To cover or not to cover?

[Country Gentleman]

I have four cords delivered in April adding to it with oak and hickory from my woods and stack it off the ground and uncovered to bake throughout the spring, summer and autumn ready for the winter. We have a large Regency insert.

I wheelbarrow a week's worth to an eight foot rack close to my house each weekend and cover it with a tarp and have the top of my main supply also covered from November however if there is wind and rain it will become exposed and get wet.

Do you lads recommend covering all year round or just closer to burning season? Anyone built a lean to for better coverage than a tarp?

 

[gyrfalcon]

I have four cords delivered in April adding to it with oak and hickory from my woods and stack it off the ground and uncovered to bake throughout the spring, summer and autumn ready for the winter. We have a large Regency insert.

I wheelbarrow a week's worth to an eight foot rack close to my house each weekend and cover it with a tarp and have the top of my main supply also covered from November however if there is wind and rain it will become exposed and get wet.

Do you lads recommend covering all year round or just closer to burning season? Anyone built a lean to for better coverage than a tarp?

Hey, there, Country. Welcome to the forum.

We here have very different opinions among us about covering firewood stacks. Some of us don't bother at all, some only cover what we plan to use that winter starting in the fall, some swear by keeping everything covered all the time.

It's really just a matter of convenience for your lifestyle. Rain and/or snow will only wet a fraction of an inch of the outside layer of the wood, and it dries off really fast either outdoors on the stack on a sunny day, even in winter, or faster indoors next to the stove-- like a couple hours. Personally, I hate wrestling with snow-covered tarps more than I do bringing in snow-covered wood and letting it dry inside. And as you point out, stuff gets wet anyway through the sides of the stacks, so I've never really seen much of a point to it.

I do have an enclosed attached woodshed on the back of my old farmhouse, though, and I usually transfer a good lot of my ready-to-burn stuff in there in the fall, and then use it as sort of a staging area when I have the time and inclination. Takes longer to dry out in there than it does in the house, a week or so, but it gets there.

The only thing you absolutely don't want to do is wrap your wood up with plastic because that holds in moisture. Other than that, as far as I can tell, it really doens't make enough difference to matter which way you do it.

If you use the search box on the site and just put in "cover," you'll find a whole lot of past threads full of arguments and disagreements and reasoning. But the important thing to keep in mind is that painful as it is to look out at your nice dry wood in a heavy rainstorm, it really doesn't penetrate into the wood far enough to be a big deal and it dries out very quickly. So you're not going to be damaging the burning quality of your wood if you don't cover it, it's just a matter of personal preference and the ability to plan ahead a few days.

A lean-to is good, as long as the opening isn't facing the prevailing wind direction. You might put something like that in the search box, too. A lot of people have posted pictures to show off their woodshed constructions, and I do remember seeing some pretty nice ones for small supplies right next to the house. But where you are, be careful how much you keep that close and for how long. You have termites down there. I'd guess a week's worth would be the max you'd want to keep so close, but other folks here can tell you more authoritatively than I, since we basically don't have a problem with them up here where I am.

 

[RNLA]

I'm not sure if I could add to it or not. I cover only the top with rigid material, metal, wood ETC.

 

[gyrfalcon]

I'm not sure if I could add to it or not. I cover only the top with rigid material, metal, wood ETC.

I've never been able to figure out how that works. Could you describe what you do? What supports the rigid material? Is there a structure, or do you just tie it down or weight it down so it rests on the top of the wood? WHen you take stuff out, do you take one whole section of the stack at a time, top to bottom, under one piece of your cover material? Or do you take out just the top row all along the stack so the metal roofing pieces or whatever you're using stays even along the top? Doesn't work for me in any case since my location is so windy and my wood so short (14 in.) that it would just go airborne or pull the whole stack over when the wind blasted up under it. But I'm curious how it works.

 

[NH_Wood]

I'm not sure if I could add to it or not. I cover only the top with rigid material, metal, wood ETC.

