I've been keeping all of my current stacks off the ground with 2x4's and pallets. I need to make a few new stacks and I'm out of both. Put a new roof on my shed a couple weeks ago and have a stack of old shingles.... anyone see a problem with stacking on top of old roofing shingles? Do you really need the airflow underneath? I'm thinking as long as I stop the moisture transfer from the soil it might work. What do you think?
Certainly a recycling move.... What about the shingles catching and directing water to those "bottom" splits? Overall, I don't see any other issues. Let's see who says what!
I would think that any water getting on top of the shingles is going to be a problem. They are also going to break up pretty quick under the weight of your stack and do little to protect your wood in the long run. On top of that it's going to really suck cleaning up the busted shingles if you ever decide to do so. How about finding yourself some saplings to lay down as stringers or better yet find some iron pipe or similar.
I would think over a period of time, not sure how long you season that they might sink under the weight. I wouldn't chance it. Old skids are easy to find and you already have a good system you know works. But also you never know until you try too
See... Someone else would shine some knowledge and thoughtfulness on this topic. I didn't think about the shingles breaking up Paul bunion....
Great points about the "breaking up" and "sinking". Didn't think about that, especially the sinking part. Maybe I can use them to cover. Think I'll take Paul bunion's advice and scout out some saplings to lay down. Thanks!!
Cinder blocks under your pallets is the way to go. It gets your wood a foot of the ground, air can flow up from under and through the pile. And snow and rain splashing on the bottom rows of wood is reduced, and that keeps your bottom rows from freezing to the pallets. been doing that way for 38 years.
I suggest scanning craigslist for a few days...there is always free junk lumber and/or pallets somewhere over the course of a week. Might as well save your hard work from rotting right....
If you want to use the shingle, lay down a couple of small diameter logs and lay the shingles across them. That will separate the wood from the ground, Syop the shingles from laying flat and trapping water and keep the water buildup under your wood to a minimum. Also, as you said, it will stop ground water penetrating to your splits.
Yes, air flow can mean a whole lot. We have stacked directly on the ground several times but only on bare yellow sand. When doing that, the bottom layer usually sinks into the ground. Using saplings, they too can sink into the ground but surprisingly, they sink very little. A whole lot less than when we've stacked wood directly on the ground. Paul gave good advice. We've used saplings for longer than I can remember. Even something like red maple which usually turns punky fast will keep for many years. We usually get 2-3 cycles out of them (figuring the wood stacked a minimum of 3 years before the saplings get moved to another area). But we also use cherry and have even used some popple. However, popple usually has to be replaced as soon as that wood stack is used.
