I top cover most of the time, and have totally covered the wood piles with vents at the top for air circulation this last year. My question is, for those who top cover, do you used a secondary cover to the plastic, tarp, tin, or what have you. I have been using some 15# roofing felt between the plastic or tarps for years now, for a couple of reasons. First, to help keep the cover from being punctured by any sharp edges on the wood. I also thought, and I couldn't really say for sure, but it should help keep the condensation off the wood. The condensation that might form under the plastic, tarp or tin. I was out earlier today rearranging one of my wood piles. Instead of having 2 cord rows, I now have a 3 cord row(5'x4'x20'), and the other cord will be moved shortly onto the porch for the coming heating season. I took all the roofing felt and covered the wood with it since there were few holes. Then I cut a 25 foot length of black plastic for over the top. That got me to wondering if there was anyone else who did this or has tried it and found it to either work well, or was just a waste of money. I'll try to get a picture of the pile and post it tomorrow.
I have amassed a collection of plywood/MDF and similar scraps of various sizes over the years and use them to form a hard roof on top of my stacks and then the tarp goes on top of that. It lets me slope the roof to help runoff and build in a little overhang to protect the wood. The pieces being smaller also allow for adjustment during the winter, gradually pulling them out or pushing them back while still giving a small roof to work under as I pull out a load of wood. The smooth surface allows for easy enough snow removal with the toy plastic rake that I took possession of when my kids out grew it. It works for me.
[QUOTE="Paul bunion, post: 537208, member: 13"]I have amassed a collection of plywood/MDF and similar scraps of various sizes over the years and use them to form a hard roof on top of my stacks and then the tarp goes on top of that. It lets me slope the roof to help runoff and build in a little overhang to protect the wood. The pieces being smaller also allow for adjustment during the winter, gradually pulling them out or pushing them back while still giving a small roof to work under as I pull out a load of wood. The smooth surface allows for easy enough snow removal with the toy plastic rake that I took possession of when my kids out grew it. It works for me.[/QUOTE] Actually I really like that idea! Though I usually keep the scraps, all the way down to a square foot, I have my doubts I would have enough left from my various projects. One of which is to build a decent sized wood shed after I tear down the one that is currently housing 7 cord. Still I like that idea and will use something similar in the near future. I already have an idea rolling around inside that empty head of mine!
LOL, I've seen pictures of your wood piles and I don't recall ever seeing a top cover on any of the 50 or so cord. Okay, maybe a little exaggerated, but it sure looks like it to me. Around where I live if I didn't top cover, my wood would be soggy in no time. The heavy rains will be starting any time now. If memory serves me, last year in September this area had 5 inches of rain, then a days break, and then 18 inches of rain which also caused a minor landslide on my property. (which was the reason for my creating a small retaining wall) If I didn't top cover, I might just as well throw all of my wood in a swimming pool and fill it with water. With my having the roofing felt between the plastic or tarp, it kind of gives me a chance to replace the cover without having a lot of water get into the stacks. Right now, my firewood is at between 12 and 14% moisture content, and that includes some oak that I tested. That was with the plastic reaching within a few inches from the ground as well as having multiple vents near the top using PVC pipe. So the roofing felt kind of acts as a safety. Here are two tarps I recently replaced that were breaking down. I don't have pictures of the plastic or the silver tarp I replaced. I guess I wasn't thinking about pictures at the time.
These piles, the main one I have been working on lately, do have the roofing felt under the plastic. The other with the opaque plastic also has the felt under it even though that wood will soon be on my porch. I did fold over the opaque plastic to reveal the felt. It had also been raining today.
Nice stacks! I myself wouldn't cover the wood to that extent down the sides though. I would be afraid it would never dry even with vents at the top. I cover the tops of the stacks only, and make sure to keep a good over hang. I use whatever I can get my hands on, metal roofing, rubber roofing. the key to it seems to be getting the overhangs correct.
Top covered with an overhang would be awesome if I didn't have a lot of wind, but during the winter months it can get pretty harsh around my neck of the woods. Winds are often anywhere from 40 to 90mph from most any direction. Those overhangs would be wings and anything on top would be thrown off first, then the top cover. Maybe even have both fly off at the same time. That's why I never put anything on top of the top covers!
Your stacks look great ! Do you put pallets on top to help with top ventilation ? That much of the sides covered has to slow down seasoning, How long do you season before burning?
Nope, no pallets on top of the stack. I couldn't lift them to place them there anyway. The height without the base pallets is 5 feet. Even without my torn rotator cuffs, I wouldn't be able to boost them that high. My firewood seasons for a minimum of 3 years, however that particular stack has seasoned better than 4 years. For those who think the sides being covered as they are now would prohibit seasoning, then y'all would not appreciate how it was before I put the black plastic in place. The silver tarp had degraded enough where it was just best to remove it. That was 6 months old. The plastic underneath was actually two years old, but once in direct sun lasted about 6 weeks before breaking down. Under that, was the roofing felt which I am continuing to use. It did have the vents near the top which are partially concealed with the silver tarp, but there were a total of 8, that's 4 on each long side. When I removed the plastic, I also restacked part of the stack, but also decided to do random moisture checks throughout the stack. The moisture content came in at between 12 and 14% (splits being resplit and checked) Up until last year, my stacks only had the roofing felt and tarp which reached down the sides maybe 6 inches. But the excessive rains saturated the lower 4 feet worth of wood to the point of growing mushrooms on the wood. So I covered it with plastic all the way down to the pallets once the rain let up. Though y'all can't see the entire stack, that is 4 cord in 2 cord stacks. The same wood that is now in the long 3 cord stack covered with black plastic. The 4th cord, as I mentioned earlier will be moved onto the porch for this heating season. (I use 1.5 to 2 cord per season) Once the wood has made it's way into the house, the moisture content drops further since it is placed on either side of the wood stove and used from there. That's 1/6 of a cord per side which I alternate it's use. Last season, I had wood as low as 7% moisture content.
I get a little paranoid about my top covers as well. I use 6 mil black and staple it down about 12 inches. My sides and ends get real wet. Everyone on here assured me it's ok. They really do dry up in like a day although they turn grey pretty quick.
I wouldn't say I'm paranoid about my top covers, but I am very protective of my firewood, especially wood I will be using that season. I heat 100% with wood.
In your hot climate , I bet it really gets hot under the cover. Very similar to a solar kiln. You have Good dry firewood !!!
Hot?!!?!! I had a reading a few days where the temperature was something like 156 degrees. (random checks) Most of the time during the day it would make it up into the upper 120's and lower 130's. I was striving for the solar kiln effect even though I was lacking some components. And actually, it was in my seeking information on Solar Kilns for firewood that brought me here. I didn't join right away simply because of all the reading I was doing. So yep, Good Dry Firewood which in turn makes me happy!
