Wood pile advice

[DuaeGuttae]

After two times of stacking oak on a landscape timber/cinder block/2 x 4 wood rack, and having it collapse each time, I gave up on it this morning. I turned the woodpile into a holzhausen/holzmiete type of stack. I've never attempted one before, but it seems pretty sturdy as far as it has gone. It's less than half a cord at this point, and I do plan to build it up a little higher. Of course, I had thought I'd done a great job on the last stack on Saturday until I found it nicely arranged on the ground this morning.

My question for those of you who have used this method is whether you have strong opinions about the center part. We were thinking of moving our chunks and uglies from a pallet to the center part. Then we could use that pallet to stack more wood. (We like to maximize our wood storage space on our 1/4 acre.) Would this significantly slow drying time? What would it do for the stability of the pile?

I'm open to all input here. I'm under no illusions that this is a superior method for drying firewood, but as long as it stays up, I figure it's better than the wood ending up on the ground repeatedly. (We're still a little mystified about the collapsing wood rack, but I wasn't up for a third attempt in the same manner.)

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

View attachment 196918 After two times of stacking oak on a landscape timber/cinder block/2 x 4 wood rack, and having it collapse each time, I gave up on it this morning. I turned the woodpile into a holzhausen/holzmiete type of stack. I've never attempted one before, but it seems pretty sturdy as far as it has gone. It's less than half a cord at this point, and I do plan to build it up a little higher. Of course, I had thought I'd done a great job on the last stack on Saturday until I found it nicely arranged on the ground this morning.

My question for those of you who have used this method is whether you have strong opinions about the center part. We were thinking of moving our chunks and uglies from a pallet to the center part. Then we could use that pallet to stack more wood. (We like to maximize our wood storage space on our 1/4 acre.) Would this significantly slow drying time? What would it do for the stability of the pile?

I'm open to all input here. I'm under no illusions that this is a superior method for drying firewood, but as long as it stays up, I figure it's better than the wood ending up on the ground repeatedly. (We're still a little mystified about the collapsing wood rack, but I wasn't up for a third attempt in the same manner.)

Any chance a neighbor is sneaking over and pushing your stacks over? Not everyone appreciates the beauty of woodstacks as much as I do.

 

[Big Chris]

I'm sure most don't do this, but after 20
Yrs. I've learned wood shrinks most in the first month. Everything Id stack fresh wood out of the splitter it would shift & fall within a month , let's say 50% of the time. It's sonannoying taking steps backwards... I now just leave it piled for 3-4 weeks & stack it in stages, meaning I go out & stack for 10 min here & there after dinner. Fresh cut stuff shrinks & causes topples .ive had almost no issues since starting this process. Hope it makes sense & helps. Good luck.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Any chance a neighbor is sneaking over and pushing your stacks over? Not everyone appreciates the beauty of woodstacks as much as I do.

You know, when I brought my husband outside to show him what my daughter called "the most disastrous disaster of disasters" (she's young and sheltered), we actually discussed that as a possibility but dismissed it as pretty unlikely. The neighbor whose fence it borders used to heat with wood and misses it. We did wonder about the teenage sons but still think it unlikely.

The first time the stack fell, we think there were several contributing causes: a slight slope away from the fence, some shorter pieces mixed in the rack (which my nine year old helped stack), and we actually think that the chain link fence may have wobbled when the neighbor's cat jumped on it (a regular occurrence) and struck the rack itself. You can see in the pictures that it leans. We subsequently moved the rack out farther from the fence and slightly repositioned it so that the wobbly fence couldn't touch it. When I re-stacked, I made sure all knotty pieces or shorter ones were put on last. They were pretty tightly stacked, so much so that they remained neatly stacked together when they fell over. Only one piece remained on the rack in the corner. I figure maybe the ground settled forward or something, or there was more lean than I thought, but I checked and checked. I figured I really couldn't do it any better, so I decided to go for a different technique.

My four year old was pretty sick and miserable today, but when her daddy brought her outside when he was checking my stacking, she heard him say that it seemed solid. She now refers to the new woodpile as the "wood salad."

