Wet (seasoned) wood!!!!

[vallieweck]

Unfortunately we had some crazy wind come through and uncovered our wood pile and got it all soaked. Put the tarp back on top as you see pictured. The underneath of the tarp gets WET with condensation, therefore all of the wood is staying wet.

Who knows what to do? This is supposed to be our wood for the winter…..

 

[all night moe]

Unfortunately we had some crazy wind come through and uncovered our wood pile and got it all soaked. Put the tarp back on top as you see pictured. The underneath of the tarp gets WET with condensation, therefore all of the wood is staying wet.

Who knows what to do? This is supposed to be our wood for the winter…..

Uncover the sides a bit more. Let the winds do their job.

 

[bigealta]

Take the tarp off if no rain/snow in the next few days. The wind should dry most of it out. After dry store as much as you can inside house, garage, shed or whatever you have that can keep a 1 or 2 week supply dry at least.

Put today and tomorrow's load close to the woodstove to help dry it out more.

And the rounds are not seasoning at all, split them as soon as you can. The seasoning starts once split and stacked. not before then.

 

[Dieselhead]

What species of wood is it and how long has it been split/top covered?

 

[all night moe]

What species of wood is it and how long has it been split/top covered?

That's a good point.
Wet or not, it might be really wet.

 

[MongoMongoson]

It looks like it could be quaking aspen. If so, the good news is it dries fast after it is split. It likes to rot before it dries if it is not split. If you can get some of the split wood inside as suggested above, that will help a lot. If you can get it in the same room as the stove where you have some excess dry heat, even better. You might have to do some shuffling if you don't have a lot of space inside. Keep a few days worth close to the stove, keep some more in the garage or something. Move the wood towards the stove as you consume it and open up space.

This is how I shuffle it:
In the spring or early summer, I move a season's worth of wood into our carport. It is already fully seasoned when I do this, but if I had any soggy leaves make their way into the pile because I did not do a good job of covering it, this is my opportunity to get that sorted out before the winter. I also remove loose bark, leaves, dirt at this time. The main reason I do this is so I don't have to march through the snow in the winter to get wood, and then track that inside.

We have a rack inside that lasts us about 1 1/2+ weeks (depending on the outside temperature). It is 8' long and has a divider in the middle. Sometime after the shoulder season, we fill that rack. We pull from one side. When that is empty, we fill that side right away and start pulling from the other side.

 

[Dieselhead]

It looks like it could be quaking aspen. If so, the good news is it dries fast after it is split. It likes to rot before it dries if it is not split. If you can get some of the split wood inside as suggested above, that will help a lot. If you can get it in the same room as the stove where you have some excess dry heat, even better. You might have to do some shuffling if you don't have a lot of space inside. Keep a few days worth close to the stove, keep some more in the garage or something. Move the wood towards the stove as you consume it and open up space.

This is how I shuffle it:
In the spring or early summer, I move a season's worth of wood into our carport. It is already fully seasoned when I do this, but if I had any soggy leaves make their way into the pile because I did not do a good job of covering it, this is my opportunity to get that sorted out before the winter. I also remove loose bark, leaves, dirt at this time. The main reason I do this is so I don't have to march through the snow in the winter to get wood, and then track that inside.

We have a rack inside that lasts us about 1 1/2+ weeks (depending on the outside temperature). It is 8' long and has a divider in the middle. Sometime after the shoulder season, we fill that rack. We pull from one side. When that is empty, we fill that side right away and start pulling from the other side.

View attachment 344524

That’s a happy cat 👍🏼

 

[all night moe]

That’s a happy cat 👍🏼

That cat looks annoyed from his nap interruption.
Not pleased of the photo shoot. LOL

 

[Dieselhead]

That cat looks annoyed from his nap interruption.
Not pleased of the photo shoot. LOL

Maybe eyeing up that nice stash of wood

 

[BigJ273]

Use metal roofing instead of tarp. That tarp is trapping the moisture, which is why the wood is staying wet.

