# Do you cover your wood if not going to use it this year?



## Dmitry (Oct 24, 2015)

Wondering if it is  a must to cover my wood if planning to keep it for 2-3 years for seasoning .


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## Little Digger (Oct 24, 2015)

Since the area I live in seems to get more than it's fair share of rain, I keep mine top covered from the day it is split and stacked until it is finally moved into a covered staging area and finally into the house for burning.


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## peakbagger (Oct 24, 2015)

Undercover it will last for years, uncovered it will deteriorate faster, it will still last a few years uncovered but the Btu content will drop down as the wood starts to break down.


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## Stinkpickle (Oct 24, 2015)

I always keep mine top covered just to keep the tarp companies in business


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## Ash (Oct 24, 2015)

Nope never have. All my wood is split for at least 2 years, sometimes up to 4 years and it is always plenty dry and I do not believe it loses any Btu's. When I smack two pieces together it is rock solid.


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## tiswood (Oct 24, 2015)

when I was a kid my dad ( farmer/ carpenter) never covered the wood pile. Once I got older and my own place I only covered some just to keep it from getting wet and freezing togeather. Now I try to keep a top on what I will use this year . Next years is not covered yet but I will work on that this fall. But then again we never had stoves that had to be below 20% moisture. We just threw wood in when we needed it and cleaned the chimney once a year. Now I have a stove that wants wood under 20% so Now it's just 1 more thing to be aware of. Although my stove will burn anything  but it will cause more creosote . It amazes me sometimes how oldtimers handled things. They never worried what the wood moisture was just throw another piece on if it's cooling down. So what if they used an extra 1/2 cord a yr due to high moisture . And they made out just fine.


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## mass_burner (Oct 24, 2015)

Never understood tarp thing. To me it never made sense. If your afraid of your wood getting wet, it must be seasoned and ready to burn, so it should be sheltered; otherwise, who cares if gets wet as it's not seasoned yet.

I built my own small shed and if I could do it, most folks here can too.


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## DougA (Oct 24, 2015)

I've gone full circle on this and the end result is similar to other posts. Freshly cut wood really doesn't matter if it's covered but keeping it off the ground is VITAL!  I often store the fresh wood in rounds (due to laziness) and stack them on pallets in an area that is drier but with lots of breeze.  Then, I make sure they are top covered and dry for at least the last year.  If you have lots of room for dry storage, best to use it or build it.  They dry much faster once split.  Never tarp to enclose the wood, top cover only.

Yesterday I was cutting some standing dead and I was amazed that a lot of it was >20% when tested. I'm burning it today but that is rare.  I leave as much dead wood standing in the forest until I have room in the shed.  If it falls on it's own, that's less work for me.


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## Woody Stover (Oct 24, 2015)

The Oaks (sapwood anyway) and Hickories are more prone to rot, especially dead trees I've dropped, so I try to cover them as soon as possible. BL, Dogwood, hard Maple and Red Elm, I'm not as worried about.


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## klxrelic (Oct 24, 2015)

My wood shed was a garage at one time. All my wood is black spruce. We have a fairly damp climate,so I was wondering if I was better leaving wood cut outside for summer, then stowing in shed or putting in shed right away cut and split? I usually open the garage door on front and the window in back to let a breeze blow through.


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## bholler (Oct 24, 2015)

I top cover as soon as it is split.  it drys faster if it is kept dry.  Yes it will dry uncovered but i found it works allot better if you keep water off of it.


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## D8Chumley (Oct 24, 2015)

I top cover everything because all my stacks are along the edge of my woods, keeps the leaves out of my stacks


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## Bagelboy (Oct 24, 2015)

I cut, split, and stack, then cover. I rotate every 3 years, and average 6 cords/year. I currently have around 20 cords stacked. I don't know which works better, covered or not, but I cover, and it works for me.


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## beatlefan (Oct 24, 2015)

Dmitry said:


> Wondering if it is  a must to cover my wood if planning to keep it for 2-3 years for seasoning .


You're gonna get various opinions on this one. There are a lot of factors that play affect how the wood will season. Type of wood, location of the stacks (shaded/sunny), your climate (rainy/dry), etc.  

I leave mine uncovered the first year and covered the second. The right answer is "whatever it takes to get it dry by the time you're ready to burn."