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I'm sure most don't do this, but after 20
Yrs. I've learned wood shrinks most in the first month. Everything Id stack fresh wood out of the splitter it would shift & fall within a month , let's say 50% of the time. It's sonannoying taking steps backwards... I now just leave it piled for 3-4 weeks & stack it in stages, meaning I go out & stack for 10 min here & there after dinner. Fresh cut stuff shrinks & causes topples .ive had almost no issues since starting this process. Hope it makes sense & helps. Good luck.

Thanks for those thoughts. I'm afraid that since we process wood in our children's play area, we're pretty committed to getting it stacked. We also need to maximize our drying time since much of what we handle is oak. We do only process a little at a time, though. I can see shrinkage and shifting in our older racks, so I know what you mean. In our case, though, it must have been a problem with the rack or the stacking because the first time the top and middle toppled forward in the night after it was completed. The second time the whole thing fell en masse within 48 hours. The one advantage to stacking it three times was that I got a little more bark off each time.

 

[firefighterjake]

The two or three holzmietes that I've built I made sure that there was a slight tilt in to the center as I went up . . . and to answer your question . . . yes, I put my chunks and uglies in the middle. You are also correct in assuming they don't season as quickly, but I was going for a long-term, aesthetic seasoning effect when I built my holzmiete.

 

[Babaganoosh]

Was one side of your stack getting a lot of sun while the other side did not?

 

[DuaeGuttae]

The two or three holzmietes that I've built I made sure that there was a slight tilt in to the center as I went up . . . and to answer your question . . . yes, I put my chunks and uglies in the middle. You are also correct in assuming they don't season as quickly, but I was going for a long-term, aesthetic seasoning effect when I built my holzmiete.

I did put a tilt toward the center of this pile. I had read about that on here. At least it's still standing this morning. I may decide to move chunks and uglies today. I figure that will improve the aesthetics along the other side of the house, and the holzmiete is a much sunnier area, so maybe it won't be too bad. An interesting experiment.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Was one side of your stack getting a lot of sun while the other side did not?

The rack was in the southern corner of the yard, and it got a lot of sun on the back. It still got sun on the front, though, as the trees aren't leafed out yet. That will change soon. It toppled in the direction of less sun. Would that be a factor in such a short period of time?

 

[Babaganoosh]

The rack was in the southern corner of the yard, and it got a lot of sun on the back. It still got sun on the front, though, as the trees aren't leafed out yet. That will change soon. It toppled in the direction of less sun. Would that be a factor in such a short period of time?

I can't be 100% sure but 2 times I've had racks that had full sun on one side and little sun on the other fall. They fell towards the direct sun side.

 

[Woody5506]

The only time my stacks have fallen was because I made them way too high. Yes a nice high stack looks cool and is rewarding but definitely not practical. And by high I mean about 6ft off the ground. If I keep it to 4 then it's fine. We had a wind storm a month or so ago with 80+ mph gusts and my stacks held tight, surprisingly...

Just be mindful to keep everything straight and even as you're stacking. Takes a bit more time but picking up fallen stacks is the worst.

 

[kennyp2339]

2 1/2 years ago I built my first holz, 12ft radius and approx. 10ft high at the highest tapper. I used pallets to keep the wood off the ground and purposely threw the smaller uglies in the center hap hazardly with the thinking of if its stacked neatly air will not exchange in the center. My holz is estimated at 5 cords or so. It has budged, the only thing that has moved in that stack are the poor pallets, some of them have collapsed.
After doing this type of stacking I've determined that all outdoor piles will be stacked like this, there stability is excellent, piles that will go into the wood shed or driveway stacks will be stacked traditionally and neatly.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

2 1/2 years ago I built my first holz, 12ft radius and approx. 10ft high at the highest tapper. I used pallets to keep the wood off the ground and purposely threw the smaller uglies in the center hap hazardly with the thinking of if its stacked neatly air will not exchange in the center. My holz is estimated at 5 cords or so. It has budged, the only thing that has moved in that stack are the poor pallets, some of them have collapsed.
After doing this type of stacking I've determined that all outdoor piles will be stacked like this, there stability is excellent, piles that will go into the wood shed or driveway stacks will be stacked traditionally and neatly.

2 1/2 years ago I built my first holz, 12ft radius and approx. 10ft high at the highest tapper. I used pallets to keep the wood off the ground and purposely threw the smaller uglies in the center hap hazardly with the thinking of if its stacked neatly air will not exchange in the center. My holz is estimated at 5 cords or so. It has budged, the only thing that has moved in that stack are the poor pallets, some of them have collapsed.
After doing this type of stacking I've determined that all outdoor piles will be stacked like this, there stability is excellent, piles that will go into the wood shed or driveway stacks will be stacked traditionally and neatly.

