Need advice on wood shed

[john26]

I am wanting to build a wood shed 8' deep 8' tall and 16' long. I plan on building it like a pole barn or run in shed using railroad timbers as a base the setting 4x4 for post and 2x4 stringers with a steel roof. Would i be better off closing in 3 sides with tin or leaving them open?

 

[jmb6420]

I am wanting to build a wood shed 8' deep 8' tall and 16' long. I plan on building it like a pole barn or run in shed using railroad timbers as a base the setting 4x4 for post and 2x4 stringers with a steel roof. Would i be better off closing in 3 sides with tin or leaving them open?

I'd leave them open to get better air circulation. Let's your wood dry faster. When I built mine I semi enclosed to help with stacking.

 

[RockCastile]

From previous posts I've seen, it seems many if not most folks on here who build sheds exclusively for firewood tend to leave all sides open for max airflow. I don't doubt that it works for them, but for mine, which I just built last summer, I chose to close in three sides, leaving only the leeward, east facing side open. I chose to enclose the 3 sides due to the winter weather that is typical here atop the Blue Ridge in Va., in which we get series of days of dense blustery mist that infiltrates all pores, nooks, crannies, etc. With all 4 sides open, my wood would take on significantly more moisture during these wet sagas than it does with only one side open. Some would argue that this is precisely why all sides should be open, to allow maximum ventilation to dry the wood back out once the wet air moves out. However, in my experience here at least, I'm finding that during winter, if my wood gets more than a certain degree damp it's awfully difficult to get it dry again until the warm days return. (I did also install three hinged "hatches" into the back wall of the shed that I occasionally prop open on sunny breezy winter days, which does help dry away the misty damp.)

 

[Touch0Gray]

Tarpon washer just covering it until I could stack it but I have 4 sides opened to the air circulation, works well for me. Each side holds about 5 cords

 

[john26]

I am thinking of leaving it open on three sides but put slats on it and build another smaller wood shed closer to the house that is fulling enclosed. I want the large one to hold close to 8 cords and the small l one around one cord.

 

[Touch0Gray]

I am thinking of leaving it open on three sides but put slats on it and build another smaller wood shed closer to the house that is fulling enclosed. I want the large one to hold close to 8 cords and the small l one around one cord.

I don't know about you, but I prefer to handle my firewood as few times a possible!

 

[john26]

i guess I should mention most wood I cut is standing dead or down wood I occasionally get green wood from tree services

 

[MissMac]

I built my shed 24' x 8 ft and then put in little pony walls every 8 ft to give me 3 stalls - i burn one stall per winter.

We get a lot of harsh north winds up here, and lots of blowing snow in the winter, so I chose to put up boards on 3 sides, leaving the front face totally open. You can see in the one picture there that there are 1" gaps between the side boards, and I also left some space closer to the roof line for air to blow through the shed. In the fall, I hang tarps down over the open face to keep the blowing snow out.

I process my wood and stack it straight in the wood shed. Since I have a 3 year rotation, all the wood gets to sit in a stall for 2 full summers CSS before it goes in my stove. I stack 5 rows deep. I got into some wood this winter from the middle of the stack that was around 18-19%, which I wasn't super happy about, but it still burns. From what I recall, this wood also hadn't been in here the full 2 summers. Also, my shed gets a bit of morning sun but otherwise is in the shade most of the time.

I think it's wise for you to factor in all the unique things about your location to determine how you will build it up. Certainly leaving all 4 sides open gives more air flow, however this may not be great in all locations (like mine with all the snow).

Happy building!

 

[hickoryhoarder]

The more air and sun it gets, the better. The goal is to keep it dry (from rain and snow), but as much air as possible.

 

[Simonkenton]

Small world. I built my woodshed 4 years ago. It is 8x8x12. Mine is the non ventilated woodshed. I keep the door closed, the ridge vent is stuffed with fiberglass. There is no ventilation.

Guys will tell you that it won't work, but, it works great! It works on the principle that water vapor will readily pass through unpainted wood walls. Also important, the floor is 16 inches or more above the ground, and the floor is wood.
Also critical is that it sets out in the sun. On a 80 degree sunny day, it gets up to 90 in the wood shed.
I live near the French Broad River, and every other night my place is wrapped up in river fog, 100 percent moisture. Plus the wind blows a lot, and it rains a lot here. My wood is never exposed to river fog or rain, or snow like we had yesterday.

