seeking suggestions for improving wood crib

[pybyr]

Hi all--

when I built my barn in 2002, I planned and included an external overhung firewood area on the south-facing side of the barn, thinking that the sun beating on the wood would help dry it, plus, at this location, the prevailing wind during storms comes out of the north.

The barn is built on an "Alaskan slab" that floats, and so, between that and thinking that I wanted easy access to the wood between the barn and the nearby vegetable garden, I designed it with diagonal braces ("kickers"), instead of posts

the sun, etc. works great, and the access factor is pretty good.

Two problems, though:

1) when the snow unloads off of the barn and overhang roofs, it piles up against the woodpiles, so it gets harder and harder to get to the wood as the winter goes on (the wood gets entombed in packed frozen heavy snow).

2) my design with the diagonal "kickers" for braces leaves little lateral support for the wood stacks, so it's hard to really use all the theoretically available space without having the wood tumble sideways or out.

So now, I'm trying to figure out how to put some vertical members at intervals along near the outer edge, both to give the wood some sideways partitions/ bracing, and so that maybe I can, in winter, put some temporary sheeting (plywood?) up so that the wood doesn't get "glaciered in" by the accumulating packed fallen snow.

Any vertical posts are going to need to "float" at top or bottom, because since the barn floats on its Alaskan slab type foundation, anything else that's anchored into the ground at or below frost line (like posts on sonotubes) isn't going to move at the same pace and are going to fight with and damage the barn's wood overhang.

I welcome any and all ideas, observations, etc.

 

[Hogwildz]

Stack her with wood, get yourself some heavy canvas tarps. Hook tarps(s) to eye hooks mounted to your horizontal beam underneath the roof then take the tarp diagonally to the ground out away from the roof. Any snow that flows down, flows along the tarp several feet or so away from the wood. You may even have enough room to walk under the tarp to get to the wood. You could even anchor some 6x6's or such or even rebar into the ground at the edge of tarp near the ground & secure it in case snow loads up on top at the bottom. Should give enough room for movement. Or same eyehooks at underside on the horizontal beam, then drape the tarp straight down or slightly angled direct to ground weighed down with some kind of weight. I use a shed I make that I can break down every spring then set up again in fall. Its made of pallets with roof deck made of press board. I cover the roof with a heavy duty tractor trailer tarp with a couple foot overhang bungeed to the horizontal beam on my upper deck of the house. it drapes down over the top, back and sides, then I just bungee the sides around and it works well. Come spring, I take it apart and put it in the garage. Even if the tarp gets buried in the snow at the ground, you should still be able to access the wood from the side and work your way across as needed.

 

[dsil]

Install a door in the barn wall at the center of the wood shed that opens into the barn. Stack from the center out to the sides. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Open the door from inside the barn to access your woodpile.

 

[savageactor7]

Well for one thing that's a nice barn...for another I'm stumped on the snow/ice deal. If it were me I'd put up a wood shed somewhere more user friendly...and besides you don't want to get clocked in the head by a falling ice chunk.

 

[billb3]

Nice barn.
That's a lot of roof.
That could be a lot of snow fighting for the same space you want to walk in.

You need a tractor with a FEL.


More roof. (over the stack)

 

[Bill]

I don't see any reason you couldn't put a couple of 4x4's in the ground at the end of the rows and don't attach them to the barn. So as the frost heaves the poles can move independent of the barn. I like the idea of a tarp draping off the overhand also.

 

[billb3]

How about experimenting with some 4x8 sheets of plywood as walls (like tarps).

Hung from hooks vertically at the corners and tied down with bungies to screw in the ground hooks.
At best maybe 90% coverage, but might be enough.

 

[pybyr]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, a number of which have given me some good ideas.

 

[fossil]

Trevor, I like Hog's idea as a starting point. You might want to use a 1' x 2" or something along the shed roof extension fascia to fasten the tarps tightly up there so they don't just sag between fasteners and let the snow fall inside. The tarps could then stretch out angled to the ground and be anchored with stakes. Maybe a few 2" x 4"'s or something angled from the fascia to the ground every couple of feet or so along the length to give the tarps some support when the snow falls. Let them "float", nothing fastened hard to the barn that would cause any trouble structurally. Between snow seasons, you could store the supports and roll the tarps up and secure them under the eave. Done cleverly, it seems to me that it would keep the snow from packing up against your wood, and give you room for access. Let us know what you decide to do and how it works out. Best, Rick

 

[wahoowad]

Hammer rebar or other stakes down into the ground directly under the overhang, or just a shade inside it, the full length of the woodpile. Take pallets on edge and drop them down over the stakes to form a temporary barrier wall in the winter. You can take the pallets off after winter if they get in the way of wood stacking. That would leave some solidly buried pujie sticks (the rebar) sticking up though. Well, I guess you could hammer some 1" pipe into the ground, then drop the rebar down into it so they come up too.

If it was me I'd consider extending the roof as an option too.