joking)

Isn't it still a pain in the butt to get the wood out from under it when the snow is piled on top? I suppose the snow and ice slides off of it pretty easy though, unlike a tarp that sags and falls down between the rows.

Really, I have never felt the need to cover my firewood, seems to work well for me. I keep a month's worth on the porch and if it happened to be raining when I stacked it there, it's only damp on the outside of the wood. That dampness on the outside disappears pretty fast, even in the stove.

 

[kbrown]

What really gets me is this landscaping supply place I drive by on the way home each night. It's the last place you would expect to see a landscaping business; 8 mile and Lasher! Right on the border of Southfield and Detroit. They have a monster pile of splits; at least 20' x 30' that I have noticed they keep adding to the top as they get drop offs from the local tree services. I can't imagine that there is any possible way the stuff gets properly seasoned when it's in such a pile and surrounded on three sides by those large cement blocks they use to create dump areas for the various types of dirt and mulch.

It doesn't dry properly and the landscaping company probably doesn't care. It's like a pile of damp clothing-it doesn't ever dry unless you seperate it and hang it up. I see that here too, but they could care less if it dries or not, and really probably feel that it is "buyer beware" when it comes to selling firewood.

I also drove past Tractor Supply today and shook my head when I saw the logsplitters displayed out front...should've been doing that in March...

People just need a little foresight and planning ahead with wood and they'll enjoy the experience.

Called this landscaping supply place while on the way home today. They want $85 USD per face cord. No deals on full cords or more. Plus another $60 for delivery. Of course they said it was nicely seasoned! I'm sure there must be lots of takers or else they wouldn't have a pile like that every year; but they can keep it....Scrounging is my life!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

quads, we use old galvanized roofing for covering the wood. It works much better than tarps and much easier to work with too.

I wish I had a bunch of that, I'd put it on the roof of my house! (only half joking)

Isn't it still a pain in the butt to get the wood out from under it when the snow is piled on top? I suppose the snow and ice slides off of it pretty easy though, unlike a tarp that sags and falls down between the rows.

Really, I have never felt the need to cover my firewood, seems to work well for me. I keep a month's worth on the porch and if it happened to be raining when I stacked it there, it's only damp on the outside of the wood. That dampness on the outside disappears pretty fast, even in the stove.

Actually it is pretty easy getting the wood from under the roofing. As I'm taking out some wood, until you take out about 1/2 there are no worries. Then I just angle the galvanized at a slant to cover all of it and of course the snow then just slides off or when you take the rest of that row then just remove the galvanized and stack it for use with the next year's cutting.