# Replacement for Tarp on Woodpile?



## Somesawguy (Jul 26, 2011)

I've been using tarps on my wood pile, but they don't hold up well, and are generally a pain to deal with in the winter. 

Other than a woodshed. What do you guys use?


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## Chud (Jul 26, 2011)

Corrugated tin and fiberglass


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## curmudgeon (Jul 26, 2011)

Make nice with the lead man on a commercial roofing job,where their pulling off the old rubber roof. A little green is a great incentive to remember you. Around here they don't recycle it. Go figure.Its heavy,dirty,and sometimes slimy,but it lasts for years.


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## audible fart (Jul 26, 2011)

I keep having this fantasy of stumbling onto a couple huge tarps flatbed truckers use one day when i happen to have my 6x12 trailer hooked up. I generally dont cover all my wood at once, usually just 2.5 months worth and move the tarp down as i go.


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## ponyexpress976 (Jul 26, 2011)

A local billboard company here sells the advertising as tarps once they take it down. I think the standard size is 24x48'. Stuff is considerably thicker than any heavy duty tarp. I see them on craigslist for about $50. Im personally using corrugated fiberglass roofing that I got from a customer I delivered wood to. He actually asked me to 1)get rid of it for him and 2) suggest something to cover his two cords with. When I told him the solution was right under his nose he looked at me like I had lobsters coming out of my ears. Some people just aren't happy unless they get to spend money.


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## zogger (Jul 26, 2011)

*broiler house walls plastic*

Over the last coupla decades, big commercial poultry broiler houses have gone from flexible sides to all sheet metal and just more fans. The plastic they used for the sides, so they could open and close easy, is the toughest sheet plastic. I have some that got to be around 15 years old I pulled outta the weeds on the farm here, I use that to cover the wood stacks and some of my equipment, like my riding mowers. It doesn't degrade outside like the regular el cheapo plastic tarps do, not as fast. Plus, it comes in long strips four feet wide, perfect if you do three piece wide stacking, and good enough if you just do two wide.

So, if you have any chicken operations near you, just go over and ask if they have any they threw out. Chances are, like most farms, surplus "stuff" just finds its way out back in the weeds someplace.

While you are there, ask if they got any old busted saws they will part with for like ten bucks..never hurts to ask...

Another alternative is just old pallets. Pallets on the bottom to stack on, and pallets on top that have scrap sheet metal nailed to them to keep water off. You can scrounge both for free.

Here's another, but you have to stack "round". Look for people throwing out those small kids wading pools at the end of summer. Just flip one upside down on your stack. Again, fairly heavy duty plastic,. Might have a small leak or two..so what, most of it will still be water tight and run the rain off.

And here's another! Look for old trashed out pull behind camping trailers. Gut 'em, open em up. Go cut and split, stack inside. You can get them things cheaper than you can used "utility" trailers, and they got a roof and sides! 

Or how about an old dead school bus? Have it hauled home, put up level on blocks, fill er up! They got windows for air flow...hold maybe..what, six cord maybe?

My brother bought an old used single wide trailer, got it for bupkis for hauling it off. He gutted the thing out in his field and it is now his hay barn for his little herd of horses.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 26, 2011)

Tarps suck for covering wood. They gather and hold moisture. BAD idea.

Use dump-score steel roofing. It's free, it's waterproof for the most part, and it's durable. 
It also tends to magnify the heat of the sun.

I stack my piles with a slight angle to the top so water runs down the length of the steel and off the end. I use ugly chunks that the splitter spits back at me to weight it down so the wind doesn't send it flying. Not pretty, but very effective.


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## unclemoustache (Jul 27, 2011)

There are different quality of tarps. The blue ones are the cheapest, and don't last long. Silver last longer, and aren't that much more expensive. As others have mentioned, truck tarps are good, but you have to steal it from a truck. Not recommended. Canvas is good stuff also.


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## Somesawguy (Jul 27, 2011)

I've been using the brown "heavy Duty" tarps, but they only seem to last a season. 

Thanks guys, I might try to find some tin or canvas tarps.


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## blackdogon57 (Jul 27, 2011)

Oldtimer said:


> Tarps suck for covering wood. They gather and hold moisture. BAD idea.
> 
> Use dump-score steel roofing. It's free, it's waterproof for the most part, and it's durable.
> It also tends to magnify the heat of the sun.
> ...




Totally agree. Snow and ice slides right off the steel as well. Tarps are nothing but a P I T A.


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## psuiewalsh (Jul 27, 2011)

We use steel and aluminum roofing sheets with the pile built on an angle to facilitate water/snow runoff. We also use plastic bedliners from pickups that are scrounged for free. The 8 ft bed liners are great and the snow slides off of them too.


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## CTYank (Jul 27, 2011)

unclemoustache said:


> There are different quality of tarps. The blue ones are the cheapest, and don't last long. *Silver last longer*, and aren't that much more expensive. As others have mentioned, truck tarps are good, but you have to steal it from a truck. Not recommended. Canvas is good stuff also.


