Air flow no-go

Deep in the throes of firewood related thought the other night (and also a couple glasses of wine deep) I made the decision to start siding the pallet palace. Not going to go full encapsulation here, because as you all know firewood, even seasoned, needs some air flow. Of course only seasoned wood goes in the palace.

I figure there is adequate air movement from underneath (the floor is pallets as well) and air and moisture can escape out the top. From the pics I will only go up another couple rows with the siding, and then use pallet slats to make hinged doors (think tobacco barn, for those in the know) that can be opened and closed when needed. The back side near the fence will remain open, and I will eventually make a door for the front.

Am I over thinking this? Yeah, probably. Will it be perfect? Probably not. But I do enjoy a creative project, so I'll keep chipping away at it until fall, me thinks.

On the subject of air flow, I couldn't help but think of some "methods" that I've seen some friends and family use. My stepfather, for one, who has taught me valuable skills regarding wood processing, still leaves me shaking my head when I see his wood pile. And it stays in a pile all year, green, wet, and completely covered with a tarp. I don't think the man has ever burned a dry piece of firewood.

A good friend of mine in Maine buys his wood late in the year. It's green as all heck when it's delivered in September, and he immediately stacks it in his garage where it stays all winter with zero air flow. We go ice fishing and I'd rather risk the ticket for bringing wood up from CT than burn his wet, hissing, smoldering and smokey stuff.

So what about y'all? Have that family member or friend that does firewood "their own way" that just doesn't make a lick of sense?

 

I personally would leave it open for air flow, but can understand why you want to side it. Aesthetics and extra pallet wood and your creative factor.
Mt landlord burns any crappy wood he can get his hands on. I give him some. Last Winter he burned oak that was barely seasoned. His stove is a beat up, drafty second hand, inefficient POS. If you saw it, it would scare you! Old cantankerous guy you cant tell anything to either.
Dad and uncle burned conventional fireplaces tears back and as far as i remember wood was okay. Standard stacks with top coverings.

 

If I were going to "side" that, I think I would do it the way they used to on wooden corn cribs...the slat edges are cut on a 45* angle and then left with about a 3/4" gap between each one...good protection, good air flow

 

Ahhhh.... I'm smellin' what you're steppin' in! Good call. I may have to rethink it. I'm not so far along that I can't pull off the top rows and do a thin space in between.

 

Minor adjustment! The five rows at the base will remain, too much work to rip it all off. Going up I'm leaving a board's width in between each slat and continue on that way to the top. Thanks brenndatomu for the corn crib idea.

 

If I build a wood shed at some point, I'd consider vertical pine boards. Every other one hinged to open out at the bottom. Close it up in the winter. Like a tobacco barn.

 

That’s a good idea. I’ve never seen one.
We did have a corn crib on the farm years ago which held a small amount of firewood for awhile. It wasn’t a large crib.
Neat design I think. Would do well for firewood. Instead of the stud walls being straight they were built on an angle so the building and roof got larger towards the top. Gave great rain and splash protection. The studs were just wrapped with chicken wire to keep the corn in. No siding required.
As a kid I always wondered what crazy drunk built that shed

 

Wire walls


Wooden walls...ours didn't have gaps as wide as this one does.

On ours the slats looked like this (from the end) (you'll have to look past my finger painting)

 

Looking good! I was thinking about building an open pole barn type structure for myself this fall, with simple 2 X 6 sides leaving plenty of gap for air flow. I'm in the process of adding on to my back deck so I'll have plenty of old decking material to re-purpose. I too have that one friend that has their "own way" to season wood. Back in the spring he was selling his previous house at which he had maybe 5 cords of "seasoned" wood stacked. Mostly red oak, some poplar and lots of black and yellow birch. He gave me dibs on as much as I wanted before the buyers closed on the home. I happily went up there and was instantly deflated when I saw the piles. Everything was stacked in a super dense pine grove in perpetual darkness, directly on the ground. Semi-wetland area too, very soft ground underfoot with a stream passing nearby. Moss growing everywhere. All the birch was punky to completely rotted through, the tops and bottoms of the stacks were useless mushroom and moss farms. I tore apart a couple piles and in the middle of the stacks I was able to salvage about a cord of decent red oak. There's no way he could've been burning any of that indoors, at least I hope not. Nearest I can figure, he got all gung-ho about firewood hoarding for the first year or two at the house, lost interest, then left it alone. He split everything by hand too, what a shame.

 

Weel, in my humble opinion, you are on the right track. Plenty of good thoughts froom others too. I would not overthink your project.
the idea is to keep the wood dry and allow it to season right?
The Shed that I built is exposed to the South, but as you can see in the photo, even though no protection, there is no snow inside the stacks. High winds bring some in occasionally, but onlt on the outer splits and the sun burns it off pretty quickly. Enjoy your project.