# Stacking Wood On Ground



## Typ0 (Jan 22, 2015)

I am looking to get ahead on the wood supply for next year after just getting started a month ago.  I am pricing out ways to create some racks outside to get the wood off the ground as I stack it.  The problem is the cheapest solutions are way more expensive right now than I would like to pay.  I swear these landscaping ties that are $4 right now go on sale for $1 in spring.  That is a lot of cost difference!  Only thing is...I don't want to stack 4 cords of wood in the next couple months outside and then move that stuff in the spring...can I just stack it up as best I can and let it sit on the ground until next winter without too much problem?  What is going to happen?


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## Ashful (Jan 22, 2015)

There are three answers:

1.  Many people here do stack on the ground.  Fast forward 2 - 3 years, when your stacks are seasoned enough to burn, those pieces on bottom will be wet (if a good species) or rotten (if a poor species).  People report just re-stacking the wet stuff on top of stacks for a following year, where they'll have a chance to dry another year or three.  It's never considered the ideal route, but people do it.

2.  I stack on shipping pallets, which I find for free.  I can get pallets from landscape nurseries, Lowes, Home Depot, the grocery store, you name it.  You just have to go, find a manager, and ask.  You will find free pallets, if you check a few places, here and there.

3.  Many people here lay down to straight saplings (pref. Cedar), and stack on those.  I think I'd have trouble with my stacks falling over, if I used this method, but to each his/her own.


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## velvetfoot (Jan 22, 2015)

I've been doing 1. Lost my source of pallets and they do get to be a pain.  The ones on the bottom are wet but haven't deteriorated much, yet.


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## Typ0 (Jan 22, 2015)

OK I am going to do 1 this year then .... if some stuff is still wet I'll stack it on materials I get for free as next spring and summer go by LOL.


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## Fred Wright (Jan 22, 2015)

If you have access to straight saplings, they'll serve well for stacking your firewood. We've been stacking on gum saplings for years, they last a long time. When they eventually rot I take the little tractor and saw to the woods and cut new ones. Drag 'em to the yard and roll in place.


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## bag of hammers (Jan 22, 2015)

Joful said:


> I stack on shipping pallets, which I find for free. I can get pallets from landscape nurseries, Lowes, Home Depot, the grocery store, you name it. You just have to go, find a manager, and ask. You will find free pallets, if you check a few places, here and there.



+1 

Most times on a drive by (lumber yards) I see old pallets in the "free" pile.  I stop and throw a few in the back of the truck and then stack them up until I need them.  They last a few years then they go in the outside fire.  Not sure what I'd do without them.


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## 1970roadrunner (Jan 22, 2015)

x3 for pallets


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## Poindexter (Jan 22, 2015)

Pallets, up on cinderblocks at my house.


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## Grateful11 (Jan 22, 2015)

We found a supplier of plastic pallets not too far away for $5 each. My wife and son have about 130 now for stacking round bales of hay on in sheds. They're strong enough to hold round bales 4 high.

We're using landscape timbers that we've had for a while for stacking new splits. I noticed that Lowe's is $4 a piece.

I like this little note at Lowe's: "Not intended for ground contact", it's a landscape timber where else is it normally going to go besides in contact with the ground?


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## Dix (Jan 22, 2015)

Pallets.

My first year I used pallets & landscape & cinder blocks, as I had quite a bunch of bricks.

Still using the bricks, the move pretty easily. I'm on my 3rd load of pallets.


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## Buzz Saw (Jan 23, 2015)

If you can get a piece of house wrap and put that one the ground that will help keep the wood dryer.  You won't get ground water soaking in, but you will absorb rain water that sits on the house wrap. That usually evaporates quickly if your stack is located in sunlight and a breeze.


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## BobUrban (Jan 23, 2015)

Yes - those timbers will likely go on sale in the spring.  Keep an eye out for a deal and buy plenty. 

Also, as mentioned, pallets are free if you ask for them and with a little diligence you can find a resource that will save them for you if you are good about picking up the stash. 

To answer you question about what to do now:  I split and stack in the spring and have large piles of rounds laying on the ground all winter.  Sometimes these pile lay around for a year before I get to them with the splitter with no signs of rot.  A year or less will be no problem for a pile of rounds or splits. No need to stack twice.


