Synthetic roofing underlayment for firewood topcover?

[Highbeam]

I tried searching but no luck. Normally I use 10' wide, black, 6 mil visqueen folded over so a double layer of black plastic held down with mason string stapled to the sides of the woodstack. The 10' wide strip is then 5' wide which hangs over a nice foot or so on each side of my double wide row of 16" splits. It actually works pretty well and costs about 40 cents per foot of cover.

I see the new roofing underlayment is 4 feet wide. White. and really thin but costs about the same per running foot. It would be single layer and thinner than the plastic. Hangover would only be like 4-6" so a little shorter.

Does anybody have experience covering firewood with synthetic underlayment? It's kind of like a thin tarp with tyvek glued on. Big box stores sell it.

My rows are 50' long, 5' tall, and 32" wide and this top cover will get snow, ice, and wind but no debris since there are no trees.

 

[begreen]

Is this future firewood for 2024-25? I ask because IIRC you built a nice shed for the current season. This has me wondering if you have tried not covering a stack but instead leaving it exposed to the elements for a year, then moving it into the shed for a final dry-out during the summer.

 

[Highbeam]

Is this future firewood for 2024-25? I ask because IIRC you built a nice shed for the current season. This has me wondering if you have tried not covering a stack but instead leaving it exposed to the elements for a year, then moving it into the shed for a final dry-out during the summer.

The shed is full with 11 cords of doug fir all ready to burn. Then, I went and bought a log truck of maple a few weeks ago and had to stack it outside. Can't bear to leave it out in our rain all winter so I want to cover it. Not sure if I'll move it into the shed next summer or refill the shed with another log load. Log loads are a lot of fun and a quick 10 cords of firewood.

I plan on getting into selling a bit. Maybe 5 cords a year but in smaller increments like 1/3 cord at a time. This all started when the food bank became interested in bundles of firewood.

 

[Highbeam]

The stack that needs a cover. Two rows. 90’ length total. Plus full shed in back.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Is it rated to be in the sun uncovered for a period of time?

I siliconed a scrap piece of Grace ice and water shield over a broken open trailer skylight a few years ago. It’s still holding. It’s rated for a year uncovered.

 

[weee123]

Boy are those nice and neat stacks!

I personally wouldn’t use it for that. I had my roof redone a few years back and they used the certainteed version of that underlayment. It’s a lot nicer than felt paper but think of it this way would you use felt paper to cover your stacks? If not don’t use this stuff. It’s basically a tarp version of felt paper

 

[begreen]

I mention this because I left a stack of split hardwood uncovered for a season and it was fine. It still dried and went in the shed the next summer. If the stacks are mostly doug fir, then I think they would be ok uncovered for a season. They are out in the open so concerns about leaves building up on top of them don't appear to be an issue.

Degradation of stacked but uncovered hardwoods?

I fully understand that top covered wood is the best route.......but.... How long can you leave HARDWOODS (ash,oak,maple) not covered before a notable amount of degradation of wood quality has set in? Can one leave it in the stacks uncovered for 3 years Then move it into a 2 year (10 cord)...

www.hearth.com

 

[Max W]

For a no cost cover, what about the coverings the mills and lumber yards use for covering dimensional lumber and often discard? With a black underside and printed white upper they can be cut to fit. Double hem the overhangs and tack staple them right to the stacked wood.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Black underside and white upper sounds like basement moisture membrane.

 

[mcdougy]

Did you try Amazon? I see 25' rolls x10' black 6 mill plastic.

 

[mcdougy]

 

[sirlight]

Call around to places that do billboards. When they change out the billboards they need to get rid of existing old signs. Most are made from vinyl.

 

[Highbeam]

Found the synthetic underlayment, basically light tarp glued to some sort of tyvek for 70$ per 250’ roll. It’s working just fine so far. Front row I used up the last of my visqueen which is much more expensive but also available at big box stores.

Had to put some metal roofing somewhere so put in over about half of the underlayment stack.

 

[weee123]

Im curious to see how it holds up longterm over say a year