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## BlueRidgeMark (Oct 24, 2015)

DougA said:


> Freshly cut wood really doesn't matter if it's covered but keeping it off the ground is VITAL!




Yeah, I agree.  I want mine covered the last year, but I don't worry about it before that.   My wood bins have a sort of tent roof, which keeps the tarp up off the wood and allows plenty of air circulation, while keeping leaves, rain, and snow off  of it.  The sides of the stack are exposed, so they do get some rain now and then, but it doesn't bother the seasoning.


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## DougA (Oct 24, 2015)

klxrelic said:


> We have a fairly damp climate,so I was wondering if I was better leaving wood cut outside for summer, then stowing in shed or putting in shed right away cut and split?


Hmm. Damp weather is not so good but it may be better outside in a wet, breezy area than inside where it doesn't get much wind blowing through. IMHO, opening a garage door is not enough breeze to dry wood effectively.
The other factor that I *think* might make a difference is this:  my guess is that when wood is initially left out in the open, the wet/dry cycles of normal weather might actually help dry the wood by wicking the sap from the wood. Sap inside the wood cells evaporates very slowly. When it goes through wet/dry cycles, it should be diluting and wicking the sap out of the wood, making it easier to dry.  Just my theory but seems to be what I'm finding.
The risk is that you don't want moisture to stay in the wood or it will rot and attract millions of little critters.


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## tigeroak (Oct 24, 2015)

Just as soon as I have them split they go into racks that are top covered. They are 16L x 4W x 5 1/2T. Right now I have a cord and half of hickory, 1/3 cord of hard maple, about a 1/3 of hedge and about 2/3 poplar ready for a rack. They are all full as now [6].


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## BrotherBart (Oct 24, 2015)

Top covered from the day it goes on the stacks.


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## Vikestand (Oct 24, 2015)

Wood on pallets only covered in fall due to leaves and such. This years wood is covered.

I do not cover my unseasoned wood during spring or summer.


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## Phoenix Hatchling (Oct 24, 2015)

I top cover everything. Keeps the snow off, and gives a place for the red squirrels and chipmunks to build their cozy nests.


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## klxrelic (Oct 24, 2015)

DougA said:


> Damp weather is not so good but it may be better outside in a wet, breezy area than inside where it doesn't get much wind blowing through.



Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. We do get lotsa wind tho. But still...wind blowing through the garage still wont get to any of the wood on the inside tiers.




DougA said:


> When it goes through wet/dry cycles, it should be diluting and wicking the sap out of the wood, making it easier to dry. Just my theory but seems to be what I'm finding.


Can't say I have thought of it like that, but makes sense to me.


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## 2broke2ride (Oct 24, 2015)

This may be a dumb question and I may be missing the obvious answer but why is everyone worried about leaves on there wood piles [emoji848]


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## mass_burner (Oct 24, 2015)

2broke2ride said:


> This may be a dumb question and I may be missing the obvious answer but why is everyone worried about leaves on there wood piles [emoji848]


I'm not, come summer they'll be mostly gone. Plus, when I transfer it to the shed, that gets the rest.


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## DougA (Oct 25, 2015)

2broke2ride said:


> This may be a dumb question and I may be missing the obvious answer but why is everyone worried about leaves on there wood piles


Leaves pile up and prevent the air from blowing through.  It also adds a layer of compost and junk that is a perfect spot for mice, ants and all sorts of other creatures that you really don't want waking up when you bring the wood into the house in the winter.  I don't care about a few leaves but I've had wood piles covered in leaves all winter and the results were not good.


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## D8Chumley (Oct 25, 2015)

^^^ What Doug said, especially for me where the stacks are at the edge of my woods. Learned after the first year, been top covering at least starting before the fall ever since. That's what works for me


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## Vikestand (Oct 25, 2015)

Leaves make nest come spring. The least amount of critters in my pile the least likely I get the chit scared out of me by a snake come summer. Plus what everybody else said.

All of the time we take to split and stack why fuss over $10 tarps and something so easy to do? There are no negatives to covering outside of tarp costs. There are negatives to not covering.


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## Vikestand (Oct 25, 2015)

Leaves make nest come spring. The least amount of critters in my pile the least likely I get the chit scared out of me by a snake come summer. Plus what everybody else said.

