stacking wood! a second time

[jemery]

How tall dare you all stack your wood? I am trying to fit 7 cord into my woodshed and after stacking about 6.5 cords, disaster struck. The very first stacked row fell into the next, into the next, into the next... So before repeating my error again, I am trying to think of another way. I'm guessing I stacked the rows about 9 feet tall because there are many ladders around and that is the only way I will be able to fit all of this into the shed. I do not like stacking tiers very much and don't really think they would stand up against a desired collapse. Perhaps one row then a line of tiers, another row, tiers... Or is too high, just too high. Rows are probably 12+ feet long along the narrow dimension of the woodshed ~15x24 or so. Wood is being stacked on pallets, gravel not an option due to clayish soil underneath. Yes, it is all dry enough to go in the shed. Ends of the rows are supported by a wall in the back and 4x4s in the front or shed posts front an back.
Thanks.

 

[Gomez]

Anything more than 5 feet gets dicey.

 

[SolarAndWood]

My shed is 32 feet wide and 5 feet deep with walls on three sides and an asphalt floor. I stack 8+ but they lean against the back wall and the rows get stacked right against each other. Welcome to the forum.

 

[LLigetfa]

My shed is 10x20 and I stack 10 foot long rows over 9 feet high. My shed has a concrete slab and I cross-pile the ends. I also lay in some long tie-backs and I stack with no spaces between rows.

In your case what you should do is get a bunch of 8 foot long T-bar posts and put two of them in the middle of each row, essentially dividing your rows in two. Also, get some saplings that are long enough to span across at least two rows and salt them in the middle third of the row height. The ties will bind the rows together eliminating the domino effect.

 

[DaveBP]

You might not need to stack from a ladder.

You could fill the entire shed up as high as you can while standing on the pallets and then consider that the new floor and then stack up another 4 or 5 feet from that level. A piece of plywood to stand on would make that second story safer and more comfortable. Just chuck the splits up to the new level and then stack it in batches. Kind of how we fill our barn loft with hay bales up to the rafters. Conveyors are awful handy things.

But definitely thread some "rebar" through the rows as LLigetfa suggested. Limbs, scrap lumber, almost anything to tie one row to the next to keep them from landing on you or falling out from under you.

 

[CarbonNeutral]

I stacked the highest ever yesterday that I've done - 5ft.

One stack was on the ground this morning

 

[LLigetfa]

This year I redesigned my woodshed with "Slots" for the rows. The 20 foot roof ridge of my shed runs E/W and most of the 10 foot rows run N/S. The following pic was a mock-up of how the rows are laid out. The gable ends have 2 rows running N/S (right side of pic) and there are three rows also N/S in the centre of the shed (left side of pic). There is a 3 foot space in between that I left open for air movement but that will get infilled late in the Fall with short rows running E/W. I've got about 6 cord in the shed now and twice that outside.

 

[LLigetfa]

Here is an older pic of how I laid up the wood last year. It's 9 & 1/2 feet to the rafters. You can see a couple of the tie-backs running perpendicular to the rows at about the 4 foot height. This row didn't have tie-backs running in between rows. I used to do those when I was stacking outside where the frost would move my stacks.

BTW, I never stack green wood freshly split in the shed. The wood first seasons outdoors for a few months.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

How tall dare you all stack your wood? I am trying to fit 7 cord into my woodshed and after stacking about 6.5 cords, disaster struck. The very first stacked row fell into the next, into the next, into the next... So before repeating my error again, I am trying to think of another way. I'm guessing I stacked the rows about 9 feet tall because there are many ladders around and that is the only way I will be able to fit all of this into the shed. I do not like stacking tiers very much and don't really think they would stand up against a desired collapse. Perhaps one row then a line of tiers, another row, tiers... Or is too high, just too high. Rows are probably 12+ feet long along the narrow dimension of the woodshed ~15x24 or so. Wood is being stacked on pallets, gravel not an option due to clayish soil underneath. Yes, it is all dry enough to go in the shed. Ends of the rows are supported by a wall in the back and 4x4s in the front or shed posts front an back.
Thanks.

How tall dare you stack wood? As tall as you can reach.

You say the first stacked row fell into the next and that into the next, etc., etc. What are you stacking? Wood or dominoes? lol

First, if you are stacking in a woodshed, why are you using pallets? Dirt floor? No problem. If it is indoors, the dirt will be dry so there is no worry about wood rotting as you'll use that wood up long before it starts to rot. Heck, I've some wood stacked right on the ground....outdoors and it has been stacked 6 years already and the bottom row is not rotted nor is showing any rot. (Yes, I've looked at several rows.)

So with that, I fail to see why you need anything under the wood, even with clay. If you do feel you need something underneath, then just cut some longer logs and lay them down, two to a row.