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## Typ0 (Jan 23, 2015)

BobUrban said:


> Yes - those timbers will likely go on sale in the spring.  Keep an eye out for a deal and buy plenty.
> 
> Also, as mentioned, pallets are free if you ask for them and with a little diligence you can find a resource that will save them for you if you are good about picking up the stash.
> 
> To answer you question about what to do now:  I split and stack in the spring and have large piles of rounds laying on the ground all winter.  Sometimes these pile lay around for a year before I get to them with the splitter with no signs of rot.  A year or less will be no problem for a pile of rounds or splits. No need to stack twice.




Thank you I think that's what I'm going to do.  I'm getting wood delivered split at $150 a cord.  I'm going to purchase enough to get through next winter now, let it sit in a pile for the rest of the winter and stack it first thing in the spring.  I love hearing you say this because yep, those timbers go on sale for $1 once the weather breaks and I'm going to get a bunch!


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## sportbikerider78 (Jan 23, 2015)

Pallets are perfect.  They are free.  They keep the wood elevated so air can get underneath the stack.  They allow water to run under them, keeping the wood dry.


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## maple1 (Jan 23, 2015)

I would do all I could to avoid piling wood directly on the ground. It really makes a difference.

I also found some cheap plastic pallets here - they work great and won't rot. Wood pallets are good, but you don't really want those on the ground either or in a year or two they will be a rotting mess of wood too wet to burn & nails - unless maybe you have a gravel area to put them on. But I do also use wood pallets - but get them off the ground by putting a fair sized split under each corner. Rotate those few splits out each year, they won't be as soggy as a the bottom layer of a pile on the ground will be. Then if you can't get pallets, the next choice would be small diameter long lengths of wood (poles) on the ground lengthwise, pile on top of those, same as you wood the lanscape ties. You should be able to find used pallets though, should work out even cheaper than the $1 ties.


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## firefighterjake (Jan 23, 2015)

Wood pallets.


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## CRE10 (Jan 23, 2015)

Those of you stacking on landscaping timbers, are you just laying two of them down and making your stacks on top of them perpendicular? I mainly stack mine on a pretty thick bed of gravel. I'm not worried about the rot as wood for me is endless, but keeping the bottom stacks lower moisture would be nice.


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## Typ0 (Jan 23, 2015)

CRE10 said:


> Those of you stacking on landscaping timbers, are you just laying two of them down and making your stacks on top of them perpendicular? I mainly stack mine on a pretty thick bed of gravel. I'm not worried about the rot as wood for me is endless, but keeping the bottom stacks lower moisture would be nice.



Yes that would be the idea.  Because the timbers are pressure treated there will be no wicking.


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## velvetfoot (Jan 23, 2015)

Following the contour of the ground, rocks, etc, is easier stacking directly on the ground.


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## Wood Duck (Jan 23, 2015)

My yard is very rocky and I like to garden, so I am always piling up rocks as I prepare a garden bed. Some beds I have turned over ten times and I STILL get lots of rocks. I move the rocks to the wood stacking area, spread them in 8 ft circles (I have round stacks) and stack on rock. It takes some attention to make the bottom layer of wood stack securely, but from the bottom up I stack as normal.

I know this doesn't help the OP now, but it is a long term, permanent solution because the rocks will last forever.


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## billb3 (Jan 23, 2015)

I can't leave untreated wood on the ground. 
Termites are in it almost overnite.

I left out in the woods a ways a 1/4 cord of maple stacked on small pine timbers in late Fall and termites were in the bottom three rows by April.

Oak seems to stand up to being left on the ground better than maple and cherry even when the termites don't get into it.


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## Typ0 (Jan 23, 2015)

Wood Duck said:


> My yard is very rocky and I like to garden, so I am always piling up rocks as I prepare a garden bed. Some beds I have turned over ten times and I STILL get lots of rocks. I move the rocks to the wood stacking area, spread them in 8 ft circles (I have round stacks) and stack on rock. It takes some attention to make the bottom layer of wood stack securely, but from the bottom up I stack as normal.
> 
> I know this doesn't help the OP now, but it is a long term, permanent solution because the rocks will last forever.



yeah well there are a lot of posts in this thread that aren't very helpful.  What you said is extremely interesting thank you for the contribution.


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## slayer7 (Jan 23, 2015)

billb3 said:


> I can't leave untreated wood on the ground.
> Termites are in it almost overnite.
> 
> I left out in the woods a ways a 1/4 cord of maple stacked on small pine timbers in late Fall and termites were in the bottom three rows by April.
> ...



