Picked up some used farm equipment conveyor belts yesterday. 41" wide decently heavy. Planned on using then for top cover on stacks. Primarily figured on just covering what I was planning on using this winter. Stacks are two rows of 16" splits with a 1"-4" gap between. I'm wondering if covering all the stacks is worth it or not. I've never covered before and only have wished I did when we didn't have enough in dry storage and had to bring in rain wetted wood and put a fan on it. I know covering is a hot topic amongst hoarders so I figured everyone would have some advice, hopefully from experience. I'm in Kansas so we don't usually see very wet winters anymore. Thanks for the advice.
Nice score! I’d use them to cover stacks, because we can have some wet winter months and Ian could be a soaker.
I top cover everything, even rot resistant black locust. Learned my lesson with dead ash a couple years back when it started getting soft being left to the elements. For all the work I put into cutting/splitting/stacking, the last thing I want to do is have my supply be wet when I need it, or worse yet, punky.
Gavorosalini - That stuff sux. I’ll send you some clear shower curtains and take those crappy belts to the dumps for you. Ok, you know I’m kidding Do you cut to 16”? Obviously can only get 2 rows in each run… or, depending on how industrious you want to get- you could eventually build a shed and with enough of a roof deck it could be used like roll roofing. Keep us posted sir.
Looks like good stuff. You are going to have nice dry wood. If the edges sag you can put sticks under it every so often to hold them out and get a good overhang.
This. Top cover as much as you can. A couple of inches of overhang on each side will allow the water to drip/ drain off.
I attempt to cut at 16". Stove takes 18" or more at a diagonal, but try to avoid that. He had 4 more longer ones and 6 or more shorter ones for sale. I stuck with 6 long ones for now.
Cover until you can’t cover no more. Start with any woods that rot fast, first to be used, etc etc. I’m betting that’s some heavy stuff.
I've done it both ways, but I much prefer top covering. I have a couple rolls of that rubber beltline from a gravel pit...if yours is as heavy as mine, you'll learn to hate it! It's all I can do to get a 24" x 20' section up on a stack by myself...and I'm no small guy! And the worst part is that even with all that weight, and concrete blocks on top to boot, the wind peels that stuff off on a regular basis...and I can't even imagine how bad it'd be in Kansas! I have found that the best cover is EPDM rubber roofing...cheap to buy used (free sometimes) and last's almost forever, stays put as well or better than anything else I've tried. The wind will still get hold of it very occasionally, but rarely rips it clean off, like with the beltline...which seems like maybe it is too stiff and acts like a giant sail...the EPDM is only 0.045" or 0.060" (mine) and is heavy enough to last, but the edges that hang over just flop up over top when the wind blows, instead of continuing to gather the wind...and quite often it has just enough "memory" to it to flop back down in place by itself later on...but even if it doesn't, its much easier to walk by and flop the edges back down then to fight an awkward 200 lbs of dead weight back up on the stacks, then play "52 pickup" with all the concrete blocks and old tires strewn about! If anyone local wants some beltline, let me know, I think I'm gonna sell it (that was a pretty poor sales spiel ^ ^ ^ eh?! )
I just top cover with a woodshed. First year I top covered with tarps. By the second year the wind had shredded them. I saw where this was headed. I had already fully committed to the life style of wood heat for winter so I invested some time, energy and a little money into a wood shed. That was five years ago. Never looked back. Never regretted it. I let my stacks sit out uncovered to season in the sun and wind. My shed holds approx 9 cords. I burn 3-4 cords a year. Come Sept/October I move the next batch into my shed before I start burning for that season. I have open sky and no overhanging trees dropping leaves onto my stacks so my system works well for me. It might not if I had trees overhead. For me and my location tarps are just a bandaid for a much bigger issue. I heartily recommend sheds. You will never be sorry.
I tried some conveyor belt from work ( gravel pit) and had same result. Wind peeled it off and I had a bunch of big splits on to hold it. Never know till you try.
I know some folks do not cover their wood stacks but if you want good firewood, cover that wood. It is not a bad idea to leave uncovered that first summer but then get it covered before fall rains or snow becomes regular. It will pay good dividends. I recall I once decided I had not left wood uncovered for a long, long time so experimented again by leaving one stack uncovered. Of course I could still burn the wood, but... It seems the wood is always more dirty. That is, you are always cleaning up trash that is in the wood pile and falls off when you move it to the house. What if that wood is need during wet periods or snow storms? But worst of all to me is that you definitely lose some btus by not keeping the wood covered.
Most of my wood is in the shade and IMO top covering never hurt. With full sun and wind i can see an uncovered stack. Just my 2c worth. Nice find Gavorosalini Looks like those will last for many years.
Its definitely not as thick as i thought it was by the pictures. The edges are doubled up and thats why i thought they would be great. But we will try it out. The people i got them from used them as garden walkways.
Same here, best is a Woodshed, but I just put a new roof on my garage and ripped off 16' x 32' rubber roofing, I cut in strips 6' long and 5' (ish) wide. Now if I only had time to CSS my wood...
Going to pull my pallets and totes out of the weeds this afternoon and make sure they are top covered well for Ian's arrival. This nice fall weather that has graced the south has renewed my desire to be in the wood lot.
Better late than never update: finally top covered everything I could with the conveyor belts. I tried some mule tape to start with drilling holes in the tarps and tying them to the pallets. Turns out I shouldn't have quit the boy scouts cause my knot tying abilities are pathetic. Switched to tie wire and really like the way it worked. Just wrapped the wire around on side of the pallet and over the stack. Pulled tight and twisted the wire up. Pretty snug feel to me. Drilled a few holes and used the wire to couple two belts together. May not have been necessary though. My problem now is I wish I would have bought all the belts he was selling. Also wish they were a few inches wider, but i think they will do.
