Question about storing wood to season.

[Backwoods Savage]

If I remember, I'll take a picture of those piles after the frost has gone out.

 

[bogydave]

If I remember, I'll take a picture of those piles after the frost has gone out.

How about a picture today. I bet they really look neat with snow cover.
Do you put plywood on top to keep precip. off?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That's funny Dave. Just yesterday I took a scoop shovel out and cleared most of the snow. I could still get a picture though. There was about a foot of snow on the stacks. I'll be going out there later and if I can remember (sometimes difficult any more) I'll shoot a picture.

 

[skyline]

Ok, I see the problem with plastic. I will try to get some pallets and use them IF I can. It is sometimes hard to get many usable pallets here. Everyplace seems to reuse them if they are in good shape. But I'll try.

Thanks.

Ozark, I would add "Potential" problem with plastic. I think you're on the right track, to use both a moisture barrier and pallets. I second all who say to get your wood off the ground whether on pallets, 2x4's & cinder blocks, or poles, etc. 8" is better than 4" but both are better than none.

Why get it off the ground? To allow air under there? Yes, but that function is to separate the wood from the high RH due to ground moisture. Plastic helps that too. Yes, if your wood row is in a depression as others have pointed out, water can pool under the wood on top of the plastic. Without the plastic, it will pool in the soil, harder to see but its still contributing to the RH around your wood. So, don't put your wood rows in depressions regardless of whether you use plastic. The "potential" problem with plastic is applying a large sheet that collects water from outside of your rows and brings it under them.

I did this once with a plastic ground cloth that extended several feet outside my tent in a rain storm, but only once. Funny how waking up in 4" of water makes a lasting impression. However, as long as I kept my ground cloth within the boundaries of my tent it worked great and kept me nice and dry.

Just like plastic is used all over the country in houses to reduce moisture input from the ground into crawl spaces, the function of the plastic would be to reduce the RH around the wood.

On the sunny days, black plastic can increase the air temperature around the pile at the same time as reducing the ground effect that lowers the air temperature near the ground all while lowering the relative humidity around your rows. I suspect at night when temps are near the dew point, the moisture barrier may be significant in increasing the number of drying hours.

I believe that at least during rainy months, you should have a lid (plywood, scrap of metal roofing, etc.) on your rows to keep the wood and plastic dry. For a lid, I don't like plastic as it tends to trap humidity and is a PIA to deal with. But some geo-fabric as bogydave suggested can be used here also.

At the end of the week, think about the number of hours the plastic helped the drying process or reduced it. If it rained and you had a depression that collected some water and took a day or two to dry out, you still have to balance that with the moisture from the ground it sealed from your pile. If it was a dry week with no wind, then 24 hours a day it may have reduced humidity, 8 hours a day it may have added a few degrees adding energy and lowering RH. That could really add up over a season of drying.

Best yet for all of us, put down a row with and without plastic Find some equal wt. splits from the same rounds, put them at the same height in the rows, weigh them over time and let us know what works best.

I see March and April are the months in AR with the lowest EMC. So get on it and happy drying

 

[Backwoods Savage]

If I remember, I'll take a picture of those piles after the frost has gone out.

How about a picture today. I bet they really look neat with snow cover.
Do you put plywood on top to keep precip. off?

After the snow melts I'm going to measure how high the stacks are. I stacked them at approximately 54" but I can pretty much guarantee they are less than 4' high now. Even white ash shrinks a lot when moisture comes out.

 

[Ozark Woodburner]

I see March and April are the months in AR with the lowest EMC.

I hate to sound dumb, but what is EMC stand for?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

EMC is a new one on me too but it no doubt stands for some sort of moisture content.

 

[Ozark Woodburner]

I started to say estimated moisture content, but didn't. It didn't make sense to me.

 

[quads]

I see March and April are the months in AR with the lowest EMC.

I hate to sound dumb, but what is EMC stand for?

E=Energy. M=Mass. C=The Speed Of Light.

 

[bogydave]

If I remember, I'll take a picture of those piles after the frost has gone out.

How about a picture today. I bet they really look neat with snow cover.
Do you put plywood on top to keep precip. off?

After the snow melts I'm going to measure how high the stacks are. I stacked them at approximately 54" but I can pretty much guarantee they are less than 4' high now. Even white ash shrinks a lot when moisture comes out.

I have admired your stacks ever since I first saw them. I know I shouldn't "envy" them but all that various hard wood all seasoned up, it's hard not to..
Just awesome stacks of wood. You didn't get as much snow as I thought you'd have.
You have enough BTU-s there, if it were $dollars, it would solve the national debt.
Great pics/example of how to stack wood for seasoning & long term storage.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Thanks Dave. I don't think any of the Great Lakes area got normal snowfall this year. Now out in the open areas there are bare spots showing up all over the place. The forecast is for 40 degrees or more for the next week so I expect most or all of our snow will be gone in a week.

 

[BrotherBart]

EMC=Equilibrium Moisture Content