Here in Nor. Cal my fire wood is top covered with metal roofing. Heavy wind and rain soaked many of the outside ends that are exposed. Will this wood be useable any time soon?
If it was already dried wood it will be fine as soon as it looks dry. If you have sun and a fit of breeze it will be dry in a day or so. But if it was dry ready to burn wood before it got wet if you have a hot fire throw it in as is. It will take 10-15 more minutes at first to boil all the moisture off but will be fine after that. I also have wood that gets wet on the ends of top as it blows under the shed. I just move wood and grab stuff under it or one row back. In a day or two I will grab the wet stuff that at that point is dry again. Bottom line it's not a big deal. But this is why I don't like top covering stacks vs a shed cause the sides always get wet. But I have a shed and I deal with wet wood as well as it blows into the shed.
If it was ready to burn before the rain, it will be good to burn right away. If you wish, you can let the outside dry first, but it is not necessary.
Yes. Once the sun comes out it should dry with a few days. Bring some in and pt near the stove and it will dry in no time. Wood in direct contact with the ground will get fully soaked.
In the same boat here. I have some 4' oak splits that were dry but had some punk and were in contact with the ground, some have bark on them. I cut them to length over 2 weeks ago, moved them to the patio and stacked them on pallets, top covered. They're still wet/damp! Many rainy days and dampness in the air since I cut them. I bring splits in next to the fire but it takes a couple days for them to dry since I don't have the stove cranking. Been mixing them with dry as a bone splits from the shed. Not ideal, but I kind of just want to get through them.
The ends usually dry back out pretty darn quick. If you have to use it TODAY you probably will need to bring some extra in for some indoor drying time. When it happens here in the Winter and it got wet AND froze we'll bring in tomorrow's wood today and put it in the basement as the basement floor is concrete and getting wet is NBFD. If it's just the ends they often dry out pretty quick in the stove, too.
I have never been concerned about the ends getting wet in the stack. Like TurboDiesel stated, wood is not a sponge. The wet does not go deep at all and that is why it dries quickly. Yet, it is still good practice to move wood inside, if possible, before the heating season. This is why I move around 2-3 cord into the barn in the fall. That way I don't have to shovel snow off the stacks to bring wood for the stove.
I'm sure the alcohol used moves at a much quicker rate but that vid shows how dry wood takes on water. I like his reference to bamboo. White oak having those dividers and red does not. It would be interesting to know which woods do and do not.
Yes. And as fast as the alcohol wicks up, it will drain out/evaporate out just about as fast. And i hope the OP's firewood stacks aren't submerged in water like those blocks... I brought in firewood last weekend after the rain. My [uncovered] stack was WET! But only on top. 2-3 rows down, the wood was bone dry.
Thank you for sharing this video! His other videos are fantastic too. I’d like to nominate him for Speaker of the House.
The "dividers" or tyloses (spelling possibly wrong but that's your geek Forester term) is the reason that it's chosen to make barrels for liquid storage and the reason your wine and liquor doesn't run out of the barrels while in storage.
There are two types of moisture in wood. There's the inner cellular moisture that is present when the trees are alive, and because it has to go through the cell walls that are packed closely together, it takes longer to dry (season). The second form of moisture is in between the cell structure, think pores, cracks, etc., and this dries much more quickly. Depending on the species, this "external" moisture can be soaked up, even in seasoned wood. It'll dry out much faster though, because the cells are all shriveled up and mostly water repellant. As long as the wood was seasoned to start, it'll dry out quickly. I only top cover any of my wood, and I've not found this moisture to cause anything other than a slight inconvenience of letting it dry inside for a day or two.
I have tried the top cover game. I lost too much wood to rot. What leaked through the top cover and the side where it repeatedly got wet. I won't love a stack out for more than a out 6 months top covered or exposed. I'm sure it has to do with the wind my stacks may have gotten as well as the amount of rain we get a year and humidity.