 
Put the silver side up, and the tarp doesn't roast in the sun; lasts much longer.
Give it some pitch for drainage, like with scraps of limbs on top of the pile such that some reach out clear of the sides of the pile. Just don't leave really pointy bits reaching out to poke an eye.
Couple old tubafores or tubasixes on top, and it's set.


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## Motodeficient (Aug 15, 2011)

This will be the second winter at the house we bought in spring of 2010. Last winter I used tarps and it sucked. I made it through but a lot of my wood ended up wet and frozen. This weekend I built a 16x8 lean-to woodshed. I bought all of the lumber new and it cost me about $300. Well worth it IMO. I have never really built anything before and I still found this to be pretty easy. If you are on the fence about it, you should just do it! Although it will not hold all of my wood and I may add on to it next winter. Right now I have about 6 cord stacked up under tarps and about 6 more cord left to split and stack. I think the woodshed I just built should just about hold that last 6 cord. So I would still like to find a good alternative for the other 6 cord that I currently have stacked under tarps.


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## Kensterfly (Aug 15, 2011)

psuiewalsh said:


> We use steel and aluminum roofing sheets with the pile built on an angle to facilitate water/snow runoff. We also use plastic bedliners from pickups that are scrounged for free. The 8 ft bed liners are great and the snow slides off of them too.


 

Where do you find old, discard bedliners? I've had the original in my F-150 for 14 years and it's like new. I didn't know they would wear out and get discarded. I can see that they would make a good wood cover.


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## 7sleeper (Aug 15, 2011)

Kensterfly said:


> Where do you find old, discard bedliners? I've had the original in my F-150 for 14 years and it's like new. I didn't know they would wear out and get discarded. I can see that they would make a good wood cover.


 
I believe that truck underneath get's worn out.

7


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## blacklocst (Aug 15, 2011)

I"m trying plywood this year. The green tarps I"v been using for the last three years are starting to wear out. Used free metal roofing material is hard to come by.


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## peterc38 (Aug 15, 2011)

blacklocst said:


> Used free metal roofing material is hard to come by.



You got that right, I have been looking for some for a while with no luck


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## laynes69 (Aug 15, 2011)

I used the skin from an old round swimming pool. It's 4 feet wide and I cut them to 5 1/2 feet long to cover 3 rows wide. It's much better than tarps and was free. Eventually I want to build a woodshed but money is tight. I found tarps to last only a couple of years, and when they start to break down they become worthless.


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## Philbert (Aug 15, 2011)

ponyexpress976 said:


> A local billboard company here sells the advertising as tarps once they take it down. I think the standard size is 24x48'.


 
Here is a good Minnesota company: Billboard Tarps, Tarps, Discount Tarps, Used Billboard Vinyl, Hay Tarps, Pond Liners -- Billboard Tarp Warehouse | More Tarp Information

I believe that they even bought the left over pieces of the Metrodome roof.

(You might consider different options between laying the tarp directly on the wood pile and building some type of frame to keep the snow and water off, but allow access and air to circulate.

Philbert


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## psuiewalsh (Aug 15, 2011)

Kensterfly said:


> Where do you find old, discard bedliners? I've had the original in my F-150 for 14 years and it's like new. I didn't know they would wear out and get discarded. I can see that they would make a good wood cover.



I guess people get rid of them for different reasons. The last three I picked up had free signs on them in their yards along the road.


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## zogger (Aug 15, 2011)

*Around here*



psuiewalsh said:


> I guess people get rid of them for different reasons. The last three I picked up had free signs on them in their yards along the road.


 
People sell them things used, never seen a free one or even heard of one. 

The biggest growth industry and jobs opportunity around here is scrapping (legit and non legit..and non lefit is winning and no idea how they get away with it either...). Anything decent used is for sale, ain't no more free stuff worth much out there. 

Heck, I need two liners right now, but I think it will be cheap cans of rustoleum that will have to do. I haven't looked at spray on liners though, maybe that is affordable.


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## lon (Aug 15, 2011)

For too many years I tried everything I could find to cover our wood. From flatbed truck tarps, plywood, metal, store tarps, etc. Each one had some good points and many bad points. After too many years, I built a covered shed for the wood. My only regret is that I did not do it sooner. Sure there was some expense to it but I rather not think about all the money I spent on tarps for the past thirty years! Now our wood is always dry and I do not need to keep an eye on the weather. Worth every cent you put into it. If you do it, do it right and be done with it.


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## Big_Al (Aug 15, 2011)

Around here you can find a lot of old metal sheds that cave in during the winter or folks get tired of and just want gone. Tear them down and there is quite a bit of usable metal.


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## Snocat3 (Aug 16, 2011)

we shrink wrap boats in the fall and most people throw their covers away in the spring. I've been using the same cover on my boat for 5 years now. It's the best plastic type tarp material that I've found for covering my wood pile. a new roll 12x149 feet goes for around $150.00 or a used cover off a 8x24 foot pontoon boat will cover a nice size wood pile for free.


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