Wood Shed Erotica (show what you’ve got)

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Here's mine, built it at the back of my backyard, makes for a nice "fence" between me and the neighbors as that was the only part of the yard not totally fenced off. The neighbor later added a chain link fence around his backyard to keep his dog in.

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It can hold around 12 cords, maybe a bit more. I have a couple leftover 10 ft pallets I can place in front of this to use as overflow for wood (as I'm currently doing now) and that gives me about another 4 to 5 cords.
 
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This is my work in progress. Eastern White Cedar timber frame. Holds 2 years if wood, 12 faces per side (I’ll only be loading 10 per side). Still finishing the siding, then some landscaping.

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Your photo is my wife's idea of a good looking way to store 1 cord of firewood on a .2 acre city lot. I keep trying to tell her how big it would look in our situation, and how expensive, but she wants the wood shed erotica. I satisfied her desires with a Woodhaven 8 foot rack and cover.
 
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My brother in law added on a lean to on the back for his sleds . . . and I am currently working on an addition on the side for my ATV.
 

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Each bay hold a little over 3 cords, which is around what we burn in a winter. I don't season wood before putting it in here so I wanted it to be as open as possible. Originally I planned for it to be all on one level, but once I started digging to level the space out I hit ledge 6" below the grass... so I ended up with this tiered design.

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That is a beautiful woodshed kansasnate. Holds a lot of wood, too. In that snow picture the woodshed looks like a movie star.

You live in Vermont. I am from Atlanta. At Christmas 1972 I went up to Putney, Vermont with my brother. We played around in a foot of snow and walked on frozen ponds, stuff you can't do in Atlanta.
We spent a couple days with some guys at an old farm house. They had a Vermont Castings wood stove in the living room. I had never heard of a wood stove I didn't know what the hell it was. Boy, I was out there chopping wood and feeding that stove, I was fascinated at how much heat it put out. Just cast iron, no fire view, but I thought that stove was fantastic.

I determined that I would have a wood stove and in a few months I bought one for my little house in Atlanta. I got the head start on my wood stove career thanks to Vermont.
 
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Each bay hold a little over 3 cords, which is around what we burn in a winter. I don't season wood before putting it in here so I wanted it to be as open as possible. Originally I planned for it to be all on one level, but once I started digging to level the space out I hit ledge 6" below the grass... so I ended up with this tiered design.

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Wow - beautiful!
 
Good looking shed. What kind of pallets are those?

Thank you! I used wood pallets for many years. They get rotten, the bottom boards rot into the dirt so when you move them there are rusty nails sticking up, you always step through or break boards walking on them, and they only last a couple of years. These pallets are now about 4-5 years old and still like new. They are high density expanded polystyrene like you use under slabs for insulation. I can pick each one up with one hand so you do need to weigh them down or they will blow away. Oh and you can cut them to fit your space with a Sheetrock saw.

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Thank you! I used wood pallets for many years. They get rotten, the bottom boards rot into the dirt so when you move them there are rusty nails sticking up, you always step through or break boards walking on them, and they only last a couple of years. These pallets are now about 4-5 years old and still like new. They are high density expanded polystyrene like you use under slabs for insulation. I can pick each one up with one hand so you do need to weigh them down or they will blow away. Oh and you can cut them to fit your space with a Sheetrock saw.View attachment 262400View attachment 262401
Hey @Highbeam - out of curiosity, why do you have your wood stacked along the sides like that (perpendicular to the row behind)?
 
Hey @Highbeam - out of curiosity, why do you have your wood stacked along the sides like that (perpendicular to the row behind)?

Im a Swiss engineer! The load from a 7’ tall row of wood on the ends pushing out can be substantial. Enough to blow out the sides of the shed. Having all of the walls up against the sides of a row helps keep my shed walls from carrying thIs sideways load.

What I do notice with wall “boards” is that firewood shrinks as it dries. The top splits fall up to 1.5” after 2 years baking.
 
Thank you! I used wood pallets for many years. They get rotten, the bottom boards rot into the dirt so when you move them there are rusty nails sticking up, you always step through or break boards walking on them, and they only last a couple of years. These pallets are now about 4-5 years old and still like new. They are high density expanded polystyrene like you use under slabs for insulation. I can pick each one up with one hand so you do need to weigh them down or they will blow away. Oh and you can cut them to fit your space with a Sheetrock saw.
Nice. What industry uses those pallets? I haven't seen them before.

Im a Swiss engineer! The load from a 7’ tall row of wood on the ends pushing out can be substantial. Enough to blow out the sides of the shed.
Engineering overkill. I have simple lattice covering the sides and have never had that issue in over 9 yrs with 3 cords in a bay. The lateral pressure is not high. Still, no harm done by loading it that way.
 
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Nice. What industry uses those pallets? I haven't seen them before.


Engineering overkill. I have simple lattice covering the sides and have never had that issue in over 9 yrs with 3 cords in a bay. The lateral pressure is not high. Still, no harm done by loading it that way.

