Orientation of wood in my wood shed

[MissMac]

Happy holidays all!

I built my wood shed 3 years ago. I was very limited for places to put it, so it isn't in the sunniest spot, and isn't oriented in the best direction either. However, there is ample ventilation through the shed as you can see. The open face of the shed is oriented east, which in my neck of the woods an east wind is usually a wet wind (not the greatest i know).

The shed basically gets a bit of morning sun and that's it. The stall on the left receives the least amount of sun. Here's what the max. sunlight looks like on my shed in the summer in this far left stall:

Because it's the easy way to do it, I stack my wood N-S in the shed, so it rests against the walls. Each row has a gap between it, and I try to orient the gaps across all three stalls so that in theory the wind could blow right through the shed on a N-S trajectory. Here's what my shed looks like full of wood:

Every winter I go through one stall. This winter, I'm pulling out of the far left stall (the one that receives the least amount of sunlight). I've got Pj in there that's been CSS for 2 summers, and some of the splits in the middle of the stall are around 18% MC, which is a few points higher than I'd prefer. Summer winds in my neck of the woods are some iteration of westerly - SW, W, NW. I am considering loading the shed with my stacks oriented E-W, instead of the current N-S, to see if this might help the wood dry a bit better in the middle of the shed. This will a) help the sunlight penetrate better into the depth of the stalls between stacks, and b) might help the wind move through the stacks a bit better.

However, having to brace the stacks on the open face of the shed is going to suck to say the least. Plus unloading wood from the shed will be a bit trickier. Also, this will in theory allow the moist east winds to penetrate deeper into my stacks. So, what I'm looking for your comments on is do you think it's worth trying? Or too much of a hassle for not enough benefit? I mean the shed is a pretty open, vented structure, so i'm not sure how much of a difference it will make. But, I'd sure like to see the wood dry out a bit better in there, and this is really the only modification I can think to make.

As info items, once split, my wood goes right into the shed - I have no space to stack it in the sun prior to going into the shed. Also, the shed gets tarped on the east side all winter, and is open all summer.

Thanks for your input!

 

[SpaceBus]

Trees are just giant straws. They use straw like vessels that run up the tree, which make the rings, to transport water to the leaves to be evaporated. You can think of seasoning firewood as dessicating tree flesh as the vessels are very much like our blood vessels. This means the ends of the splits have essentially tiny straw openings. In my non expert opinion, the wood theoretically will dry faster with the splits pointed at the prevailing winds. I've yet to figure out the prevailing winds around here, but I've been pointing the ends of my splits in my stacks south. Honestly, the direction probably doesn't matter that much.

Moisture content of the wood will decrease, so long as it is not in constant contact with water, until it reaches equilibrium of the surrounding environment. Even at this point as water from the wood evaporates, as water will do, it is replaced with atmospheric moisture. Exposure to wind and sun simply speeds this process up, as does reducing the size of the wood being dried. This might just be the best it will get where you live.

 

[SpaceBus]

That's a really nice wood shed by the way! I just want to build a roof for my drying racks. Dealing with tarps is very annoying.

 

[MissMac]

All good points for sure. Just like you I wonder if this is simply the equilibrium moisture content that i can achieve in this location. That's why i'm not sure if it's worth the hassle of trying the new orientation.

 

[SpaceBus]

All good points for sure. Just like you I wonder if this is simply the equilibrium moisture content that i can achieve in this location. That's why i'm not sure if it's worth the hassle of trying the new orientation.

I doubt it's worth it. That's a lot of energy to move that much cord wood.

 

[MissMac]

Oh i'm not going to restack the stuff already in it. I would just start re-orienting the stacks as I empty and refill the stalls, which i'm going to be doing in the far left one this year. That's why i'm toying with the idea. No way would i redo what's in there! Ain't nobody got time for that!

 

[EODMSgt]

Where I live, wind plays a larger role in drying than sun due to the number of days with cloud cover, the fact that during the cold months I lose sun around 2PM due to the peaks and we have a LOT of wind. Everyone's location will be different regarding humidity and the drying effects of wind and sun.

With that being said, have you considered just removing every other horizontal board to get more wind through your stacks? You have some ventilation however those sides are pretty well closed off with small gaps. The more openings you have, the more the air can circulate. There's a picture below of what I built about 9 years ago and it works great.

You built a nice shed by the way. My current shed holds about eight cords so I plan on building something like you have for additional storage in order to get to a current year plus two rotation.

 

[firefighterjake]

Random thoughts . . .

I dry my wood outside in stacks . . . instead of seasoning it under cover of the woodshed. After a year or two outside the wood goes into the woodshed where it sits for another year or two (or more . . . I have some nice vintage 2013 wood in one row that I am hoping to use this year.) It's a little more work and may not work for someone with limited space, but the heat and clean chimney have shown positive results.

I stack front to back . . . it actually works out pretty well since it means wood in the back of the shed doesn't have to be restacked from year to year. I cross-stack on the front and back to hold the stack up so no cross-braces are needed.