 

[bigealta]

It looks like it could be quaking aspen. If so, the good news is it dries fast after it is split. It likes to rot before it dries if it is not split. If you can get some of the split wood inside as suggested above, that will help a lot. If you can get it in the same room as the stove where you have some excess dry heat, even better. You might have to do some shuffling if you don't have a lot of space inside. Keep a few days worth close to the stove, keep some more in the garage or something. Move the wood towards the stove as you consume it and open up space.

This is how I shuffle it:
In the spring or early summer, I move a season's worth of wood into our carport. It is already fully seasoned when I do this, but if I had any soggy leaves make their way into the pile because I did not do a good job of covering it, this is my opportunity to get that sorted out before the winter. I also remove loose bark, leaves, dirt at this time. The main reason I do this is so I don't have to march through the snow in the winter to get wood, and then track that inside.

We have a rack inside that lasts us about 1 1/2+ weeks (depending on the outside temperature). It is 8' long and has a divider in the middle. Sometime after the shoulder season, we fill that rack. We pull from one side. When that is empty, we fill that side right away and start pulling from the other side.

View attachment 344524

What is that reddish floor material the cat is on>

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

Unfortunately we had some crazy wind come through and uncovered our wood pile and got it all soaked. Put the tarp back on top as you see pictured. The underneath of the tarp gets WET with condensation, therefore all of the wood is staying wet.

Who knows what to do? This is supposed to be our wood for the winter…..

All good ideas! If it's not raining, uncover the wood until the next snow or rain. Before it rains or snows, Re-fold that tarp so only the top of the wood is covered. For under 20 bucks buy some bungees that are long enough and some eye bolts and bungee down the tarp so even if the wind gets under it, it will not come off.

I've tried everything to keep tarps from blowing off and this is the only thing that works for me. Drill a hole just smaller that the eye bolts and they screw in easy and come out easy and they hold just fine.

 

[ScottLewis]

To paraphrase Tim Hardin: "If you were a carpenter..."

 

[MongoMongoson]

What is that reddish floor material the cat is on>

That is leather. 1/2 of a cow. The floor under the leather is concrete.

 

[vallieweck]

Take the tarp off if no rain/snow in the next few days. The wind should dry most of it out. After dry store as much as you can inside house, garage, shed or whatever you have that can keep a 1 or 2 week supply dry at least.

Put today and tomorrow's load close to the woodstove to help dry it out more.

And the rounds are not seasoning at all, split them as soon as you can. The seasoning starts once split and stacked. not before then.

Thank you for the reply. We have limited space to keep under cover so this could be a challenge but I know it’s not drying out the way it is… ugh

 

[bigealta]

Thank you for the reply. We have limited space to keep under cover so this could be a challenge but I know it’s not drying out the way it is… ugh

You would be better off to stack in single rows in the future. The "cube" stacking doesn't let much if any air thru to the inner stacks. More Airflow means faster drying.

 

[bigealta]

Like this

 

[vallieweck]

What species of wood is it and how long has it been split/top covered?

Fir and some maple. Covered since the fall seasoned for a year plus.

 

[vallieweck]

Like this

Just a single row then?

 

[all night moe]

Just a single row then?

You live in a wet climate. I'd stack the wood, cut & split, in single rows while keeping them top covered. The more air flow the better.
You can still stack in cords and leave a gap between the rows. Possibly use some straight sticks running across them. Half way up, bridging them together for stability.

 

[Dieselhead]

Fir and some maple. Covered since the fall seasoned for a year plus.

Ok those are some of the quicker drying species. Should be decent.

 

[stoveliker]

Ok those are some of the quicker drying species. Should be decent.

Fir yes. Maple not enough imo

 

[Dieselhead]

Fir yes. Maple not enough imo

Not hard maple anyways. Softer ones (western big leaf) dry pretty quick.

 

[bigealta]

Just a single row then?

Yes.

 

[vallieweck]

Ok those are some of the quicker drying species. Should be decent.

Surprised to find that a lot of it still measures around 18%!!