These pallets came from an actual foam factory. Not sure who uses them but I see some drawbacks in freight use. They’re pretty great for firewood. The Black plastic pallets would be pretty good too. I have a deep layer of clean gravel under the pallets but I just don’t know if that’s good enough to keep things dry.

Overkill is a funny term. Yes, I prefer to kill the heck out of potential problems when there is no drawback or extra cost. It’s that risk reward balance. I’ve seen plenty of wood sheds with blown out sides from wood settling down and out. I don’t want that!
 
I have seen wood piles blow out, but not shed walls. I don't recall seeing any blow out here, but maybe my scope is limited. You had me wondering so I went out and checked our shed and found no signs of strain on the nails holding up the lattice, nor play.
 
I have seen wood piles blow out, but not shed walls. I don't recall seeing any blow out here, but maybe my scope is limited. You had me wondering so I went out and checked our shed and found no signs of strain on the nails holding up the lattice, nor play.

There are several factors. My shed walls are just 10’ long boards attached to the corner posts. The walls flex out when I lean on it. Then, of course a 3 cord shed ain’t an 11 cord shed. It is obvious that there is some sideways force needed to keep a 7’ vertical stack end vertical. I don’t want to load a wall like that so I start with one row parallel to the wall. Seems easy enough. Always try and think of ways to make life easier on your equipment, your body, etc. but sure, stack your wood however you want.
 
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Your photo is my wife's idea of a good looking way to store 1 cord of firewood on a .2 acre city lot. I keep trying to tell her how big it would look in our situation, and how expensive, but she wants the wood shed erotica. I satisfied her desires with a Woodhaven 8 foot rack and cover.

It is big. It's 10x20. We have a 1 acre lot, and it's a big building. I actually wish I had made it a foot shorter. Landscaping has helped a lot. I put 24 yards around it to round off the area it sits on. On a small lot I would stack along a wall somewhere.
 
Thank you! I used wood pallets for many years. They get rotten, the bottom boards rot into the dirt so when you move them there are rusty nails sticking up, you always step through or break boards walking on them, and they only last a couple of years. These pallets are now about 4-5 years old and still like new. They are high density expanded polystyrene like you use under slabs for insulation. I can pick each one up with one hand so you do need to weigh them down or they will blow away. Oh and you can cut them to fit your space with a Sheetrock saw.

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I like the way you stacked this! I think I will stack mine this way next time a side is empty.
 
These pallets came from an actual foam factory. Not sure who uses them but I see some drawbacks in freight use. They’re pretty great for firewood. The Black plastic pallets would be pretty good too. I have a deep layer of clean gravel under the pallets but I just don’t know if that’s good enough to keep things dry.

Overkill is a funny term. Yes, I prefer to kill the heck out of potential problems when there is no drawback or extra cost. It’s that risk reward balance. I’ve seen plenty of wood sheds with blown out sides from wood settling down and out. I don’t want that!

Most of the woodsheds here aren't even tied at the bottom, they just have palettes in them. Many are decades old, they don't spread. If criss-cross crib ends can hold a tall stack, I don't worry about timbers. I think the load is mostly transferred down.
 
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ugly as hell! But, I didn’t build it. When we bought our property it was covered in blackberries. I literally ran into this used to be pig house with the tractor. Works great as a wood shed! next year I think I’ll intentionally run into it with the tractor and build a highbeam shed...

HB.. do you recall how much cash you shelled out in material?
 
It is big. It's 10x20. We have a 1 acre lot, and it's a big building. I actually wish I had made it a foot shorter. Landscaping has helped a lot. I put 24 yards around it to round off the area it sits on. On a small lot I would stack along a wall somewhere.

Smolder -
Great looking shed. Could you comment on whether your shed is anchored at all? Looks like it's sitting on blocks or a footer of some kind.
 
Funny, I built this woodshed this year with my additional free time due to WFH full time. I found the design on https://www.firewood-for-life.com/firewood-shed-plans.html

And I ran into the great PT lumber shortage of 2020, so had to change some of the materials based on what was available at my local home improvement stores.
 

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Im a Swiss engineer! The load from a 7’ tall row of wood on the ends pushing out can be substantial. Enough to blow out the sides of the shed. Having all of the walls up against the sides of a row helps keep my shed walls from carrying thIs sideways load.

What I do notice with wall “boards” is that firewood shrinks as it dries. The top splits fall up to 1.5” after 2 years baking.
Funny I am a Sales Guy and stack exactly the same way (each 1/2 of my shed can hold about 6 - 7 full cord) so I was concerned about the outward pressure. I was a Management major at RPI, maybe hanging around with those engineers put some knowledge into my subconscious?
 
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I have seen wood piles blow out, but not shed walls. I don't recall seeing any blow out here, but maybe my scope is limited. You had me wondering so I went out and checked our shed and found no signs of strain on the nails holding up the lattice, nor play.
now that you said that i would be careful:)