All of the time we take to split and stack why fuss over $10 tarps and something so easy to do? There are no negatives to covering outside of tarp costs. There are negatives to not covering.


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## beatlefan (Oct 25, 2015)

There are a lot of good posts here about top covering from the beginning. I think I'm going to top cover everything from now on.


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## mass_burner (Oct 25, 2015)

beatlefan said:


> There are a lot of good posts here about top covering from the beginning. I think I'm going to top cover everything from now on.


There are posts here, but it doesn't mean it's effective, just what folks are doing.


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## Rebelduckman (Oct 25, 2015)

Nope never do but my climate allows it. If I lived in a really wet place I probably would


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## Paulywalnut (Oct 25, 2015)

For the last few years I finally started top covering my stacks with heavy duty black plastic. I've really noticed the wood to be a bit drier, but also cleaner. No walnuts and acorns and junk down between pieces, and the black plastic does not rot or fall apart like clear does. I'm a fan now.


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## BlueRidgeMark (Oct 25, 2015)

DougA said:


> It also adds a layer of compost and junk that is a perfect spot for mice, ants and all sorts of other creatures that you really don't want waking up when you bring the wood into the house in the winter.




It also traps moisture *very *well, and promotes rot and mold and fungi.


If you want to get rid of some wood without burning it, bury it in a pile of leaves.  

I'm consideering getting some of those mesh tarps for my 3 year piles, just to keep the leaves off.


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## bioman (Oct 25, 2015)

Hello, always cover your wood unless your using it !


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## bag of hammers (Oct 25, 2015)

Spent 15 or 20 minutes picking a heavy layer of sopping wet leaves out of a partially exposed pallet this weekend. The leaves work their way far down into the stack and hold water like a sponge.  Mice love it (pup too, chasing the mice) but I'm not so thrilled finding critter houses in the stacks.  Trees (maple) are probably 2/3 bare now, still more to drop, one more frosty day and good wind should do it.  A 6" split will disappear if left on the ground.  Where the wind drives the leaves into the tree line the heavy cover will reclaim anything left on the ground and turn it to compost. Top cover is standard procedure here.


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## BradleyW (Oct 25, 2015)

I stack my wood in an open, breezy, 100% sunny place, uncovered. Seems to work fine. If I lived in Oregon, or if my wood was in partial shade or near the woods, I would probably cover it. But with my situation, it really doesn't seem to matter. As is the case with a lot of wood burning issues, it all depends on your particular situation.


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## ADK_XJ (Oct 25, 2015)

I've done both and found, not surprisingly, that the effort of covering seems to be worth it for drying performance and peace of mind. I had two cord of cherry and ash out in the open for 18 months and it certainly lost moisture but didn't come below 20% until this summer when I covered it up with old plastic roofing panels. Maybe that was just a coincidence for the season and seasoning of the wood but I certainly felt like that extra 15-20 mins of work was worth it.

Since then, I use 3' wide strips of 25' long 4mil black plastic and the ugly pieces On top to cover anything that's not going in this year. This year's victims get the roof panels AND the plastic because the roof panels are old and have cracks and seams but give good structure to the plastic so it over hangs the sides.

I have about a half face cord rack that I knocked together from old Douglas fir 4x4s, barn wood and fence picket cast offs that lives on the screened in porch and that was my final staging area last season.

Now I've added one of those fancy shmancy circle racks in the living room near the stove and that's not only helped my wood obsession but also gives those 20-30 pieces a good final dry out.

TL;DR Yes, I top cover now.


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## fire_man (Oct 26, 2015)

It's simple: Wood +  Water = ROT.

Top Cover!


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## mass_burner (Oct 26, 2015)

OK, so for non oak species, we're talking 1.5 years depending on when you stack it. For all the time/effort dealing with tarps etc, you could just build a simple shed. Fugit about top covering, and at about 1.5 years, just move it to the shed and sleep well at night.


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## maple1 (Oct 26, 2015)

I don't think there's much question that top covering will get your wood drier over a given amount of time, than if not top covered. But you can also get your wood 'dry enough' if you have enough time, without top covering, if your climate & site conditions are OK for that.