Sounds like a good mix, Kenny. I'm going to go with a few Amish-style piles to compliment my various stacks. They are going right on the ground, I'll lose a bit on the bottom, but I suppose that's not the end of the world. I just need to get to it!

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I can't be 100% sure but 2 times I've had racks that had full sun on one side and little sun on the other fall. They fell towards the direct sun side.

Heliotropic wood!

 

[DuaeGuttae]

The only time my stacks have fallen was because I made them way too high. Yes a nice high stack looks cool and is rewarding but definitely not practical. And by high I mean about 6ft off the ground. If I keep it to 4 then it's fine. We had a wind storm a month or so ago with 80+ mph gusts and my stacks held tight, surprisingly...

Just be mindful to keep everything straight and even as you're stacking. Takes a bit more time but picking up fallen stacks is the worst.

Mine was probably about five feet off the ground, though ten inches or so was the cinderblocks and landscape timbers. My husband will probably try it next when he has a chance to saw some pieces down to length so that I can split them. He plans to keep it a bit lower.

I was so disappointed when my rack fell since I had spent so much time stacking it straight and even. I figured I really wasn't going to do it any better, and I needed more stability. At least the holzhausen is still standing tonight.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

2 1/2 years ago I built my first holz, 12ft radius and approx. 10ft high at the highest tapper. I used pallets to keep the wood off the ground and purposely threw the smaller uglies in the center hap hazardly with the thinking of if its stacked neatly air will not exchange in the center. My holz is estimated at 5 cords or so. It has budged, the only thing that has moved in that stack are the poor pallets, some of them have collapsed.
After doing this type of stacking I've determined that all outdoor piles will be stacked like this, there stability is excellent, piles that will go into the wood shed or driveway stacks will be stacked traditionally and neatly.

Wow! I'm not sure we've ever even managed to have five split cords on our property at one time. We are trying to have more, hence coming up with new racks and piles. I can see why the pallets gave out. What is that, ten tons of wood?

I'm assuming that you like the seasoning as well as the stability if you're planning to continue, or are you one of those people who's so far ahead that it doesn't matter?

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Sounds like a good mix, Kenny. I'm going to go with a few Amish-style piles to compliment my various stacks. They are going right on the ground, I'll lose a bit on the bottom, but I suppose that's not the end of the world. I just need to get to it!

I had to google Amish-style piles to find out what that was about. I think I'll stick with the holzhausen for now as it was really satisfying today to hide numerous chunks and uglies in it. We're scrounges of bucked wood, and it's often just a bit too long for us, so we end up with lots of "cookies" and "pancakes."

Three of the kids helped put chunks and uglies into the middle of the "wood salad" today. They loved tossing them. At first they were calling them names based on their shapes: a slice of tomato, a cucumber, a slice of carrot, shredded red cabbage, a crouton. Soon they got hot and converted their play to being slaves in goblin mines being forced to mine for ore (loading up the cart with wood from the shaded pallet) and having to throw the wood into the heated cauldron (the sunny holzhausen). I need to build it higher so that we can finish the job.

 

[Hasufel]

I'm sure most don't do this, but after 20
Yrs. I've learned wood shrinks most in the first month. Everything Id stack fresh wood out of the splitter it would shift & fall within a month , let's say 50% of the time. It's sonannoying taking steps backwards... I now just leave it piled for 3-4 weeks & stack it in stages, meaning I go out & stack for 10 min here & there after dinner. Fresh cut stuff shrinks & causes topples .ive had almost no issues since starting this process. Hope it makes sense & helps. Good luck.

I think most of the shrinkage occurs after the moisture content falls below the fiber saturation point, so the timing is somewhat species dependent. I have a bad habit of stacking too high (because I always seem to exceed my planned stack space) and suffered a couple of partial collapses. Now I make a habit of periodically inspecting my newer stacks and looking for signs that they're sagging or leaning. If I see part of a stack going off-kilter then I'll take a chunk of wood or a mallet and gently tap the errant pieces back into alignment. But OP indicated that her collapses happened pretty soon after stacking, so drying-related shrinkage might not be the issue.

