Cover it or not cover it

[Trapper_Pete]

The shed makes everything so much drier and in short time

I almost exclusively cut dead wood
I did a tarp for a few years but going out and pulling back the tarp and bringing in a days wood was a pain.

then I built a simple 8x12 shed 3 sided , the wood burned so much better after spending 6 -8 months in the shed always nice and dry.

easier to start fires no hissing , better heat.

I put a wall up in the middle 2 years ago now I can start loading the shed as soon as I have half used and not wait till spring

no the only thing I wish I had was 2 sheds or a bigger shed I still have to have some piles at the wood yard where I cut my shed isn't quite big enough for a full year so I stack on pallets and use bail wrapper plastic off the round bails to cover stacks.

I think the Ideal wood setup is a shed with 3 bays each bay 1 years worth of fire wood then it is always dry and seasoned and you move it in once and out to burn

maybe a 4th bay to keep the splitter and tools in would be nice if it was open on one side and that faced south it would be even better

 

[Joesell]

I cover the wood at the bottom of the pile with wood from the middle. I cover the middle with the stuff on top. Seems to dry out just fine.

 

[B Brown]

I have a wood shed, and i have some outside of it that i tarp, but, during times when its not raining, i uncover it, on the end. Letting the sun, and air get to it. I'm retired now, so, it's no big deal to do it off and on. Plus, i rotate my wood, by taking it off my outside pile that is tarped, and moving it to the wood shed as i work out the wood in the shed. I keep a eye on it, and have not seen much as far as mold, and other stuff growing on the wood under the tarp.

 

[Huskyuser]

Have been covering the top but never the sides for 40 years............seems to work so I'm sticking with it!

 

[Marley5]

OP,
I'm more concerned with the safety of this woman your referring to burning unseasoned wood, never good.

I have stacks of wood sitting around everywhere uncovered but eventually ends up in a shed. I stay about 2 years ahead.

 

[B Brown]

I use old tin roof panels to cover my own stack and I angle em so rain flows off. But man I'd like to have a setup like Retired Marine's, nice work on that.

Also, I talked to my friend, she had called her supplier and sounds like he knew some of the wood was wet. So what'd she do?.....ordered another cord.

You have the perfect spot for a shed, and, at this time, all you would have to do is dig the post holes, or set them how ever you'd decide to, then, slap a roof on it. Don't have to use new tin, even if you could find some used stuff for a good price or even better free, you could put up a shed in no time. Climb on top of it to roof it, what a deal! By the way, nice stack! Hope your friend's getting the wood for a NOT Seasoned price

 

[fulladirt]

You have the perfect spot for a shed, and, at this time, all you would have to do is dig the post holes, or set them how ever you'd decide to, then, slap a roof on it. Don't have to use new tin, even if you could find some used stuff for a good price or even better free, you could put up a shed in no time. Climb on top of it to roof it, what a deal! By the way, nice stack! Hope your friend's getting the wood for a NOT Seasoned price

Thanks and you're right I thought about putting a shed over it but I change my layout around every once in awhile, usually to make room for more wood, man we got so many red oak trees dying around here and I hate to see em just rot away.
And I took my friend a load of firewood 2 weeks ago, apparently her supplier ran out, but I know she really likes running her woodstove. When I told her I could bring her some nice dry firewood she would say no no no that's ok it's yours you work hard for that....I had to sneak over to her house while she was at church to drop it off lol

 

[B Brown]

Thanks and you're right I thought about putting a shed over it but I change my layout around every once in awhile, usually to make room for more wood, man we got so many red oak trees dying around here and I hate to see em just rot away.
And I took my friend a load of firewood 2 weeks ago, apparently her supplier ran out, but I know she really likes running her woodstove. When I told her I could bring her some nice dry firewood she would say no no no that's ok it's yours you work hard for that....I had to sneak over to her house while she was at church to drop it off lol

Good for you!! I enjoy doing things like that for people, it just feels right!

 

[pauljoseph]

Cover the top with tarps, season for a year and a half. Seem to do the trick here in South Carolina. I have a woodshed that fits about four cords in it, end it never seem to do any better than the stuff with just a tarp on top.

 

[Huskybill]

I stack the firewood for next year uncovered. In the fall it gets covered so it stays dry.

 

[muddstopper]

I am sure space has a lot to do with how others prepare their wood for burning. I sort of take the lazy way out, but I have plenty of room to have wood scattered everywhere. I like to bring in my wood in log form. I'll pile those logs so that most of it isnt sitting on the ground. I'll buck that wood when I get around to it and just push the rounds in a pile. When it comes time to split, I sort of just drag my splitter around the piles of rounds, which leaves splits laying all around the area. when it gets to big or out of control, I'll take the tractor and push the splits up into a pile, uncovered. This wood my lay there all summer, sometimes two summers. Come fall, I scoop the split wood up with the loader and carry it a bucket full at a time and stack it under my shed. Winter time and heating season comes around, my wood is pretty well seasoned and dry. I take the wood out of the shed and to my basement about a haf cord at a time. I stack this close to the stove on my roll around stack carts. I find the stack carts to be very handy in controlling the mess in the basement. Roll them to the door, stack with wood and roll next to the stove. I did bring about a cord of wood up to the house and stack outside the basement door this year. I covered it with plastic. The wood had been laying in a pile in the weather uncovered. Of course it turned freezing cold and any moisture in the wood froze so it didnt dry out any. I used it up by putting on the stack carts and placing the loaded carts next to the stove. I then put a big fan blowing thru the stacks to dry them out. Between the stove heat and the fans, the wood dried enough to burn in about 2 days. I will say this much, any wood contacting the gound will soak up moisture and actually start to rot in one season. By making big piles, I have minimal ground contact and when the wood is stacked, the wood that was contacting the ground usually ends up on top of the stacks, so it drys quickly. Any wood that is stacked around here is done so on top of pallets that sit on top of landscape timbers so the wood is about 8 inches off the ground. This promotes good air flow and really helps speed up the drying process. The landscape timbers also help prevent the pallets from rottening from ground contact.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Most people selling firewood are probably not going to cover firewood due to expense and the time it takes to cover it.
A couple years ago I bought large tarps. 30' x 50' were $180. a pop. Snow melted, pooled, refroze, and the weight tore the tarps up. Time: is time to buy the tarps, time to secure, dig the snow off to get at the wood, etc. The larger the tarp the bigger the pain.
Now I cover individual pallets by cutting those, and new, large tarps into 6' x 6' squares, folding the corners, sewing, and using a one piece length of bailing twine to secure by threading through each corner. UV has deteriorated the covers in one year. Many I have gotten two years out of and going on three. Most are sieves, but keep leaves from collecting on top of the piles. Leaves get wet and hold moisture and stay wet, eventually dry, get wet again. So covering helps in keeping firewood cleaner and drier, although there was considerable time in making them. I probably will not make more covers unless they are UV protected and last longer, as the coating breaks down followed by the plastic weave breaking down and tearing almost by touch. The are presently 201 covered pallets in the wood lot, 50 1/4 cord. It is not worth the time and cost to continue making more than presently on reserve.
(I sell out before November, and no longer deliver during winter.)

 

[NSMaple1]

Simple things to make tarp life easier.

Make them only as big as the top of your stack.

Hold them in place by putting a layer of wood on top. (Also blocks damaging sun).