I have the same problem. I left a pile of fresh hickory and ash rounds on the ground in June and when I went to split them in September, termites had bored through several layers of large rounds already and the ground where they were sitting was bone dry on the surface. I know the OP mentioned cost as a factor in determining what to do here but I figure if you are able to do something right at the beginning, it usually saves a lot of cost and headache down the road. The first few years I was stacking wood on makeshift pallets and so forth before I finally built some racks which have eliminated most issues I had with insects, pests and stacks falling over. 

Here's what I did:

1) Found someone giving away a truckload of those flat red patio blocks on Craigslist. I laid them down on the ground to form a support base under each rack that wouldn't sink into the dirt.
2) Bought cheap pressure treated 2x4s to make multiple 8'hx4'wx8'L racks with side posts to support about 2 cords vertically each.
3) Put it all together and placed on the patio block base which is then liberally hosed down with termite/bug killer every time I get ready to refill the stack. 

This set up has kept the wood bone dry even at the bottom, no termites and less pests overall and I haven't had to re-stack anything that has fallen over like I did several times in the first few years. In the spring, whatever racks are empty I tip over, rake up the mess on the ground, reapply bug killer, turn the rack upright and refill with new splits. Maybe this might be helpful...


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## maple1 (Jan 23, 2015)

Typ0 said:


> yeah well there are a lot of posts in this thread that aren't very helpful.


 
Really? Which ones would those be & why?


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## Richie (Jan 23, 2015)

BobUrban said:


> Yes - those timbers will likely go on sale in the spring.  Keep an eye out for a deal and buy plenty.
> 
> Also, as mentioned, pallets are free if you ask for them and with a little diligence you can find a resource that will save them for you if you are good about picking up the stash.
> 
> To answer you question about what to do now:  I split and stack in the spring and have large piles of rounds laying on the ground all winter.  Sometimes these pile lay around for a year before I get to them with the splitter with no signs of rot.  A year or less will be no problem for a pile of rounds or splits. No need to stack twice.


Yeah with all the deflation in the economy lumber prices are dropping like a rock.  There should be some real nice deals on anything timber.


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## Typ0 (Jan 23, 2015)

maple1 said:


> Really? Which ones would those be & why?



I shouldn't say there weren't helpful in a general sense...but the specific question that was asked was about what my experience was going to be like stacking wood on the ground.  It was not intended to be a thread about everyone's way of stacking wood on pallets and timbers.  Not trying to stir anything up that's just the way it evolved LOL.  

I did say I was trying to avoid purchasing the landscaping timbers at $4 per piece when they would be $1 in a few months.  The difference on 36 timbers is over $100!


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## Typ0 (Jan 23, 2015)

I also can't find any pressure treated 2 x 4s for under $3.97.


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## Applesister (Jan 23, 2015)

My brother in law cuts trees down for me. He has a few hours on a Sunday here and there. So he drops 3-10 trees and I have an agreement with him to maximize his available time to just downing the trees.
I get overwhelmed with a lot of wood on the ground but out in the woods I cut saplings or poles or dead stuff and lay them on the ground like the landscape timbers. And I stack the rounds on the poles thruout the cutting areas. That way nothing that I intend to burn is in soil contact. And if I cant get back to the wood to process right away I still feel as if the wood is drying somewhat. 
Soil contact is not good, at the least do not stack the rounds on end but on their sides with the bark between the ground and the wood.
In my opinion wood in direct soil contact will arrest the drying process.


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## Grateful11 (Jan 24, 2015)

Typ0 said:


> Yes that would be the idea.  Because the timbers are pressure treated there will be no wicking.



I don't think pressure treatment will stop moisture wicking, it's still porous wood. In fact the landscape timbers around here specifically say "Not for Ground Contact", which is almost an oxymoron ;-) I use them on the ground anyway. They make terrible fence post, around here in wet areas they'll only last about 2-3 years.

Here on the farm we usually have quite a few dead Eastern Red Cedars. They use the bigger parts for fence posts and I've used a lot tops for firewood stack runners, they seem to last a long time, gotta few I've been using for about 20 years.

BTW: 2x4-8' are $2.97 at Lowe's here right now.