 

[coreboy83]

Mine was probably about five feet off the ground, though ten inches or so was the cinderblocks and landscape timbers. My husband will probably try it next when he has a chance to saw some pieces down to length so that I can split them. He plans to keep it a bit lower.

I was so disappointed when my rack fell since I had spent so much time stacking it straight and even. I figured I really wasn't going to do it any better, and I needed more stability. At least the holzhausen is still standing tonight.

We actually had the exact same thing happen to us. 3 days after finishing, we heard them come crashing down as we ate supper. on ours, the cinderblock had settled un-evenly. I got some starter blocks to put under the cinderblocks. no problems so-far

 

[DuaeGuttae]

We actually had the exact same thing happen to us. 3 days after finishing, we heard them come crashing down as we ate supper. on ours, the cinderblock had settled un-evenly. I got some starter blocks to put under the cinderblocks. no problems so-far

That's a possibility. Ours were actually on a long piece of plywood. (A rather extreme weed control measure after, a couple of years ago, the neighbor's newly created and mulched garden beds sprouted an amazing crop of thistle type things that liked to spread by roots.) I think my husband will be examining any new stacking on this same rack with a level. He does like the holzhausen very much, though, and we're making plans for a second on the other side of the yard. Being able to go higher with more stability helps in our small yard.

 

[Jeffm1]

You know, when I brought my husband outside to show him what my daughter called "the most disastrous disaster of disasters" (she's young and sheltered), we actually discussed that as a possibility but dismissed it as pretty unlikely. The neighbor whose fence it borders used to heat with wood and misses it. We did wonder about the teenage sons but still think it unlikely.

The first time the stack fell, we think there were several contributing causes: a slight slope away from the fence, some shorter pieces mixed in the rack (which my nine year old helped stack), and we actually think that the chain link fence may have wobbled when the neighbor's cat jumped on it (a regular occurrence) and struck the rack itself. You can see in the pictures that it leans. We subsequently moved the rack out farther from the fence and slightly repositioned it so that the wobbly fence couldn't touch it. When I re-stacked, I made sure all knotty pieces or shorter ones were put on last. They were pretty tightly stacked, so much so that they remained neatly stacked together when they fell over. Only one piece remained on the rack in the corner. I figure maybe the ground settled forward or something, or there was more lean than I thought, but I checked and checked. I figured I really couldn't do it any better, so I decided to go for a different technique.

My four year old was pretty sick and miserable today, but when her daddy brought her outside when he was checking my stacking, she heard him say that it seemed solid. She now refers to the new woodpile as the "wood salad."

Any chance the cat was jumping on the woodpile too? I find our neighbors cat on top of mine often.

 

[kennyp2339]

Any chance the cat was jumping on the woodpile too?

Ahhh the ole active cat

 

[maple1]

I'd try to get your foundation (plywood or pallets or whatever) up off the ground on cinder blocks. That space underneath REALLY helps the lower part of the pile get & stay dry - good for the foundation too. The more space the better.

I double stack on elevated pallets - no tip overs yet after all these years (knock on wood...). Double stacks are usually somewhat more stable.

 

[Dobish]

i recently re-did a few of my stacks. 1 of them went holzhausen, and it worked pretty well. i had to build it into a hill, but it has made it a few months now and it is still standing. it is about 4.5ft diameter,and about 7 ft tall. i wish i could have gotten up on pallets, but I didn't really want to deal with leveling the ground there.... probably a good thing too, since i most likely would have at some point hit the pallets and knocked over the whole pile!

The stuff out back, i ended up putting in piles on pallets. i threw down some bark mulch and wood chips, then laid out the pallets. I stacked 2 rows across, building towers at every corner (and 1 in the middle, just because).

I plan on putting a fruit tree in the middle of the stack, and one on the end, so i left a little gap. I figure I can use the wood pile to block off the trees from the critters!

So far so good! i just laid another row of pallets to move over the rest of the wood, and that should get me through a few years of seasoning...

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Any chance the cat was jumping on the woodpile too? I find our neighbors cat on top of mine often.

We've never seen the cat on any woodpile, but she walks along the fence frequently and is a regular visitor to our yard. We've also never stacked wood in this spot before, so it's entirely possible that the cat was investigating just what we had had the audacity to build in her preferred border crossing.