Keeping leaf debris out is a good reason to do it. Another is keeping ice buildup out of the pile over the winter. A couple/few freeze/thaw cycles can load your piles with ice, and it takes a long time for that to thaw out when winter finally ends. Which then adds on to the dry time quite a bit.


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## firefighterjake (Oct 26, 2015)

Depends . . . on climate, how soon you plan to burn your wood, etc.

Me personally . . . wood is generally stacked outside for a year or two before being moved into the woodshed where it typically sits for another year before being burned in Year 3 or 4 depending on how long it has been sitting outside. Left uncovered for a year or two . . . the wood is fine -- no rot, plenty dry (probably helps to have it under cover for that extra year before burning.)

That said . . . if I didn't have a woodshed and/or if I was only a year ahead I would most definitely top cover my stacks.


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## Vikestand (Oct 26, 2015)

mass_burner said:


> OK, so for non oak species, we're talking 1.5 years depending on when you stack it. For all the time/effort dealing with tarps etc, you could just build a simple shed. Fugit about top covering, and at about 1.5 years, just move it to the shed and sleep well at night.



I don't know what type of tarps you have up yonder, but down here they are simple squares that you open up, spread and throw a coupl logs on. Bam. Done.


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## mass_burner (Oct 26, 2015)

maple1 said:


> I don't think there's much question that top covering will get your wood drier over a given amount of time, than if not top covered.



I think there is a question, at least beyond it being negligible. The wood I'm burning now, red oak, is burning fine, no rot, finely seasoned. Never covered, got leaves, ice, rain, whatever.


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## ElmBurner (Oct 26, 2015)

Stack it out in the sun and wind, with plenty of space between stacks and then you don't need to bother.  I put my cords of wood into 24'L / 16" D / 4' H stacks about 10" off the ground, oriented so the sun shines on it and wind blows through it.  Everything but oak dries in a year and stays in the 16% - 20% range until I burn it.

The more of these things you can't do (single row stacks, keeping it in sun and wind, keeping it off the ground), the more seriously you need to consider a top cover or a shed, in my opinion.


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## fire_man (Oct 26, 2015)

mass_burner said:


> For all the time/effort dealing with tarps etc, you could just build a simple shed. *Fugit about top covering,* and at about 1.5 years, just move it to the shed and sleep well at night.



Try that when you are 6+ years ahead!  That would have to be a pretty BIG shed!


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## fire_man (Oct 26, 2015)

mass_burner said:


> I think there is a question, at least beyond it being negligible. The wood I'm burning now, red oak, is burning fine, no rot, finely seasoned. Never covered, got leaves, ice, rain, whatever.



Whatever works for you, my friend. I agree with Maple1, especially in the Northeast climate. You are kidding yourself if you think burning "never covered" wood in a climate that averages 40 inches of rainfall per year results in negligible difference.

Been there, done that, never again.


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## mass_burner (Oct 26, 2015)

fire_man said:


> Try that when you are 6+ years ahead!  That would have to be a pretty BIG shed!


Never had/will have that problem., not enough room. I'd figure something out though, I hate dealing with wet tarps.


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## mass_burner (Oct 26, 2015)

fire_man said:


> Whatever works for you, my friend. I agree with Maple1, especially in the Northeast climate. You are kidding yourself if you think burning "never covered" wood in a climate that averages 40 inches of rainfall per year results in negligible difference.
> 
> Been there, done that, never again.


Well if I'm not mistaken, I've been burning since 2012 without tarps in eastern MA.


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## fire_man (Oct 26, 2015)

I hate dealing with wet tarps, too. I ended up putting cheap OSB sheets under the tarps so they shed water and the tarps last MUCH longer.

Honestly, I almost gave up on burning before I realized I needed to top cover. It may have to do partially with the stove, some stoves are less forgiving than others.


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## Vikestand (Oct 26, 2015)

I spend the extra dollar on canvas tarps. They'll last forever since I take them off come spring. Then I stack my middle higher than ends. Sheds water and snow fine. 

Do whatever tickles your fancy.


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## Applesister (Oct 26, 2015)

I top cover from the start because I cut alot of deadfall(punky sapwood). And some species dries quicker than expected while others may take 3+ years. So I jump around. If I have Red maple thats dry in 9 months I burn that instead of a scheduled stack. If something turns buggy, it jumps to the front of burn schedule. Etc...
And I have plenty of scrap metal roofing.


