The old argument about whether to cover stacks or not.

For those of us living in the windbelt top covering with tin held down by a few splits, uglies on top is a real exercise routine. Picking that stuff up over and over convinced me that top covering was more of a nuisance than anything. Tough to keep steel sections on the stacks here. Even if wired/weighted down. Tarps are reduced to confetti in a season at my place as well. A real mess.
Along with regular high winds we also are blessed with plenty of open space without tree cover that pollutes the stacks with leaves/needles. It's actually great for seasoning. We stack 2 splits wide on pallets on mowed grass in nice long rows. We are fortunate to have the room.
Eventually I would like to have a good sized carport with storage shed on one end on a large slab. Its just money!

 

If I had more of the metal roofing or something similar, I would not bother to uncover once the snow melted. Unfortunately, I'm still using tarps for some of the long-term stacks and once the snow melts, they're just a PITA to maintain, so off they come. I agree with you though, it makes more sense to just cover and be done with it.

 

I'd be game on the epdm.

 

Boy, I dunno, that's a pretty long drive... (we aren't more than 10 minutes apart, but never met, yet)

 

I get it...we live at the top of a knoll and the wind can really whip up from the valley below! When the neighbor has tall corn in the field next to us, no wind issues, once its gone, I have to put the covers back on the stacks at least twice per year...doesn't seem to matter what I put on top of it...and if you try to tie it down rigid, things just get destroyed when it rips loose.

 

So lumber and roofing are just too spendy...for 23 cord of wood.
Ive top covered with plastic sheeting. Mostly the 3 mil. If I double layer it, it does ok, but single layer, non pvc plastic, shreds.

This year, instead of covering then throwing logs, lumber or pallets atop, I used paracord, tied to the pallet on each side. I used 6 mil plastic, and put a piece under the pile, so the pallets are not sitting on the ground.
So a 25x10 piece, I cut 4' leaving a 6' piece left. 4 footer goes under, 6 footer on top with a foot overhanging each side.

Much neater in appearance. Will see how it holds up....so far hurricane henry has not tested my work too severely.
Sca

 

And, I cover the day the wood is stacked.
The amount of crap that gets in there is a reason, but why even let the rain in?
I'm not sure leaving it open allows it to dry faster here. And I hope tying it down will secure the plastic well enough. I was gonna tie bricks or logs on....would use less cord.....but the cost of bricks or the time tying on other things just didn't seem workable. Nor the appearance of things dangling off the piles.

Sca

 

I use those "C" shaped thread hooks. Drilled a pilot hole into a split and then twisted them on with pliers. Hooked them into cheap harborfreight heavy duty tarps and so far so good. During a couple of storms I did have one or two fly off but that was really my fault for not using heavier, bigger splits.

Here's a few pics I snapped when I first did it in Apr-2019. I was trying to be all fancy and wedge the hooked splits into the stack but that didn't work so now they just dangle. I wish they made round tarps at HF but I used a 11' x 9' which covers the top and extends over the sides slightly. I also got a grommet tool to replace any grommets that broke (that happened a few times).

This way works pretty well. It's pretty easy to flip up a section you want to access - just lift the hook out of the grommet. When there's a big snow I use a broom to clear the snow off the top but otherwise I'm pretty happy with this setup.

The 2nd pic here with the grey tarps was literally the first two holz hausens I did. The one on the right was small because I thought "I'm never going to have enough wood to make a large one........"

20 stacks later........I've learned to definitely use the pallets and spread them out and make 'em as big as possible.

 

Finally going to try some rubber roofing.

 

I cover my woodpiles because Backwoods Savage wrote he did an experiment and it was better that way. I get some winds off lake I just nail covers to a few splits to keep them on.

 

I never have covered stacks. It is all gone every year and is @ 20% moisture by November.

This was split Feb-March. Burns pretty good for campfires right now. You can see how it has been pulled off.

The last pic was split in April and it is catching up fast. BTW, this had 8" of rain on it 10 days ago.

 

I'm very grateful for covering when it snows or rains unexpectedly and you can still get some dry splits into the house, even if the system isn't perfect. It definitely is better than not covering. Here in the NE you get your fair share of wet and soggy weather.

Ideally I'd have a huge shed to store my wood, but then that shed would be bigger than my house hahahahahahaha.

 

You can buy HH covers...but not cheap.

 

And therein lies the problem. We each have to balance our wants, our needs, and our budget.

I ain't paying a zillion dollars for some covers....but I'm happy to pay $7 a tarp and a few cents per "c" hook. Plus, just like firewood, you can never have enough tarps.

 

My first few stax were rather experimental. The plastic was not heavy enough, I stacked too many sharp edges on the top.layer, and the wood on top of the plastic had sharp edges.
Had those things been different, those plastic covers would be intact. None of them have degraded due to sun/uv exposure.
Now with heavier plastic, slightly engineered piles, and tied down a little more carefully......this is the last year of my 3yr plan. So it'll be there for a while. All the tie downs are removable, adjustable (prussik knots), and can quickly and easily be removed or added to.
And looks nicer....I and the neighbors have to see it all.
Sca

 

Same here, I simply don't have enough top coverings to cover all of my racks and stacks. Wood to be used that winter goes into the wood shed and on the front porch. Any additional wood to be used that winter will have top covers on it at least a year plus. I do have a nice cord + of oak that is ready to burn (3+ yrs) that needs to get covered sooner rather than later as I may need to burn some of it this year. I am thinking I'll move that to the front porch sometime in Sept to give a few months to dry out.

My stacks are under a heavy canopy of trees' not much sun but decent airflow. Past two weeks have been disgustingly damp and humid!