I am getting oak down to 17 percent in 10 months. Bugs don't like that heat. I pull firewood out of there, it is neat and clean and dry, no bugs or spider webs on it.

The walls are rough sawn white pine and the floor is pt pine, 2x6. All day long this shed sets in the sunshine, heats up the roof and the walls, and the water vapor flows right out.

 

[peakbagger]

The OP does not say if he lives a in snow zone. That makes a big difference. Blowing snow can really be a problem as it gets up under the roof and takes a long time to dry out during the time of the year you want dry wood. I started out with no sides with overhangs but after a year I covered the wet end (where the prevailing winds are with silver tarp. The back is pushed up against softwoods so there is no need to have it overed. I do a have large X brace to keep the building from racking. The less side is always open. i used to leave the front open but snow getting in was still an issue. I ended up covering it with a tarp from October to when heating system is over. It takes me a couple of minutes to remove the tarp when I load up my bulkhead.

The papermill I worked in had the best compromise. They used a monofilament woven fabric for a pulp dryer. It was like burlap. Air flowed through it but snow an rain was stopped. Sadly I didnt get any of it before they ripped the place down but I have seen several local woodshed with it.

 

[hickoryhoarder]

Small world. I built my woodshed 4 years ago. It is 8x8x12. Mine is the non ventilated woodshed. I keep the door closed, the ridge vent is stuffed with fiberglass. There is no ventilation.

Guys will tell you that it won't work, but, it works great! It works on the principle that water vapor will readily pass through unpainted wood walls. Also important, the floor is 16 inches or more above the ground, and the floor is wood.
Also critical is that it sets out in the sun. On a 80 degree sunny day, it gets up to 90 in the wood shed.
I live near the French Broad River, and every other night my place is wrapped up in river fog, 100 percent moisture. Plus the wind blows a lot, and it rains a lot here. My wood is never exposed to river fog or rain, or snow like we had yesterday.

I am getting oak down to 17 percent in 10 months. Bugs don't like that heat. I pull firewood out of there, it is neat and clean and dry, no bugs or spider webs on it.

The walls are rough sawn white pine and the floor is pt pine, 2x6. All day long this shed sets in the sunshine, heats up the roof and the walls, and the water vapor flows right out.

Good info to have, Minister. Some if it is counter-intuitive, so the experience behind it helps.

 

[Simonkenton]

As you can see, four years ago I loaded it up with fresh cut black walnut and lots of it. Unreal how much wood the little shed holds.
On a hot summer day, with all that wet wood, during the day it was nice and warm, humid inside. All the wood heated up to 90 degrees.
At 8:00 the next morning, there would be a lot of condensation on the metal ceiling, and a fair amount of water on the floor, that dripped off of the ceiling.

Sun came up and heated it all up again, and by 10 am all that moisture had evaporated, and gone right out through the walls. The floor was dry as a bone all afternoon, and well into the evening. Whereas a stack that was just under roof would cool off quite a bit during the night, my wood stayed rather warm.

Completely loaded with fresh green wood, it would be wet like that for about a month. After that, just dry, dry in there like the Mojave desert.

The walls are conventional framing, with 2x4s. The floor is massive with 8 foot long 2x12 joists 16 inch OC. The floor is pt 2x6, of course this wood is Southern Yellow Pine, extremely strong. This is double the building code, but I wanted to make sure to account for the massive weight of all those truck loads of green wood.

 

[john26]

I am in western St Louis County in Missouri we do get snow it does last long maybe a few days to a week. I am putting the shed at the back of my lot it is a wooded holler. I plan a foot of over hang on the roof on all sides and stacking the wood on pallets on the inside. This will be the primary wood storage I will build a smaller maybe 1 cord or so shed under my deck and it will be either fully enclosed or I will completely roof under my deck. My father is also talking about building a fully enclosed wood shed on his property where I cut a lot of wood so I have the potential of 3 stages of drying.