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## bag of hammers (Oct 26, 2015)

Applesister said:


> And I have plenty of scrap metal roofing.


That's another good point to consider  - I built my place, lots of scrap plywood and chipboard pieces etc so all the cover I do is pretty much with scrounge materials.   Over a few years I probably trashed a few cheap tarps, but almost no cost overall.

I would love to have a nice woodshed, like some of the beautiful work some of you folks have shown here - would like to take it on as a project - something I'd enjoy building and would put to good use - but time and $$ are not on my side these days.  Scraps and a few minutes of my time does the trick and gets me by.


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## KindredSpiritzz (Oct 27, 2015)

makes absolutely no sense to me to leave something you're trying to dry out in the rain. I think it also encourages rot and mold if it keeps getting wet.


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## BCC_Burner (Oct 27, 2015)

I top cover in the summer and cover my wood for coming winters almost completely during the snowy season.  The snow in my yard gets to be 5-7 feet deep, so my future stacks pretty much get fully entombed until late May or so.  If I lived somewhere without such a prodigious snowpack I would only top cover year round, but I have enough snow removal work keeping the driveway, the first story windows and the current winters wood excavated to bother digging out wood for the future.


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## davidmsem (Oct 28, 2015)

Mrs does not like the look of tarps. Happy wife, happy life.


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## maple1 (Oct 28, 2015)

davidmsem said:


> Mrs does not like the look of tarps. Happy wife, happy life.


 
If you lay the tarp out on top of the pile then put another layer of wood on top of it, you can't even see the tarp.


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## mass_burner (Oct 28, 2015)

KindredSpiritzz said:


> makes absolutely no sense to me to leave something you're trying to dry out in the rain. I think it also encourages rot and mold if it keeps getting wet.


It's counterintuitive I know. But there is a difference between dry and seasoned. Seasoned wood can get wet, but its still seasoned; unseasoned wood can be dry all week long and twice on Sunday- that don't make it seasoned.


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## Vikestand (Oct 28, 2015)

mass_burner said:


> It's counterintuitive I know. But there is a difference between dry and seasoned. Seasoned wood can get wet, but its still seasoned; unseasoned wood can be dry all week long and twice on Sunday- that don't make it seasoned.



If you lay a 2x4 out in the elements and one in your barn. Which one will last longer? That is the same concept.


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## BCC_Burner (Oct 28, 2015)

mass_burner said:


> It's counterintuitive I know. But there is a difference between dry and seasoned. Seasoned wood can get wet, but its still seasoned; unseasoned wood can be dry all week long and twice on Sunday- that don't make it seasoned.



This is not universally true.  Perhaps with hardwood species, but softwood will re-absorb surface water like a sponge if they are exposed to rain.  I have some subalpine fir that has been CSS for 2 years, a fresh split face measures around 10-13% on the MM, but 10 days after the last rain storm, and the outside faces of the same splits are measuring 20-24%.  Top covering softwood is not optional.


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## ElmBurner (Oct 28, 2015)

Vikestand said:


> If you lay a 2x4 out in the elements and one in your barn. Which one will last longer? That is the same concept.


If you kept the 2x4 off the ground where it could dry out in the sun and wind, how long would it last, though?

I'm guessing more than 5 years, in which case, it should have been burnt anyway.


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## fire_man (Oct 28, 2015)

A former Hearth member (located in the Upper Midwest) did a test. He removed a tarp from his 3+year seasoned wood pile for one full season. He then tried burning that wood which typically burned perfectly.

His response: He will NEVER leave his PROPERLY seasoned wood uncovered again.

TOP COVER!!


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## mass_burner (Oct 28, 2015)

fire_man said:


> A former Hearth member (located in the Upper Midwest) did a test. He removed a tarp from his 3+year seasoned wood pile for one full season. He then tried burning that wood which typically burned perfectly.
> 
> His response: He will NEVER leave his PROPERLY seasoned wood uncovered again.
> 
> TOP COVER!!


My initial assertion was not needing to cover unseasoned wood, when seasoned move it to a shed.


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## fire_man (Oct 28, 2015)

mass_burner said:


> My initial assertion was not needing to cover unseasoned wood, when seasoned move it to a shed.



