Stacks in a wet climate

I wanted to get a little feedback and dialog on what you guys think is the best method for stacking in a really wet climate. I've been closing in on what works for me, and am limited a bit by materials available, but I have an idea of what I think is ideal.

My climate is incredibly wet all winter, then very dry and low humidity all summer. Any stacks without airflow in the winter will just continue to get wetter, even if they are well covered, in my experience. I've found that exposed stacks, with a simple top cover, seem to work the best here. Sure, the rain events with wind will blow rain onto the faces, but as long as they have good air flow it doesn't seem to take them backwards in terms of MC. When I used to put dry wood in big, contiguous stacks in my shed, they would get mushrooms and mold on the ends. So, I've been keeping them out these days, with simple rigid top cover.

I spent some time on Christmas moving wood for my parents. My father has some very nice wood he purchases from some wonderful men who do a charity for their church. They c/s nice fir from the local forest lands since most of them work in the timber industry, then sell the cords to elderly members of the church like my folks and donate all the income to charity. It's a great deal for everyone, and you should see the wood! It's peeled Doug fir and is it ever nice. I'm jealous every time I hang out near my Dad's stacks. Anyway, my Dad has about a cord and half stacked up all nice, but when I was moving wood for him from the stack to the house yesterday I was disappointed to find the stacks covered tightly with a tarp. Sure enough, the wood where the tarp was touching was soaking, and starting to show mold on the ends. This wood started at around 15%MC this summer, and is only going up under that tarp. I rearranged the cover so the tarps weren't tight to the wood, and will go back and restack soon with a better arrangement.

Then, on my way home, I saw my ideal stacks. I stopped and took a few pics, hoping maybe the folks would come out and I could speak with them, but no luck. I learned from Dennis here that the stacks should be created so the covers shed water. I have been looking for metal roofing scraps to use on my own stacks but only have old plywood for now. When I saw these, I knew I had found my system.

Without further ado, here's what I think is the best method in these deep, dark, wet woods I live in. Low height, so less rain on the sides, angled tops for rain runoff, wood off the ground on runners, metal roofing held down by rocks and uglies, stacks spaced out for good airflow even under all this forest. I would love to meet the man/woman who made these! I can only imagine what I could learn from someone like this.



That's a really long post, but what I mostly wanted to say was....Check out these stacks!

 

Good looking stacks. Looks like a wood stack neighborhood

 

I like what you have there NW. My only question would be; is there is any sun exposure to the backside of those stacks?
I have high humidity in the summertime where I live too and I found when I stacked with end grain facing the woods those rows didn't dry as well as the remaining stacks. just an FYI more than anything

 

My timbers always rotted within 3 years...moved to pallets on top of stone and works much better.

 

Off the ground, single row with good air circulation, top covered.
For your situation & climate , the pictured wood stacks look perfected
(as long as they not in a high wind area)

A wood shed, for the wood to be burned each season, would be a nice addition.

 

The family and I were out on the Olympic Peninsula last summer. We were there for a week and got rained on 5 days! Gorgeous area but tough camping there because everything was constantly damp. As for the wood stacks, I think those people have it nailed if you are not going to build a shed. I think if I lived there I would put up some kind of shed even if it was just 4 posts and a roof with no sides. But the consensus on here is that the best drying is top-covered, off the ground, single stacks. If you do that you can't go too wrong.

 

Looks like great stacks. I immediately get nervous when people come around my wood. I would be suspicious of you eying those btu's too closely if I was the owner.

A wood shed sounds great if you can afford and have the space.

That does sound different. Our winters while not dry have lower humidity with the cold temps. I would like living where you do. Please post pics of your masonry heater from the profile pic. I'm eager to check it out in more detail.