I've never been able to figure out how that works. Could you describe what you do? What supports the rigid material? Is there a structure, or do you just tie it down or weight it down so it rests on the top of the wood? WHen you take stuff out, do you take one whole section of the stack at a time, top to bottom, under one piece of your cover material? Or do you take out just the top row all along the stack so the metal roofing pieces or whatever you're using stays even along the top? Doesn't work for me in any case since my location is so windy and my wood so short (14 in.) that it would just go airborne or pull the whole stack over when the wind blasted up under it. But I'm curious how it works.

I've always assumed that folks that cover with old corrugated metal, etc., only do so until the wood is dry, then move that wood to a woodshed, etc. Does seem like it would be a pain the arse to be working with a weighted down rigid cover all winter. Cheers!

 

[stejus]

Current season wood is covered (top only) since the first snow fall. Prior to that, the only time I would cover it would be if we got long periods of rain (hardly any this past summer). My 2011/2012 piles (stacked in March 2010) are uncovered and covered with snow at this point. Not a problem because it will all melt and dry sooner or later.

 

[gyrfalcon]

I'm not sure if I could add to it or not. I cover only the top with rigid material, metal, wood ETC.

I've never been able to figure out how that works. Could you describe what you do? What supports the rigid material? Is there a structure, or do you just tie it down or weight it down so it rests on the top of the wood? WHen you take stuff out, do you take one whole section of the stack at a time, top to bottom, under one piece of your cover material? Or do you take out just the top row all along the stack so the metal roofing pieces or whatever you're using stays even along the top? Doesn't work for me in any case since my location is so windy and my wood so short (14 in.) that it would just go airborne or pull the whole stack over when the wind blasted up under it. But I'm curious how it works.

I've always assumed that folks that cover with old corrugated metal, etc., only do so until the wood is dry, then move that wood to a woodshed, etc. Does seem like it would be a pain the arse to be working with a weighted down rigid cover all winter. Cheers!

You could well be right, though that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me in practical terms.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

Covering is not necessary, especially in the summer. The main reason I like to cover is in the winter to keep the ice off. If the wood freezes together it can be a real pain. This year I got a hold of alot of rubber roofing material (Roofers try to get rid of old stuff). It is pretty neat stuff, alot thicker than a tarp, but flesible enough to mold itself to the wood. You can easily cut it to size with sizzors or a utility knife. You do still need to weight it down as it is amazing how wind will blow it off, as heavy as it is. I know Backwoods Savage uses the corrigated material (besides his new garage) and says it is nice because you can just slide it out of the way and slide it back. I built a 10 foot by 6 foot rack with a metal roof near my house that I reload every few weeks. That is nice when I do not feel like walking to a stack. It keeps some of the snow and ice off, and I can put a little piece of rubber roofing over the wood it if I feel like it. We have been lucky so far this year, not much ice yet. Ice makes a real mess out of a tarp, and it can easily rip.

 

[ansehnlich1]

....just north of the Mason/Dixon line here.

All of my stacks are covered, tops only. I use plywood/OSB on most of 'em, and cover that with rubber roofing material, and then throw pallets on top, or 2x4's lengthwise, and then throw some cement block on there to hold it all down.

However, I have a large, covered, back porch that I can get a cord, maybe a cord and a half stacked on there. So what I do is, when I uncover one of my big stacks, I get the ford with the loader and shuttle a big ole pile of wood onto the back porch all at one time. That way I don't have to uncover/cover my main stacks too often.

Honestly though, I don't think you need to cover wood when it's first split and stacked, I think you can split/stack and leave it for a year uncovered and it won't hurt a thing....covering it up just prior to the burning season when you're going to use it.

 

[wood-fan-atic]

.....and the preferances continue to vary. As you can see, some cover ,some dont. I do like to keep my stacks covered . I built racks out of 12' 2x4s, 6' high, with a slanted hard plastic roof. Keeps everything nice and dry at all times, always allowing for air-circ and sun. After a year- into the woodshed it goes, until it meets it destiny in the stove. ;-
Just to the right of the shed, you can see a rack with the roof (against the metal shed)

 

[NH_Wood]

I've have stopped covering my wood at all, expect for 6 cord of red oak that I stacked in a large, fairly tight rectangle. I keep that wood covered from late fall through mid-spring, because I'm worried about it drying well. The rest stays on pallets with plenty of space and no cover. I have the luxury of storing the current year's wood in my barn, but I can obviously understand why folks need to cover their wood for the current season if it is left outside. I think you are referring to whether it is worth covering your stacks for the long haul, right? Cheers!

