I had finished most of my doug fir pile and decided to move on. I think I realized that some if the wood wasn’t burning well. So I moved to burning the cherry and birch pile close to Christmas and burned that for the majority of January and start of February I reached the last foot of stacked wood across the rack. Something slowed down. Way down. Something I wasn’t expecting. My wood wasn’t burning all that well. I had been mixing the birch with western red cedar, such a great Addition when you need a fast crackle fire. So I used that a lot. It just wasn’t throwing the heat... until later. Now having started the last full ready stack which consists of alder(I thought I burned it all..but I may have moved some to let dry out on top during summer) horse chestnut(ugh...) and pine and fir. The fires are back to that easy high heat. I know this should relate a lot to the top of the stack being more exposed right? So what’s my problem? The relative humidity has been high....like 80+ high and hasn’t dropped too much below that despite a sunny couple days. I paid heed to word that tarps aren’t the best solution since they trap moisture but the part I don’t see was any mold on my stacks. So with keeping in mind that some of you say wood isn’t a sponge yet moisture gets trapped in a tarp, what’s the difference? I know that the relative humidity is constantly close to raining anyways so if this is just a normal thing with wet areas, do I have need to worry about this moisture in the stove and stack? I’ll admit I’ve brought a little bit of wood in to help dry out but I’m drawing the conclusion that any wood near the ground is obviously soaking moisture up.
I think your conclusion makes all the sense in the world. Any way to raise the bottom of your racks a foot or two and see if that changes anything?
The saying that wood isn't a sponge isn't really correct. It's literally not a sponge, but it will take on or release moisture to be at equilibrium. Wood is hygroscopic. As you've noted, with repeated similar conclusions, wood will take on moisture. Here's some good reading about the science of it. http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/2010/09/03/moisture-content-wood-movement/
dingbat, They are actually raised at a cinderblock height. Ive stacked on 2 8’foot long hemlock beams about 6inches apart and leveled as I can get them then the heavy duty T stakes at each end for sturdiness. It’s a simple set up, I focused on just having the wood ready and most of this wood had gone through 2 summers anyways. So I really didn’t expect much issue but perhaps if I set up the same thing in another spot I will likely raise it. Hopefully to have a better tarp solution. Perhaps cut them to a more acceptable size (half the stack)and find those tarp hooks that you can attach on where the tarp doesn’t have grommets.
Tom you know how wet it gets around here with pnw weather. Extend that for nearly 2 months solid closer to 3 and then whatever drying happened during the summer was likely...back..a bit. I just noticed a very obvious sign of burning earlier in the stacks to later. Like that wood was hard to get going towards the bottom. Required opening the draft(door ajar) and air.
Might consider a vapor barrier under the stacks, keeping ground moisture in the ground. I have springs all over the property, and flowing water on all sides including a river across the street. If I was burning indoors where a few percentage points of moisture made a difference, it's something I'd do for each stack. My soil is pretty much soaked all the time. In your wet environment, ground moisture may not be too inclined to blow away even with your wood stacked up off the ground. -edit- to clarify, I'd put the vapor barrier directly on the ground with your blocks on top of it. You don't want your wood sitting in a puddle.
Maybe tarp it up on ground? I did this with plastic wrap under my black locust, even did this when I moved it to the backyard. Big difference?? Not sure but might have negatives if rain gets there and I trap it. Soggy ground all over here....my water table rose. How do i know this? Water coming from tile in bathroom. New problem!! Oh boy anyways... Soggy pallet with heavy wood might not mix but I tried it and we will see!!!! Thanks Papi. If it did work I’ll be making some changes. Thanks
Your situation reminds me a lot of a fellow I helped out one time. He just could not get his wood to burn well even though it was 2 and 3 years in the stack. Strange for sure. I went there and immediately knew what the problem was. His house sat on high ground but on one side of the garage where he stacked the wood, the land sloped quite a lot down into a swamp with thick trees, many of them evergreens, grew. Basically no air circulation and very wet ground year around. We moved all his wood behind the house on the higher and more open ground. By the next winter he was really amazed at how well that same wood burned. Lesson learned. Although this is not really a wet area for rainfall or snowfall, his wood was constantly in a wet area. I still say that wood is not a sponge but the outside of that wood will get damp and if it never gets a chance to dry out it is basically like leaving the wood lay on wet ground. But get it off the ground and stacked where it will get air circulation and it will dry out. Also in really wet areas it does pay to raise the wood piles higher off the ground just to give more air under it and let it dry out some. This also is why many folks will put gravel or stone where they want to stack wood. Then they still raise the wood stacks to get air circulation.
Appreciate your input Dennis!! Yes this area is a slight bit sloped and uneven. But in the summer this ground that was once soggy is hard as I can imagine plus with all the golf to softball sized rock here I wondered why it doesn’t drain well. But I gather from this lowland its just flat as a whole so water pools in the area. Easily. I’ll consider raising the stacks! Looking forward to it this summer!
