Stacking Some Green

[Cross Cut Saw]

Getting 4 cords of green delivered tomorrow and going to stack it asap.

I have a nice sunny breezy spot at the end of my driveway that I'm going to stack in single rows on.

Any opinions (HERE? OPINIONS??) on how much I'd benefit from having a foot or so of space from end to end vs. just stacking it with the ends touching?

I'd like to leave a nice space but, well, space is limited...

 

[lukem]

What ends are touching on a single row? I don't get it...

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

Yes, sorry, I'll be stacking the wood in single rows.
The space I'm referring to would be between the rows.

 

[Woody Stover]

We are Hoosiers. You must break it down to its simplest form.

 

[Woody Stover]

Moving along, I stack on pallets in two rows of 16" splits, so there is maybe 8-10" between the rows. The further apart you can get the rows, the better, given your limited space...

 

[lukem]

Single row = 1 row, or multiple parallel rows you can at least walk between. Still not getting it.

Not trying to be a PITA, just trying to help you and future readers out here.

 

[milleo]

Space between the rows is better for air circulation and we know that is good for drying.

 

[gzecc]

I just came in from checking moisture readings from single row stacks that are too close together. The wood stacked on the bottom is suffering from, I guess shade and lack of wind. This row is 12" apart. I wouldn't make it any closer than 18-24 if I had my choice, next time.

 

[bogydave]

The way I do it works for me.
I call this "double rows with space between."


I call this single row. Papa Dave's stack


Single row would have to be far enough apart so the shadow from one row don't shade the others IMO

I use the double row for stability & space reasons. Works but not as well a single rows out in the open.

 

[BobUrban]

All sorts of variables with the biggest being TIME. With enough time I stack with limited space in between and have no problems. Other limiting factors are avaialble space, typical weather conditions, shade and type of wood. The only wood I have available at the moment that gets extra attention and space is oak. Eveything else goes together in 4 rows per pallet(extra large pallets I get from a neighbor) This offers a few inches between rows but I have 3+yrs to let it sit in an open, wind swept area.

Regarding "stacking some Green" - I feel like I am stacking green even if I am stacking kiln dried - Green as in money I would be handing over to the gas man!!

 

[Ralphie Boy]

Like everyone said; the more space for air circulation the better and faster your wood will season. So you have to figure out the best use of your limited space vs. seasoning time. If you are ahead 2 or 3 years make 'em tight to make the best use of available space. If you ain't haead by much then spread them out as much as you can for best air flow and sun. And remenber the most accurate way to measure the moisture content of your fire wood is with a multi-year calendar

 

[TimJ]

Ralphie Boy I went to bed last night saying over and over again "remember the way to measure the moisture content of your fire wood is with a multi-year calender"
I was sleeping like a baby in a half hour

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

I don't have the space for more than next years wood. I will leave lots of room between the rows for good air circulation. I did it that way last year and it worked well, just wasn't sure if it was worth the space.

 

[jdp1152]

Stack them on your roof and report back on how and results.

 

[Woody Stover]

I will leave lots of room between the rows for good air circulation. I did it that way last year and it worked well, just wasn't sure if it was worth the space.

How much space did you have between them last year, and what kind of wood?

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

How much space did you have between them last year, and what kind of wood?

Last year I stacked it in single rows on a pallet, putting two rows per pallet, 4 pallets wide, and leaving space between the rows, it worked well.

I received that delivery June 1st, from June 2nd through June 6th we received 9" of rain on it before I could stack it.
It was a hard wood mix, lots of maple, beech, birch and some oak. Everything but the oak was dried to around 19% by early January when I had to start using it.
I'm hoping that if I get this stuff stacked this weekend and top cover it until spring I'll get a couple more percent of moisture out of it by the time I have to use it...

I'll never get ahead on my current .2 acre property, I have a wife and kids who won't let me cover the whole thing...

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Getting 4 cords of green delivered tomorrow and going to stack it asap.

I have a nice sunny breezy spot at the end of my driveway that I'm going to stack in single rows on.

Any opinions (HERE? OPINIONS??) on how much I'd benefit from having a foot or so of space from end to end vs. just stacking it with the ends touching?

I'd like to leave a nice space but, well, space is limited...

Hopefully that is not oak! That is because of your lack of space.

We stack in multiple rows and have never had a problem with drying but we also give lots of drying time. If I had to burn from year to year, I definitely would stack in single rows with lots of space between them. I would also make every attempt to not stack it tight. Stack it rather loosely to allow for better air circulation.

On this thing that keeps popping up about the shade. I have never had a problem stacking wood in the shade so long as we have wind.

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

Hopefully that is not oak!

This delivery I told them no oak, I'd love to have the high btu's of dry oak but I just don't have anywhere to dry it.

It would be interesting to see how many btu's of heating power wood loses for every % of moisture it has to burn off.

Does oak with a 25% moisture content use 5% of it's btu output just to dry out the wood during burning?

At what percentage moisture content does oak become the equivalent of maple dried to the mid teens?

Okay, now I'm getting off the subject...

These four cords will be stacked in 4 rows, they're going to have to be pretty tall to fit a cord a piece, it will be easy to measure what I actually got though...

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

One down, three to go...

 

[milleo]

One down, three to go...View attachment 93880

Anything over 4 ft. tall gets unstable and may tip over especially with freeze thaw cycles of the ground even if they are on pallets also strong winds and wood stacks also tend to lean toward the sun.

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

I was thinking that I would take some off, it doesn't feel stable enough. 6'6" would be a full cord, but that's too high. After taking a little off the top I'm going to stabilize this one with some pieces to the next one and maybe some rope or something very redneck like that.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Over time we found 4 1/2' to be about ideal. Very rare for a stack to fall over here.