 

[willworkforwood]

..... I wheelbarrow a week's worth to an eight foot rack close to my house each weekend and cover it with a tarp and have the top of my main supply also covered from November however if there is wind and rain it will become exposed and get wet. ......

Welcome to the forum. You didn't mention how much of an inside (dry) staging area you have. It can make a big difference on what options you have. I have a boiler in an unfinished basement, and also keep 3 weeks or so supply down there with it. So, in my case if I ever needed to bring in wet wood, no big deal - it has weeks to dry out, and I just sweep up the mess from the cement floor. But, if you do something like transport your firewood across a nice living room rug, then wet, dripping wood might be grounds for a divorce. Like many others, I only cover in Winter, and use homebrew plywood/poly covers. The first pic below shows a portion of 3 long, parallel stacks, where only the middle one is covered - the other 2 are for next year. The second pic is of the stack I'm currently pulling from - 3 big wheelbarrows last night, and 6 more today and tomorrow, which will finish that 8' section. The snow just knocks off as I'm loading. This stack might look like a problem in the wind, but they never go down. I cross hatch everything single row, and the small air spaces allow the wind to pass through. This works fine for me, but if someone wants to come and build me a shed, I would do my best to learn how to use it :lol:.

 

[JustWood]

Uncovered heap for up to 5 years then into shed 8 months before use.

 

[LLigetfa]

I've always assumed that folks that cover with old corrugated metal, etc., only do so until the wood is dry, then move that wood to a woodshed, etc. Does seem like it would be a pain the arse to be working with a weighted down rigid cover all winter. Cheers!

I never used metal or anything other than tarps but before I built my woodshed, I devised a method of covering my stacks so that I didn't have to remove the tarp. I cut long poles to lay on top of the stacks and tied my tarps to them. Then, over the course of Winter, I would pull the wood out of the middle, leaving the crib ends to hold up the poles. I'd remove some of the snow on top to reduce the weight. I used junk Poplar/Aspen for the poles top and bottom and for the crib ends.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Uncovered heap for up to 5 years then into shed 8 months before use.

How big a heap? How big of splits?

 

[JustWood]

Uncovered heap for up to 5 years then into shed 8 months before use.

How big a heap? How big of splits?

12'W x up to 70'L. 4"-7" splits. Length pile goes N-S. Westerly prevailing winds. On a grade and well drained gravel.
I had about 40 cord in this pile 5 years ago and just finished putting it in the shed last spring. Got about a cord of punky stuff. If the weeds hadn't grown up around this pile I prolly wooda had less punky stuff = better air flow. Its gone now and prolly won't do this again but only because I have lots of 3-5 year old long wood to put through processor which will go directly from the processor into shed. This spring I'm going to put up at least 20 cord in and around the shed .

 

[SolarAndWood]

12'W x up to 70'L. 4"-7" splits. Length pile goes N-S. Westerly prevailing winds. On a grade and well drained gravel.

Cool thanks. I have an area I filled with road base and graded pretty aggressively downhill. I think I am going to try a 3 pallet wide windrow on it. I've found as my heap has gotten to 30' in diameter that the center is starting to suffer.

 

[gzecc]

I've always assumed that folks that cover with old corrugated metal, etc., only do so until the wood is dry, then move that wood to a woodshed, etc. Does seem like it would be a pain the arse to be working with a weighted down rigid cover all winter. Cheers!

I never used metal or anything other than tarps but before I built my woodshed, I devised a method of covering my stacks so that I didn't have to remove the tarp. I cut long poles to lay on top of the stacks and tied my tarps to them. Then, over the course of Winter, I would pull the wood out of the middle, leaving the crib ends to hold up the poles. I'd remove some of the snow on top to reduce the weight. I used junk Poplar/Aspen for the poles top and bottom and for the crib ends.

