drying on my split wood

[mn man]

so here's the deal: I sell split firewood at my gas station that i go out and cut, bring back and split, and stack and sell. I purchased an old 2000+ square foot brick building next to my store. I split my firewood in the building and stack it on pallets so it's off the ground since the ceiling leaks in many places. My question to you guys is if the wood is still drying out at a normal pace even though there is little to no airflow, no direct sunlight, and a fair amount of moisture in the building? i just dont want to sell moldy or wet wood..... i can take pictures later

 

[muddstopper]

Personally, I think you have to have air flow, and sunlite surely helps, to dry wood. Sure it will dry out in about a hundred years without air flow, but I dont think you can cut and split it this time of year, store it inside a wet building, with no airflow or sunlite, and expect it to be dry for this winter.

Everybody does things different. I have one of those cheap metal carports with the open sides. I lay pallets on the ground and stack my wood under the carport. The low hanging metal ceiling creates heat, the open sides and pallets on the ground allow air to circulate thru the wood and my wood, mostly oaks, dries pretty quickly. The shed will hold about 2 years worth of wood. About 6-7 full cords. I stack new wood on one end and pull out of the other end during firewood season. When I stop burning for the winter, I will refill the empty end with fresh wood. Currently my shed is half full of almost two year old wood I will burn this winter. I have wood i cut last Christmas and bucked and split in April partially stacked and purposely scattered around the shed. The stacks outside the shed will probably just remain uncovered until winter 2017, The scattered wood will be stacked inside the shed sometime this fall or winter. I have more wood than the shed will currently hold until I burn what I already have stacked and dry. I dont like to keep the shed completely full of wood because the wood ends up stacked end to end, with no spacing between stacks. A 14ft wide x 19ft long stack of wood doesnt dry very evenly and the wood in the middle doesnt get really dry, but only keeping one end filled and leaving for at least a year, the wood seems to dry ok. The wood I have scattered around the shed, unstacked, is a first this year and is more a test to see which drys faster, the stacked wood or the loose and scattered wood. Plus, after Knee surgery, I just havent been able to do any stacking. This seems to be working pretty well so far, only drawback is not being able to keep the weeds cut around the loose wood.

 

[sam-tip]

Wind is your friend in drying wood. A fan is better than nothing. I can tell the difference from the south and north side of my barn. Or the sunny side and not so sunny side of the metal enclosed barn. Wood doesn't get dry on north side. No heat.

 

[rarefish383]

I built a 4' porch around my 12'X16' shed. It does have a shingled roof over it. The shed is in the woods so not much sunlight. It is also on top of a windy hill. Lots of air movement. Wood dries great on the porch. As Sam said, "Wind is your friend", Joe.

 

[rarefish383]

I've seen solar powered fans that might be cost effective. Are there other valuable supplies kept in the building? If it's just a big wood shed leave the windows open, if needed, bar the windows, Joe.

 

[mn man]

just a bunch of old rusty things laying around in the building... i keep the wood in there so people dont just take it since its in town at the intersection of 2 highways... good idea of putting bars across where there was a window instead of the plywood that is covering it, maybe even putting a wire screen over it too to keeps the birds and other critters out of it

 

[svk]

I will differ and say direct sun is your biggest ally in drying wood. Wood stored inside will eventually get drier than it could outside due to the absence of rain falling near and then evaporating up into the wood (but that will take a very long time). But to dry inside you need heat and wind in the absence of the sun hitting it, otherwise if brought in green it will mold.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

From experience in this area as others have mentioned is the wind. I use a large fan outdoors often. It works. In California we have years when humidity drops below 20% then we have years where as it rains every week and humidity stays above 70%. After a rain storm direct a couple of fans on some large rows of wood or pray that the weather goes below freezing and then wood will dry in a few days. Thanks

 

[Hinerman]

I will differ and say direct sun is your biggest ally in drying wood. Wood stored inside will eventually get drier than it could outside due to the absence of rain falling near and then evaporating up into the wood (but that will take a very long time). But to dry inside you need heat and wind in the absence of the sun hitting it, otherwise it will mold.