 

[MissMac]

Random thoughts . . .

I dry my wood outside in stacks . . . instead of seasoning it under cover of the woodshed. After a year or two outside the wood goes into the woodshed where it sits for another year or two (or more . . . I have some nice vintage 2013 wood in one row that I am hoping to use this year.) It's a little more work and may not work for someone with limited space, but the heat and clean chimney have shown positive results.

I stack front to back . . . it actually works out pretty well since it means wood in the back of the shed doesn't have to be restacked from year to year. I cross-stack on the front and back to hold the stack up so no cross-braces are needed.

Thanks for you input. What you describe is something I actually thought about, but then decided against because I was concerned with cutting off the airflow through the shed by having wood oriented both ways. I have a big sunny spot on the north side of my yard, but unfortunately it's the septic field and garden area, so it's out of bounds. Plus i think if my "wood storage area" grew anymore, my wife might make me move out to the shed to sleep!

 

[MissMac]

Where I live, wind plays a larger role in drying than sun due to the number of days with cloud cover, the fact that during the cold months I lose sun around 2PM due to the peaks and we have a LOT of wind. Everyone's location will be different regarding humidity and the drying effects of wind and sun.

With that being said, have you considered just removing every other horizontal board to get more wind through your stacks? You have some ventilation however those sides are pretty well closed off with small gaps. The more openings you have, the more the air can circulate. There's a picture below of what I built about 9 years ago and it works great.

You built a nice shed by the way. My current shed holds about eight cords so I plan on building something like you have for additional storage in order to get to a current year plus two rotation.

View attachment 236744

Thanks for the insight! I really like the looks of your shed. In terms of opening up the sides a bit more - you're right, it would certainly introduce a lot more wind, however it would also let a lot more blowing snow in during the winter, which i already wrestle with a bit with the current gaps. I live in northern ontario, so i have a lot of winter snow to contend with up here. I'm trying to remember what I used as a template shim for making the gaps - pretty sure it was hunks of rough cut 1x6 - so each gap is an inch.

 

[MissMac]

Random thoughts . . .

I dry my wood outside in stacks . . . instead of seasoning it under cover of the woodshed. After a year or two outside the wood goes into the woodshed where it sits for another year or two (or more . . . I have some nice vintage 2013 wood in one row that I am hoping to use this year.) It's a little more work and may not work for someone with limited space, but the heat and clean chimney have shown positive results.

I stack front to back . . . it actually works out pretty well since it means wood in the back of the shed doesn't have to be restacked from year to year. I cross-stack on the front and back to hold the stack up so no cross-braces are needed.

also, do you have a pic of your set-up? I'd be curious to see.

 

[blacktail]

I wouldn't change anything to "fix" 18% wood. Having your rows from back to front would be a pain.

 

[firefighterjake]

also, do you have a pic of your set-up? I'd be curious to see.

 

[MissMac]

That is a good looking set up sir! Thanks for the ideas.

 

[EODMSgt]

Thanks for the insight! I really like the looks of your shed. In terms of opening up the sides a bit more - you're right, it would certainly introduce a lot more wind, however it would also let a lot more blowing snow in during the winter, which i already wrestle with a bit with the current gaps. I live in northern ontario, so i have a lot of winter snow to contend with up here. I'm trying to remember what I used as a template shim for making the gaps - pretty sure it was hunks of rough cut 1x6 - so each gap is an inch.

We get a lot of snow here as well in northern New Hampshire (I've had snow as high as the roof before) and the wind blows the stuff wherever it wants to. Surprisingly enough, I don't get much wind-blown snow into the side gaps. There will always be some at the front and back however I will gladly take what little comes in the sides as a trade off for more air flow going through the stacks.

I don't know if you have your side boards nailed or screwed in but another option is, if they are screwed in, to remove every other side board during the non-snow months to increase air flow. More work I guess but an option. To me, I never really look at anything to do with firewood as work.

 

[SpaceBus]

Are you guys getting the rain today as well? AccuWeather says we are getting 4" of snow before the rain comes.

 

[MissMac]

Snowed here about 10 cm, and down to a balmy minus 30*C this morning. No rain for this part of the country!

 

[EODMSgt]

Are you guys getting the rain today as well? AccuWeather says we are getting 4" of snow before the rain comes.

So far this morning we have about three-plus inches of very fine granular snow. It just changed to freezing rain for a few and now back to snow. Going to be a mess once it changes to rain and refreezes tonight.

 

[SpaceBus]

New England will be a mess for sure. We are almost in Canada on the Maine coast and it is supposedly going to be 45 and sunny tomorrow... I'm kind of hoping it will stay cold.

 

[firefighterjake]

New England will be a mess for sure. We are almost in Canada on the Maine coast and it is supposedly going to be 45 and sunny tomorrow... I'm kind of hoping it will stay cold.

Mixed feelings here . . .

The side of me that has a contractor putting in new windows and siding for my garage wants to have warmer weather until he finishes this project.

The side of me that enjoys a day of snowmobiling wants cold and a whole bunch of snow.