I have had wood stored in my insect free garage for almost 2 years plus. I use it in fireplace inside and its still wet and sizzles. It does not put out the kind of heat that a $5 stack of firewood from a grocery store puts out...Should I not leave it in the garage because it does not get any airflow? I thought the heat in summer would dry it out but I guess not. I have a bunch of firewood on pallets outside that have been there for more then a year and a half, but they were never covered and are very grayish in color... I feel if I try to dry my wood by having it outside, but with a tarp on it, the tarp wont allow it to dry? Any help or input would be greatly appreciated.
You hit the nail on the head: no airflow, no drying. Outside, stacked up on pallets so it doesn't touch the ground will let it dry nicely. If you cover the top only it will dry and not get rained directly on.
You have come to the right place. You will be swamped with all the info you could ever need. Just be open minded and let it all sink in, that worked for me. Welcome!
Welcome Nicholas! You've come to the right place with these questions! Firstly- Nope. Won't dry, especially if it was CSS directly to the garage.... Tarped/covered outside the way to go. Try this- grab a dry load of that old grey stuff and throw a match to it in the fireplace.....
Bummer sorry to hear that. The grey wood although not pretty is a sign of weather exposed wood, mostly sun exposure. Air flow and keeping rain and snow from sinking into the middle of your stacks is key. Tarping or covering with metal roofing, plywood etc is a great idea but leave the sides exposed for the most part. A little bit of rain on the ends wont harm it. When your stacking the wood outside on pallets try not to stack more than double rows and purposely stack it with air spaces between splits to encourage air. Good luck!
You want to top cover only outside with maybe 6-8 inches draped down the side is all. Totally covered won't work. You want the ugly grey colored stuff! It burns better than the pretty stuff.
But the ugly grey stuff has been exposed to rain and the elements for almost two years with no covering at all outside....isnt it probably soaked? So far this website is very helpful.Def moving to outside and building a nice little roof type of some sort to cover the top
If it's stacked, anything below the top few pieces is pretty protected. Also, most rain runs off instead of soaking in. What you have outside will be dryer than what was in your garage.
Welcome Nicholas62388 also cement if untreated or no vapor barrier can act like a sponge and hold water making it harder to dry..
ok cool guys thanks alot...def will be building some kind of "shelter" for all the wood I have stored around my property
Pictures! Sounds like a collection, let's see it! Top cover and up off the ground, I use shipping 2x3s that I get from work, they throw them away all the time, just get it off the ground and top covered. Then you will be
Welcome Nicholas62388 to the hood-certified wood addiction counselor here and my first recommendation to you is this----Immediately, 1) simply throw to the side the top layer of all that wonderful wood you have had drying for near 2 yrs outside on pallets-2) gather up the gray wood and prepare to move it inside, placing on pallets, inside the garage as you remove whats in there now-(switch it out) and 3) get more pallets for the outside if you dont have them and re-stack what was in garage and top cover for next year---It needs air my friend, make sure its off the ground-you'll be surprised how much better the gray will burn...4) CUT MORE Hope this helps and again, welcome.
It needs air to dry, as others have said. I would let it out where it gets plenty of sun and wind. It has to be off the ground, on pallets, saplings or whatever else you can find. Top-covered works best also. Also if it's oak you're burning the general rule is 3 years cut split and stacked although in some conditions it can dry sooner.
I view my wood drying and storage as two distinct phases. During the drying phase, I stack my wood in a field in north/south rows to take advantage of the prevailing wind and full sun. It's up off the ground on pallets with plenty of space between the rows and...it's uncovered! I leave the wood like this as long as possible, and just like your wood, after about a year it turns gray on the ends exposed to the weather. During the storage phase (when it's all dried and ready to burn), I move the wood inside the garage or shed. In general you're looking for three things while drying your wood. 1. Sun 2. Wind 3. Time. Usually you can sacrifice one of the three, but not two.
But wont leaving it uncovered that long leave the wood soaked? How is it dry enough to take into garage
First, welcome aboard Nicholas. Lots of good advice so far. The wood will become a little wet during a rain or snow melt, but once the wind starts getting to it, it'll dry pretty quickly. Don't you wander out to your woodstacks to admire them like the rest of us? We notice every little change, every check in the end of a split, every slight change in the height of the stack as it's drying..........or is that just me? As Dennis (AKA Backwoods Savage ) always says, wood isn't a sponge and wind is the most important factor in drying firewood. If you have sun and wind, it doesn't get much gooder.