I tried that and ended up with fungus and signs of rot in the 2 years before good fresh wood  got covered. Maybe if you have lots of wind and sun it helps, but in my case all I can say is top covering from day one is important.


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## mass_burner (Oct 28, 2015)

fire_man said:


> I tried that and ended up with fungus and signs of rot in the 2 years before good fresh wood  got covered. Maybe if you have lots of wind and sun it helps, but in my case all I can say is top covering from day one is important.


I live less than a mile from the ocean, so its windier than most places. Maybe that's it.


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## fire_man (Oct 28, 2015)

I live in a sheltered wooded area with little sun and poor wind. My guess is the wind matters most.


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## rowerwet (Oct 28, 2015)

Top covered with old scraps of plywood from the day I split and stack it. There are seams that leak, but most of the stack is covered. 
This keeps the snow and leaves out.


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## Grateful11 (Oct 29, 2015)

Cover only the tops with old scrap metal roofing and such, if it has few holes nail or screw holes I don't worry about a little leakage. Weight it down with old chunks of junk wood.


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## mass_burner (Oct 29, 2015)

So here is a before pic, this morning after 2 days of rain. I will take another pic on Sunday after 3 days.


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## fire_man (Oct 29, 2015)

Wow I've been told my splits are the size of splinters but those make mine look huge. Your wood is split so small is has no choice but to dry quick!


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## mass_burner (Oct 29, 2015)

fire_man said:


> Wow I've been told my splits are the size of splinters but those make mine look huge. Your wood is split so small is has no choice but to dry quick!


Thank you...I think.


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## BlueRidgeMark (Nov 7, 2015)

mass_burner said:


> Thank you...I think.



That means it will burn up quickly, too.  You won't be able to get very long burns, and you'll go through the wood more quickly.


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## mass_burner (Nov 7, 2015)

BlueRidgeMark said:


> That means it will burn up quickly, too.  You won't be able to get very long burns, and you'll go through the wood more quickly.


I scrounged those short rounds, I've found that leaving them thick is worse. It works out for me cause I have small stoves and they fit NS.


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## Little Digger (Nov 7, 2015)

I too split for the size of the stove and the size that burns best. I have a bunch of small splits on hand that was originally intended for my small stove. Since I now have a much larger stove, those small splits still work nicely. As for the duration of the burn, it's all in how you stack them in the stove itself as well as the use of the damper. More importantly, the use of DRY SEASONED wood! The best way to insure it will be dry seasoned is to TOP COVER for the duration!


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## bholler (Nov 7, 2015)

BlueRidgeMark said:


> That means it will burn up quickly, too. You won't be able to get very long burns, and you'll go through the wood more quickly.


not if you pack them tight.  I split small and pack the stove totally full and get long burn times.


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## bholler (Nov 7, 2015)

mass_burner said:


> It's counterintuitive I know. But there is a difference between dry and seasoned. Seasoned wood can get wet, but its still seasoned; unseasoned wood can be dry all week long and twice on Sunday- that don't make it seasoned.


What is the difference?  I dont care what you call it but the goal is to get enough moisture out of the wood to get down below 20% mc.  In some areas it works fine without top covering but wood will dry faster if it is kept dry.  Wood is pourous and will soak up a little water from the surface.  That will dry out pretty quickly yes but it still sets you back a little.


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## Bushfire (Nov 7, 2015)

I'm on the fence on this one.  I have a woodshed that I plan on filling in the spring or summer with seasoned wood for the following winter, and I'd rather not look at tarps all over my yard, especially as the wood piles are in plain sight of the pool and our driveway.  BUT, I can see the advantages of covering, even if you have a woodshed to place seasoned wood in a few months before burning.  I'll see how my method works, and if necessary come up with a more decorative solution to keep most of the rain off.


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## mass_burner (Nov 7, 2015)

As long as you don't live in the tropics, the time the wood is wet from rain is neglible in the seasoning cycle.


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## fire_man (Nov 7, 2015)

bholler said:


> not if you pack them tight.  I split small and pack the stove totally full and get long burn times.


 Yup I noticed the same thing but figured it was cause I had a cat stove.


