Morning All, Wife says we need a nice woodshed instead of all the tarps. I'm not missing out on this chance! I need some ideas though, I need your help. I'm looking for something to hold 5 to 6 cord. I have access to 30+ like new pallets to help with the cost of building it. Any ideas and photos would be appreciated. Any problems you have encountered that you wish you could change. Thanks in advance for valued advise.
My advice would be to make sure its big enough. I started out with a three bay 6 cord shed, and ended up added a fourth bay to bring it to 8 full cords. I personally prefer longer shallower sheds with 2-3 rows of wood, vs a box style with many rows deep. I feel it gets better sun, wind and seasoning. You could space rows apart in a box shed, but you lose capacity, and have to be more careful stacking. I'd set down a solid base to attach your pallets to and the roof could be something simple like logs with a tarp.
Pallets are a good idea as long as your design is sound. Lumber prices are outrageous currently...2 to 3 times the past precovid price. If you're thinking shed...do what I did and buy one and truck it in. WaLa...shed!
Make it so the wood is off the ground. It has top cover and good air flow. Now use what material you want and any design you want as big as you want. The lean to design does seem to popular.
I don't have a shed as much as its a corn crib with one part turned into a shed, but one of the things that I take into consideration is work flow. I ultimately want to be able to dump the wood at the chopping block near the door of the shed, split it, and throw it directly in the shed to be stacked later. It cuts down on handling it any more than necessary. Another thing that I am doing is adding a tool closet in my "shed" so I can keep the axes, mauls, and wedges near by. I am also thinking about wiring up lights so I can see better and work in the dark more. I worked until 9 in the summer, no reason I cant do that in the winter. Might want an outlet for a radio, maybe a mini fridge and TV who knows. Just sayin.
Thank you guys for all your input. Sorry it took so long to reply, was out getting 30 pallets to start the project.
Not a pallet wood split palace, but each bay holds 5 cords. I nearly have the middle bay filled now, this is an old picture. I think now it's only needing about a half cord to finish that bay.
We have 2 big sheds built from pallets and several smaller 1-2 cord sheds. These are some the small sheds. Left holds 1 cord, made with 4 50x50" pallets. Used 2 4x4x10 runnersRight shed holds 2 cords. Used 8 50x50" pallets on it. Had some 20 3x4 runners to go under the pallets. Our biggest sheds are different. Laying down the base for the 9 cord shed Got these equipment skids from work, each measures 7.5x 11'4" Fastened them down to the 4x4's, then evenly spaced the decking boards. Had to buy some 2x6x16's to fill in the gaps. For the walls, we used 48x48 pallets. 2x6's screwed to the post to hold pallets. Walls are 8' high. Used 2x8x16 to span the shed, bolted to the 4x4's, then used some 2x6's we had saved for the rafters. Stripped it with 1x4x16 leftover from a roofing job. We call it the calico shed, roof is leftover panels and screws, brown, green and blue screws... Once finished... I did put some short pieces around the bottom for rain protection. The 2 big sheds together, right one holds 5 cords, its 7x6.5x14. Stacking wood in the 5 cord shed... Yes, we run fans as we are stacking, helps start drying. Hope this helps with some ideas. Happy building.
One thing where my shed is somewhat different than most is that I wanted to allow access from the front and the back. I'm finally on the three-year plan however ten years ago when I built the shed, I was not. At the end of the burning season I would always be rotating the oldest (and most seasoned wood) from the back of the shed out to allow me to put the newer wood in. If you have a shed that isn't deep (such as the one sirbuildalot describes) it isn't as much of an issue however mine is 7-rows deep, so it was an added task to rotate the wood every season. After a few years, I went with my original idea and removed the slats from the back of the shed to allow access from both sides. Now I just mark/remember where I left off at the end of the burning season and refill the shed. I can then access the older wood from either the front or the back. The drawbacks to this are that you need room around the back of the shed and you need to consider your roof construction to allow access at the back. Different than 99% of most firewood sheds however it works for me and is something to consider. Note: mine isn't a pallet shed however you could still do this when building one by leaving off the back wall.
Thanks again for all of the pictures, how many cord they hold and all of the suggestions. It's great being here with you guys.
X2. Nice Ingersoll... Agreed, mine holds 5 cord, and is just enough. 3 rows deep with a couple inches of space, 2x4 flooring with spacing for air flow up through and open around the top. I have 3 closed sides on mine and it still works, but mostly only ever has fully dry wood in it that will be used in the stove for this heating season because it's right next to the house. The back side keeps the rain and snow out because it is facing the prevailing winds coming up the hill. Good luck with your build. A nice shed sure is handy and well worth the effort.
MAF143, I see you have a Vogelzang Ponderosa stove, too. Best stove we've had out of the three we have owned. Able to load with longer wood splits than the others.
I cut at 22" +/- , load it up to the tubes, and run it hard as it heats the whole house. Good bang for the buck. I have burned a few tubes out from hitting them while loading wood.
Cut the bottom of 5 gallon buckets and filled with concrete for footings. About 4" of 3/4" stone for pallets to sit on. Holds around 5.5-6 cord depending how well I stuff it.