I agree on the sun being your biggest ally. I know wind/air circulation is important but heat is what drys the wood out. If wind were more important then kilns would just have a bunch of fans instead of a major source of heat...IMO. A good combination of heat and wind (such as in a high-end kiln) is ideal. Fortunately, we are not in short supply of either here in OK.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

This summer I dumped about 2 cords of fresh cut wood in the shop to make bundles. The hired hand that was supposed to do it was slower than molasses on a -60 day. (Was a 3-4 day job, after 3 WEEKS I ended up firing him and finishing it myself!) The wood started to get moldy from no airflow after week 2. I put a fan blowing on it and that helped a bunch. W

I think a leaky building without airflow would be great for growing mushrooms. Not drying wood. Fix the roof and Maybe put a chainlink fence in place of the garage doors?

 

[rarefish383]

When I said I agree with Sam, and wind is your friend, I didn't mean it is better than sun. I split all of my wood on the court in front of my house. I usually stack it all in 1 cord stacks and let it start drying there. That is full sun, on a black top pad (110 degrees right now), on the top of the hill with lots of wind. The wood starts to get lighter the first day. By the time I move it to the wood sheds it's much lighter than when I split it. The porch around my work shop/shed is not closed, dark and dank. It is open, light, and airy, wood will not mildew there. The best is sun and wind. The OP has a closed up building that he said is boarded up. If he gets the plywood off the windows, the building will dry out, and be much better than if it were left like a cave. Wind and Sun is best, Joe.

 

[Marshy]

I have a 24x48 pole barn with a dirt floor, no windows so no sun light. I put 6 full cord piled up on pallets, it sat for the summer and my wood was seasoned great. The barn was all closed up, only one open window (typical house sized window) otherwise no air flow other than gaps in the roof ridge and at the eaves. I think the heat through the hot summer months helped dry the wood. While there wasn't a breeze through the bar I think it had plenty of air flow as the wood wasn't moldy. If I could do that every year I would. Keeping the rain off the top and ground moisture from reaching the wood is a big plus IMO. Your results may very.

 

[turnkey4099]

I will differ and say direct sun is your biggest ally in drying wood. Wood stored inside will eventually get drier than it could outside due to the absence of rain falling near and then evaporating up into the wood (but that will take a very long time). But to dry inside you need heat and wind in the absence of the sun hitting it, otherwise if brought in green it will mold.

Disagree. The sun will only heat one end of the pieces (not very deep at that, wood does not transmit heat well) plus the top layer. Air movement is what does the job. Given a choice between sun and breeze, I'll take a dark, gloomy spot with good air movement over a sunny spot with no air circulation.

 

[Marshy]

You both are wrong I tell you, WRONG! It's all about due point temperature. That's the basis of kiln drying.

 

[olyman]

This seems to be working pretty well so far, only drawback is not being able to keep the weeds cut around the loose wood.[/QUOTE]
Roundup!!!

 

[olyman]

You both are wrong I tell you, WRONG! It's all about due point temperature. That's the basis of kiln drying.

damn right!!!! mine is where there is direct sunlight in the am,,and breeze at all times when there is one...ALLL my HARDWOODS dry fast!!!!

 

[svk]

Disagree. The sun will only heat one end of the pieces (not very deep at that, wood does not transmit heat well) plus the top layer. Air movement is what does the job. Given a choice between sun and breeze, I'll take a dark, gloomy spot with good air movement over a sunny spot with no air circulation.

Well you are in a different climate so things might be different there but I doubt it.

I had black ash in full shade with high wind that was at 30 percent MC after 18 months CSS (started at 45 percent). OTOH I've had a number of hardwoods completely dried in two months in full sun.

 

[mn man]

i unload the wood where the door is open...

 

[TysonH]

I'm a native Californian live in central at about 1700 ft. I've never had a hard time getting wood seasoned. We typically cut during winter and the wood is brought to the splitting area and dropped in stacks by backhoe as rounds where it sits until about August and then it's split. Even green limbs that break during summer dry out by winter. Unless you live above 5 or 6k ft or northern coast I can't imagine wood not drying out. This state has long hot, and dry summers and should dry nicely but as others have said keep the doors open when possible for airflow.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

You both are wrong I tell you, WRONG! It's all about due point temperature. That's the basis of kiln drying.

You have my attention. Keep talking... What is 'due point temperature'?