Wood Emergency....HELP!

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Dustin

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Sep 3, 2008
613
Western Oregon
Well we have had a ton more snow here in the pacific northwest then we ever get. I had about a half cord seasoned wood stacked on the side of the house, staging for the wood shed *wood shed is almost empty as I post this.

I had the front half of the pile covered with a tarp, and the back half, which sits about an inch away from the house not covered so I could let some air flow. Well, the air flew, and it made my once nice dry wood pile into a snow drift.

A good half of the stack is covered in snow. I hoped that it was just the top row...I was wrong, this snow worked its way and hit every piece all the way to the bottom.


What can I do? Is this half of the pile doomed to be soaked? I'm about to crawl in bed..worked a graveyard shift. I'm thinking of taking the pile and immediatly tossing it in the garage when I wake up.

Thoughts?
 
If you can stack a few arm loads next to your stove the surface water will dry by the time you need to reload. I have done this several times without any problems.
 
adrpga498 said:
If you can stack a few arm loads next to your stove the surface water will dry by the time you need to reload. I have done this several times without any problems.

Agreed. Any wood you'll need over the next day or so can be dried this way.

Beyond that the garage idea is a good one. The wood will lose the surface moisture in a couple of days in a dry area.
 
Your wood is fine, even the stuff with snow on it.

EDIT - you'd be fine even if it got rained on for a few days, but that snow is frozen and therefore not soaking in whatsoever. The big emergency is that you have 1/2 cord left and it's Dec 21
 
D/F said:
What can I do? Is this half of the pile doomed to be soaked? I'm about to crawl in bed..worked a graveyard shift. I'm thinking of taking the pile and immediatly tossing it in the garage when I wake up.

Thoughts?

Snow won't wet your wood until it melts. If you can move the pile before the snow melts, you can shake / knock most of the snow off & you won't have a problem. If you stack it in the garage or woodshed, it shouldn't get wet at all - maybe a little surface wetting, but not much else.
 
Go outside with a pot and fill it with snow. Put it on the stove and see how little water all that snow melts down to. That amount of snow if it were to all melt, would not soak very far into the wood and so would dry off quick enough.

My woodshed is open on three sides and I get snow drifting through my stack often. Aside from having to knock some of it off, it doesn't bother me.
 
Got a leaf blower? Maybe you can blow the snow off before it has a chance to melt.
 
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