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## fire_man (Nov 7, 2015)

mass_burner said:


> As long as you don't live in the tropics, the time the wood is wet from rain is neglible in the seasoning cycle.



We need to run a test to settle this once and for all.   I'll keep an open mind.

Who wants to sacrifice their wood to prove mass_burner wrong?


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## BrotherBart (Nov 7, 2015)

I ran that test too may times. And have had too many forum members come back a year or two later and say they wished to hell they had top covered their stacks that year.


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## fire_man (Nov 7, 2015)

The message I think mass_burner is trying to get across is the wood will reach the same seasoned state whether it was covered for three full years or left uncovered for the first two and then covered for the third.


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## KindredSpiritzz (Nov 8, 2015)

I have  stumps i leave out year round to split wood on, every few years i have to replace them because they go punky. I have splits in various places holding down tarps and such, after a few years they rot and fall apart. Anything left to the weather is going to decay over time.


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## mass_burner (Nov 8, 2015)

fire_man said:


> The message I think mass_burner is trying to get across is the wood will reach the same seasoned state whether it was covered for three full years or left uncovered for the first two and then covered for the third.


Thank you, what he said.


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## mass_burner (Nov 8, 2015)

KindredSpiritzz said:


> I have  stumps i leave out year round to split wood on, every few years i have to replace them because they go punky. I have splits in various places holding down tarps and such, after a few years they rot and fall apart. Anything left to the weather is going to decay over time.


Splitting stumps are left on the ground with no end air flow and they're rounds. 

Splits on top of a tarp, again poor airflow.


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## bholler (Nov 8, 2015)

mass_burner said:


> Thank you, what he said.


Yeah but my covered stacks don't take anywhere near 3 years to get below 20%


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## mass_burner (Nov 8, 2015)

bholler said:


> Yeah but my covered stacks don't take anywhere near 3 years to get below 20%



Neither do mine, it's in essence what I'm saying, not the specific numbers.


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## bholler (Nov 8, 2015)

mass_burner said:


> Neither do mine, it's in essence what I'm saying, not the specific numbers.


I know that it can work uncovered and in some areas it works very well but there really is no down side to top covering while in many areas there are several down sides to not covering


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## KindredSpiritzz (Nov 10, 2015)

i think we need some university or government institution to spend millions of dollars on a study to get to the bottom of this age old question once and for all. We need definitive scientific proof


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## mecreature (Nov 10, 2015)

covered or uncovered is a time tested topic. Some wood does seem to rot faster then others. If its on the ground even faster.

we had an extremely wet first part of the summer but it seemed to dry out a bit. 

I think I might top cover what is left standing in the field this year.


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## bholler (Nov 10, 2015)

KindredSpiritzz said:


> i think we need some university or government institution to spend millions of dollars on a study to get to the bottom of this age old question once and for all. We need definitive scientific proof


Penn states agricultural extension recommends top covering in pa at least


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## Berner (Nov 11, 2015)

Plus one for top cover.  Leaves all but stop any airflow through the stacks.


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## Rossco (Nov 11, 2015)

YES!

If you are only one year good. I have this years wood covered in a shed and next years in a shed as well. Ide rather stack it in my spare room vs stacking it  out in the  open. 90% of my stock is dry off the saw so no seasoning required. 

If on the other hand, you are obsessed and have enough CSS'ed to sink the Titanic. Ide be yawning at the prospect of covering all that.


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## mass_burner (Nov 12, 2015)

Rossco said:


> YES!
> 
> If you are only one year good. I have this years wood covered in a shed and next years in a shed as well. Ide rather stack it in my spare room vs stacking it  out in the  open. 90% of my stock is dry off the saw so no seasoning required.
> 
> If on the other hand, you are obsessed and have enough CSS'ed to sink the Titanic. Ide be yawning at the prospect of covering all that.


The argument here is top covering with tarps etc, unseasoned wood.


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## TedyOH (Nov 12, 2015)

Each site is going to give different results, bottom line, period. North American has 8 different climate types, deciduous forest, coniferous forest, Mediterranean, grassland, tundra, alpine/mountain, desert and rainforest - now add 1,000s of different areas and different conditions you can stack wood in each one of those climates.....too many variables for a definitive YES / NO, "my way is right your way is wrong", the "Government said this"  answer


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