I do a similar cover with galvanized siding sheets. I crib the ends (dbl) about 10' long, loosely stacked in between then cover with 1 sheet metal siding (4'x10'). I hold it all down with rocks.
When pulling from that pile I can manage to keep about 70% of it dry from snow.
I pull from the center, leaving the cribbing to hold up the roof.
I only do with with a couple of piles. Most of my wood is uncovered.

 

[LLigetfa]

I've found as my heap has gotten to 30' in diameter that the center is starting to suffer.

Back when I was a heaper, I would build a base out of all the saw cuttings, bark, and splitter trash from the processing and heap on top of that. I also had a 20'x20' chunk of mill felt that I laid down so that would give me two heaps around 20' diameter and maybe 6' tall. One year I tried stacking the perimeter and heaping the middle but didn't have very good results with it. I've resigned to stacking twice.

Right now I have two outdoor double row stacks of 2 cord each, one of which is top covered with EPDM roofing. I also have enough in the shed for this Winter and next, so these outdoor stacks won't be burned until 2012/2013 and they will have been moved to the shed a year before that so top covering is not really needed. I top covered it just in case I go through more wood than anticipated and have to burn it sooner.

 

[Country Gentleman]

I have four cords delivered in April adding to it with oak and hickory from my woods and stack it off the ground and uncovered to bake throughout the spring, summer and autumn ready for the winter. We have a large Regency insert.

I wheelbarrow a week's worth to an eight foot rack close to my house each weekend and cover it with a tarp and have the top of my main supply also covered from November however if there is wind and rain it will become exposed and get wet.

Do you lads recommend covering all year round or just closer to burning season? Anyone built a lean to for better coverage than a tarp?

Hey, there, Country. Welcome to the forum.

We here have very different opinions among us about covering firewood stacks. Some of us don't bother at all, some only cover what we plan to use that winter starting in the fall, some swear by keeping everything covered all the time.

It's really just a matter of convenience for your lifestyle. Rain and/or snow will only wet a fraction of an inch of the outside layer of the wood, and it dries off really fast either outdoors on the stack on a sunny day, even in winter, or faster indoors next to the stove-- like a couple hours. Personally, I hate wrestling with snow-covered tarps more than I do bringing in snow-covered wood and letting it dry inside. And as you point out, stuff gets wet anyway through the sides of the stacks, so I've never really seen much of a point to it.

I do have an enclosed attached woodshed on the back of my old farmhouse, though, and I usually transfer a good lot of my ready-to-burn stuff in there in the fall, and then use it as sort of a staging area when I have the time and inclination. Takes longer to dry out in there than it does in the house, a week or so, but it gets there.

The only thing you absolutely don't want to do is wrap your wood up with plastic because that holds in moisture. Other than that, as far as I can tell, it really doens't make enough difference to matter which way you do it.

If you use the search box on the site and just put in "cover," you'll find a whole lot of past threads full of arguments and disagreements and reasoning. But the important thing to keep in mind is that painful as it is to look out at your nice dry wood in a heavy rainstorm, it really doesn't penetrate into the wood far enough to be a big deal and it dries out very quickly. So you're not going to be damaging the burning quality of your wood if you don't cover it, it's just a matter of personal preference and the ability to plan ahead a few days.

A lean-to is good, as long as the opening isn't facing the prevailing wind direction. You might put something like that in the search box, too. A lot of people have posted pictures to show off their woodshed constructions, and I do remember seeing some pretty nice ones for small supplies right next to the house. But where you are, be careful how much you keep that close and for how long. You have termites down there. I'd guess a week's worth would be the max you'd want to keep so close, but other folks here can tell you more authoritatively than I, since we basically don't have a problem with them up here where I am.

Thanks for the really thoughtful response, Falcon. This is my third winter of wood burning and I've relaxed considerably regarding seeing my firewood getting drenched in a down pour in the spring/summer but still don't like to see it getting a good soaking in the winter without the heat to help dry it again quickly.

My week's supply is about 40 feet away from my house opposite the garages and I have a loop on my porch and an indoor caddy that I feed from the loop and roll back to it's spot next to the fire. I'm in northern Maryland 15 minutes south of PA. Are termites a concern in the middle of winter?