Uncovered wood means burn biobricks now.

[Gary_602z]

Rich,

I don't think anybody meant to get on you for covering your wood. Personally I see no harm with a top cover whether it is tin or wood just to shed the rain. I think some people thought you had it wrapped in tarps with no airflow since you did not specify other wise.
Good luck and good burning!

Gary

 

[oldspark]

Rich

What you are saying does not make any sense. Uncovered wood seasons faster than covered wood. The only time it is a good idea to cover the wood is when you get an incredible amount of rain - like the summer before last. You/we did not have enough rain or bad weather this fall for seasoning to be a problem. Your issue is the WOOD, not the covering...

What kind of wood is it? When was it split? Those are the questions you need to ask...

I have wood in my shed as well as still out in a pile uncovered. The uncovered wood, under the snow, is still seasoned as of last weekend...

If you look at my previous thread I answered the kind of wood it is and when it was split.I will ad that the wood was green when stacked and split.It just didn't season well enough to use this season.Could it be that green split and stacked wood left uncovered needs two years to season not one ?

For one thing green oak will not dry in one year, if stacked in single rows and split there are a lot of woods that will be ready in one year, cover it if you think it helps (top only) but not that important, single rows for wind and sun are the most important, being ahead 2 years is the best option but some people have trouble getting it dry in that time. Your post made it sound like the wood took on moisture because it was not covered, that is where my confusion came from.

 

[Rich L]

Rich

What you are saying does not make any sense. Uncovered wood seasons faster than covered wood. The only time it is a good idea to cover the wood is when you get an incredible amount of rain - like the summer before last. You/we did not have enough rain or bad weather this fall for seasoning to be a problem. Your issue is the WOOD, not the covering...

What kind of wood is it? When was it split? Those are the questions you need to ask...

I have wood in my shed as well as still out in a pile uncovered. The uncovered wood, under the snow, is still seasoned as of last weekend...

If you look at my previous thread I answered the kind of wood it is and when it was split.I will ad that the wood was green when stacked and split.It just didn't season well enough to use this season.Could it be that green split and stacked wood left uncovered needs two years to season not one ?

For one thing green oak will not dry in one year, if stacked in single rows and split there are a lot of woods that will be ready in one year, cover it if you think it helps (top only) but not that important, single rows for wind and sun are the most important, being ahead 2 years is the best option but some people have trouble getting it dry in that time. Your post made it sound like the wood took on moisture because it was not covered, that is where my confusion came from.

Oh! I see.Yes oak does take longer to dry however my maple when covered always was ready in a year.When I tried this new technique of leaving the maple uncovered until September it didn't dry out enough to be of any use this year.Next year should be a very good year.

 

[gyrfalcon]

I have a friend who buys log length and is always 18 months ahead with his wood. The current seasons wood has always been c/s/s for 18 months before use. This year for the first time he is having a problem with partially seasoned wood (nope, very little or no oak). He has some space issues recently, and now we both think he made the rows too close together which cut down on air flow. Just a thought.

That is a very important aspect of the drying process and yet it does not get discussed that often compared to "my wood wont burn".

You are so right. "Wood takes a year to season properly" has always struck me as a completely nonsensical statement because there are so many variables in how and where you stack it, not to mention the size of the splits.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Could it be that green split and stacked wood left uncovered needs two years to season not one ?

No, actually.

I leave mine entirely uncovered, it's currently buried under several feet of snow, and it's fine. I can even get away with getting green wood in spring and have it burnable by wintertime-- uncovered. It's better, of course, if it waits until the next year, but it's burnable, and very much so by the end of winter. (Yes, Virginia, wood does continue to dry in cold weather if humidity is low.)

Unless it's submerged in a bucket for months, wood does not get wet beyond just the very outside layer in the rain and certainly not in snow.

If the weather is very humid, or it rains really a lot, it will definitely slow down the "seasoning" process, but really no moreso uncovered than covered, and maybe less because the covering always reduces the air flow and drying to some extent, and can actually capture moisture inside the stacks. We argue about that a lot here, but without a controlled experiment, there's no way to be sure one way or the other.

Can't make a guess about what happened with your wood between this year and last without a lot more information, but leaving it uncovered does not-- cannot-- reverse the seasoning.

 

[Rich L]

Could it be that green split and stacked wood left uncovered needs two years to season not one ?

Can't make a guess about what happened with your wood between this year and last without a lot more information, but leaving it uncovered does not-- cannot-- reverse the seasoning.

No mention from me about reverse seasoning just that my uncovered wood hasn't seasoned enough to burn after a year and 5 months.That goes for the Maple.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Could it be that green split and stacked wood left uncovered needs two years to season not one ?

Can't make a guess about what happened with your wood between this year and last without a lot more information, but leaving it uncovered does not-- cannot-- reverse the seasoning.

No mention from me about reverse seasoning just that my uncovered wood hasn't seasoned enough to burn after a year and 5 months.That goes for the Maple.

Sorry. I misunderstood your original post.

I can't even imagine why your maple wouldn't be ready to burn after a year and 5 months if it's stacked in reasonably sized splits out in the open in full sun and wind. I can only assure you that if it had been covered, it wouldn't be any different.

 

[Rich L]

Could it be that green split and stacked wood left uncovered needs two years to season not one ?

I can only assure you that if it had been covered, it wouldn't be any different.

Fact is when covered it has been just fine the last 51 seasons.