Just some longer pieces to tie the rows together and you should be able to stack to the roof.

 

[LLigetfa]

If you do feel you need something underneath, then just cut some longer logs and lay them down, two to a row.

Just some longer pieces to tie the rows together and you should be able to stack to the roof.

Before I had the shed with concrete slab, I would cut long straight skinny Poplars to lay down as sacrifice wood. I would then build a floor laying more of the same perpendicular and tight together like a corduroy road. That and the longer pieces tying the rows together and my outdoor stacks never fell over.

If you have lots of pallets, you should be able to use them to tie two rows together. Stack two rows as a time and when you get up to 4 feet, lay down a layer of pallets and stack on top of those.

 

[Archie]

I generally stack about 5 feet tall; that's a comfortable height for me with the wood on 2xs. After 7 years, haven't had anything fall, but who knows, my turn is probably coming. I do stack tight though, and do alot of sanity checks as I go along. That is, I go to the end of the stack and eyeball it to see if I creating any lean as I go. Slows me down a bit, but so far so good.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Hey Archie, welcome to the forum.

 

[Archie]

Thank you sir. Glad to be here. Believe it or not, the suburbs of DC are not all concrete.

 

[maplewood]

Sorry to hear your stacks fell over. I feel your pain.

I usually stack 4' tall, well spaced, outside on pallets for drying. 8' tall under a wood shed roof (no walls, just 9 posts) on pallets, 8" or more spacing for drying.
Storing 8.5 cords of dry wood in the basement right on the concrete floor: 9' tall, 0" spacing - jammed in for maximum wood storage.

I've sometimes put a few interlocking long pieces of wood between two piles to keep them stable: if my wood was 18" long, stacked 12" apart, I'd cut a few pieces 48" long and connect the two ranks midway, say every 4' or so along the stack.

I often check my piles while they are drying to see if they are leaning - they tend to lean towards the sun. I tap on the ends of the offending pieces and push them back in line.

 

[Skier76]

Since I'm getting back into burning wood, I'm still experimenting. I'm using scrounged pallets that a local stone yard gives away for free. I've found those make a good solid base...as long as you level them the best you can first.

I stacked a lot of the (evil) pine the previous owners left behind three rows wide and not too too tall on 3 or 4 pallets.

The hardwood I bought this year is stacked in two rows across 4 pallets.

And speaking of moving piles....The pine has moved A LOT. I moved it once to split it, again to stack the splits off the ground, then again to consolodate and neaten up the piles into one, and finally again to a different part of the yard.

 

[wendell]

Man, I hate stacking! I'm stacking my 2011/12 wood and due to space requirements, only leave about 6-12" between rows and stop at about 5'. Well, had a row in the middle (where I really can't get to it) come tumbling down. Knowing it has to stand for 2 years, I had really taken my time to make sure it was done right. Obviously, it wasn't right enough!

 

[wendell]

Man am I frustrated. I went out to survey the damage and it isn't too bad but as I'm looking at everything I stacked last week that was straight as can be, is now leaning to the point it is obvious I need to redo it all. I hate having to redo things.

I can see that if you don't stack tight, you need to have something tying the stacks together for support but I'm tempted to restack everything touching and hope by 2011, it will all be dry.

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

I stacked 5'10" because its all the wood I have and its pretty solid. 6' is max, any higher and I'll have to use a ladder..........my stack is 20'L 4'W 5'10"H.

WoodButcher

 

[pulldownclaw]

Dang, WB, those are some honkin' splits. Or should I say halves? ;-P I'm sure it's because you're so many years ahead, but I've gotten so terrified reading up on here about oak seasoning that I split everything down to 3-4". I would love to get that far ahead, maybe when I get my new Fiskars for the birthday. :cheese:

 

[wendell]

Dang, WB, you use a laser level to get that stacked like that? Of course, that could be why mine falls over!

 

[BrotherBart]

My oak is split large also because I am splitting for three years out from now. As to the leaning stacks, something me and everybody I have ever watched stack wood does is that as you get higher on the stack for whatever reason you stack a little farther toward you as you go up. Even though I know I do it I still catch myself doing it. If your stacks are falling forward, that is the culprit. I have three one cord rows for this year that I moved two years ago. I noticed in the spring that the top rows of the back two are leaning against the rows in front of them. That is with 18" air channels between the rows. Sometimes I don't do it but more often than not I do. And I am willing to bet it is because my arms are tired by the time I get 2/3 of the way up the 57 inch stacks with the large splits I use.

 

[wendell]

Well, it's nice to know I'm not the only one to do that. I tried really hard not to do what you described, but yes, the stack fell forward.