Last week the ice and snow had built up on the top of my 10 cord stack.....the one that was 5'wide, 6' tall, and all ash from last Fall's Long Awaited Ash Score. Water had built up on the plastic, and forced the outside row out, and then down a day or two back. So, I moved wood around, added another row of half pallets, and started re-stacking. As I started pulling logs off, another bunch would loose and slide down. At about 6' tall at that end, that's a lot of wood moving around. I'll have 3 rows of 22" splits, with a 10 or 12" gap for shorts and uglies. I'll rebuild the whole row with the half pallets, and clear 6' tall all the way, and cross pieces through the 3 rows again. I have another row of ash that wouldn't fit on this row, perhaps I'll take some off that . . . No after pics, it was getting pretty dark, and cold and windy.
I can’t like a re stack. Life is too short for double work and I’ve had to do too much of it. May the rest of your stacks be as stable as Roman concrete.
Seems to be a common occurrence for anyone that stacks that high. And I’ve been considering it to reduce my foot print.
I've only had stacks fall when I was hoarding apple. Snow slid off my garage roof and pushed it right over. No likes here either. I guess every time it happens, we learn what not to do. As far as the height, I've been regularly stacking 7'+ [or so] high without issue. This has been pretty much all straight grained hard woods. I go up 2 splits wide to about 6' then one split row on top, in the middle. This prevents any water from ponding in between the rows in the cover. Then when the stack goes 4 splits wide, I do the same for the 2 "sides" and let water run off the rubber in the middle. 2 wide: 1 row on top of that: I only used long cross pieces mid height when I was stacking apple because of its twisty, not straight nature. They sure won't hurt anything though.
Tie those rows together with some 2 row wide limbs laid into the middle of the stack(s) here n there...it helps. Edit, never mind, I see you already said that.
That stinks. The only thing worse than stacking is restacking. Been there, done that! PITA trying to store a lot of wood on a little lot. Hills dont help either.
First year using EPDM rubber I found any voids at the top created that issue nothing fell over but the water pushed the rubber down between the stacks. No fun pulling it out because the water always heads for the puller. I only stack double rows on the pallets. The side with less sun goes up almost straight. Side facing the sun leans back into the backside until the two rows connect. Voids near the bottom can be filled with uglies. Less wood per pallet but they no longer fall over. I’m a shorty at 5’6” but go around 6’ high, maybe a hair less. It’s not easy for us New Englanders to go only two stacks wide. We all have that old swamp yankee blood in us somewhere and less wood on a pallet goes against our DNA. LOL
I think we've all been there. I rarely stack taller than 4.5-5 feet. I keep checking the "wobble" factor as I stack and stop when the stack easily moves when leaned on. Enjoy playing pick-up-sticks.
I never had luck on open stacks going higher than 5 feet. Looked perfect when stacked, and then the ground shifts, wood settles and shrinks, pallets rot…. collapse almost inevitable. Since stacking in a woodshed I don’t recall a single collapse, even stacking 7 feet high.
It's not all bad, I get the exercise (and fasted at that). I'll also build the rows a bit wider for stability, and prolly a bit taller. I like the idea of a different row pattern on top, maybe one layer 2 rows wide, and one layer one row wide. I think my cross ties should be larger diameter. and perhaps more frequent. But, the biggest problem, was that I got 3 rows on one row of pallets, the wood overhung the pallet by 6" on each side. The stacks started tilting as the pallets either collapsed or sank into the ground. The row of pallets cut in half will change that. 3 rows of 20 and 22" splits leaves room for shorts and ulgies to run lengthwise between s couple of rows.
It is in our blood to store as much as we can in the space allotted. I'm not sure I'd stack oak like this, but the Ash is drying out really quickly. Outer rows have significant checking inside and outside end. Every time I pull out a row, the old pallets come out if they need to.
Thats why I stack in cubes...I use to stack in doubles and had a couple of accidents... Cubes or quadrants are what I stack in anymore...
Restacking sucks. Been there, done that, and Im sure I'll be doing it again. Ive had a stack stand fine for 3 years through heavy snow, strong winds, freeze thaw cycles, whatever. Then one beautiful summer day it decides to fall over. I have a new way to test the integrity of my stacks now.
The stack falling got me outside. I had a good burn barrel, getting rid of all the pallet pieces, branches and stuff that fell or accumulated over winter. The ever faithful beastie accompanied me all evening. I typically burn in cooler months when everyone's windows are closed. This is the new stack, 3 22" rows wide, with a 10" gap between 2 of the rows. I made it 6.5' tall. I took all the pine off this row, and stacked it elsewhere (not even half a cord of EWP). There was Ash in another spot that I combined with this stack, and still have room to spare. I have a small Oak score I'm hitting, that will go on this stack. All told, this stack will be 14 cord. I did use a lot more cross ties, and at the top I used a lot of pieces to bridge the gaps between the rows. I walked around on the top, covering it, and the rows seemed pretty stable. The row is covered but not finished. I'm hoping there is room for a cord or so there.