 

[weatherguy]

I cover mine in the fall for two reasons, It keeps leaves and crap out and when the snow flies I dont have to clean the splits off, the rest of the year I leave it uncovered.

 

[Spikem]

This thread is weird, some people have strange ideas about drying of wood, I have wood buried in the snow (no cover) that I will be digging out later today and it will be dry to burn.

And so will our friend qauds. Lots and lots of folks do.

In the case of the OP, I have to admit that it is difficult to understand. That wood should be good. Only 2 things come to mind that could cause the wood to not be okay. Well, 3 things. An extremely long wet period. Poor stacking (wood touching ground or perhaps rows too close together or stacked in the wrong place so as not to get air circulation). Or when the wood got covered, lots of rain fell.....and it leaked through the covering.

On that last point. Every once in a while I find that the covering on our stacks has gotten moved. Like last summer when we had a terrific wind for 24 hours. Some of our covering blew a long ways and this is the first time that has happened with us. So I naturally checked all the covering and it is a good thing I did! I found several spots where some of the galvanized roofing we use was moved just enough so there were some low spots and some areas completely uncovered (but small areas). If left alone, every time we would get a rain, all the rain would have been channeled to the low spots. Then it is like stacking under an eave. End result is too much water and even though it dries it does have an undesirable effect on the wood.

I also live in Eastern Mass, so I think I can speak to at least one part of this.

The OP said he split/stacked the wood in September '09. Well, this past spring (in March, maybe?) we had epic rainfalls. Maybe that uncovered wood became totally soaked (again) and never dried out due to being too tightly packed.

Again, I also live in Eastern Mass and I have stacks of wood which are over 2 years cut/split/stacked that I covered in October and I am having NO problems with its dryness.

 

[Rich L]

This thread is weird, some people have strange ideas about drying of wood, I have wood buried in the snow (no cover) that I will be digging out later today and it will be dry to burn.

And so will our friend qauds. Lots and lots of folks do.

In the case of the OP, I have to admit that it is difficult to understand. That wood should be good. Only 2 things come to mind that could cause the wood to not be okay. Well, 3 things. An extremely long wet period. Poor stacking (wood touching ground or perhaps rows too close together or stacked in the wrong place so as not to get air circulation). Or when the wood got covered, lots of rain fell.....and it leaked through the covering.

On that last point. Every once in a while I find that the covering on our stacks has gotten moved. Like last summer when we had a terrific wind for 24 hours. Some of our covering blew a long ways and this is the first time that has happened with us. So I naturally checked all the covering and it is a good thing I did! I found several spots where some of the galvanized roofing we use was moved just enough so there were some low spots and some areas completely uncovered (but small areas). If left alone, every time we would get a rain, all the rain would have been channeled to the low spots. Then it is like stacking under an eave. End result is too much water and even though it dries it does have an undesirable effect on the wood.

I also live in Eastern Mass, so I think I can speak to at least one part of this.

The OP said he split/stacked the wood in September '09. Well, this past spring (in March, maybe?) we had epic rainfalls. Maybe that uncovered wood became totally soaked (again) and never dried out due to being too tightly packed.

Again, I also live in Eastern Mass and I have stacks of wood which are over 2 years cut/split/stacked that I covered in October and I am having NO problems with its dryness.

My wood will be two years old by this september.One year uncovered and one year covered.Should be good to go.I can see split and stacked wood being left uncovered for more than two years should be ready to burn.However I don't think I'll go that route again.

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

I don't cover at all. Just knock the snow off & throw it in, Randy

 

[gyrfalcon]

I don't cover at all. Just knock the snow off & throw it in, Randy

Same here. I did experiment with covering it with tarps for a while a couple winters ago, and that seemed to me to increase, not decrease, the moisture in the couple top rows, plus it was more of a pain in the neck to deal with the snow-covered tarp than it is with the snow on the wood, so I gave it up. But our winters are generally pretty dry and stay well below freezing, so it's just a matter of knocking the surface snow off, not ice or wet slushy stuff.

 

[krex1010]

Are we talking about covering the whole pile with a tarp or storing it under a roof? I believe wood seasons a bit faster when under a roof but still exposed to wind. Covering a pile completely with a tarp slows drying a bit I believe. I think the benefits of sun and wind outweigh any drawbacks of having the wood exposed to rain. Cut wood really doesn't absorb water, I am a
bit of a BBQ fanatic and always wondered If soaking my wood chunks before putting them in my smoker really did anything, so once I soaked some apple chunks overnight and then split them and the water only penetrated about a sixteenth of an inch, I don't soak my wood chunks anymore and I don't worry about rain/snow hindering the drying of my firewood. My guess is that the wood you are burning would have been just as bad if you had covered it.

 

[oldspark]

Covering it is no where near as important as single rows in the wind and sun, if you think it needs covered only the top but not going to do much for ya but if it floats your boat go for it.

 

[rphurley]

In my backyard I think the biggest factor for proper seaasoning is stacking it in single rows. Some is covered and some is not and they seem pretty close to me. The stuff in single rows is always better than what is piled together.

 

[gyrfalcon]

In my backyard I think the biggest factor for proper seaasoning is stacking it in single rows. Some is covered and some is not and they seem pretty close to me. The stuff in single rows is always better than what is piled together.

Bingo. Agreed 100 percent. My only difficulty with that is that my property is quite sloped, and very windy. Great for drying wood fast, but I end up having to restack at least once or twice a summer/fall because big stretches tumble over periodically no matter what I do. (imagine sound of gnashing teeth here)