#2 Grade allows wane and has a similar strength rating to #2 Prime lumber
Pressure treated for exterior above ground use
Treatment meets AWPA (American Wood Protection Association) standards
Limited lifetime warranty that protects against rot, decay, and wood ingesting insects
Easily painted or stained: recommended to wait 60 days after installation
Hot-dipped galvanized or stainless-steel fasteners and fittings are recommended
Safe for use around humans, pets, plants, and vegetables
Specie of product is Southern yellow pine
HT (Heat Treatment) on grade mark: wood is subjected to high temperature kilns before treatment

Landscape Timbers: $3.97


Surface treated for cosmetic purposes; for decorative use only
Not intended for ground contact
Not intended to be used for fence post
No warranty
Easily painted or stained: recommend to wait 60 days after installation
Hot-dipped galvanized or stainless-steel fasteners and fittings are recommended
Safe for use around humans, pets, plants, and vegetables
Specie of product is Southern yellow pine


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## BobUrban (Jan 24, 2015)

Grateful11 said:


> They make terrible fence post, around here in wet areas they'll only last about 2-3 years.



Yea, osage is the best with black locust a close second for lifetime and beyond fence posts but all the damn wood burners are using the good stuff to heat there homes


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## CRE10 (Jan 24, 2015)

Typ0 said:


> yeah well there are a lot of posts in this thread that aren't very helpful.  What you said is extremely interesting thank you for the contribution.


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## Typ0 (Jan 24, 2015)

Thank you for clarifying my misleading post.  My intention is to raise the pressure treated timbers off the ground in the end perhaps that is how I got confused.  I will be using block under the timbers...




Grateful11 said:


> I don't think pressure treatment will stop moisture wicking, it's still porous wood. In fact the landscape timbers around here specifically say "Not for Ground Contact", which is almost an oxymoron ;-) I use them on the ground anyway. They make terrible fence post, around here in wet areas they'll only last about 2-3 years.
> 
> Here on the farm we usually have quite a few dead Eastern Red Cedars. They use the bigger parts for fence posts and I've used a lot tops for firewood stack runners, they seem to last a long time, gotta few I've been using for about 20 years.
> 
> ...


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## maple1 (Jan 24, 2015)

Typ0 said:


> I shouldn't say there weren't helpful in a general sense...but the specific question that was asked was about what my experience was going to be like stacking wood on the ground.  It was not intended to be a thread about everyone's way of stacking wood on pallets and timbers.  Not trying to stir anything up that's just the way it evolved LOL.
> 
> I did say I was trying to avoid purchasing the landscaping timbers at $4 per piece when they would be $1 in a few months.  The difference on 36 timbers is over $100!


 
OK - but if opinions you get feedback on are that the experience of stacking wood on the ground would be a bad one, I would likely consider suggestions of how to avoid it to be helpful and also to be a natural continuation of the question answering, considering the cost of timbers was also a stated concern.

Getting wood off the ground does two things - it breaks the wicking action link (there is a huge amount of moisture in the ground that the wood will wick up), and it allows air movement under the pile that will help immensely with removing the moisture that is already in the wood. I.e. wood laying on the ground will not just not dry, it will get wetter.


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## northwinds (Jan 24, 2015)

Pallets.  Free.  Efficient.  Effective.


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## Grateful11 (Jan 24, 2015)

Typ0 said:


> Thank you for clarifying my misleading post.  My intention is to raise the pressure treated timbers off the ground in the end perhaps that is how I got confused.  I will be using block under the timbers...



The wicking part was the only thing I really trying to clarify. I hope I didn't offend.

The amazing part to me is the fact that they call them Landscape Timbers yet they're not designed for Ground Contact. To me that's just ludicrous.


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## gzecc (Jan 24, 2015)

Free pressure treated lumber is always available for free on CL, especially in the spring. You will have to do some work to get it, but it is always in my area. The best stacking method is with the smallest splits on the bottom, off the ground. Bigger ones on top. The bottom seasons slower, being closer to the ground.


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## bag of hammers (Jan 30, 2015)

Grateful11 said:


> We found a supplier of plastic pallets not too far away for $5 each.





maple1 said:


> I also found some cheap plastic pallets here



nice.  I haven't seen any plastic pallets around but that would be a great scoop.  The wood ones do rot, but I am amazed at what I can make disappear in a good outside fire here (some things, you don't wanna know ).  Plunk down another one for the wood pile, good to go.  Disclaimer - as  a weekend burner, I don't have the stacks that most do here, so I don't need a ton of pallets so it's easier to manage.  You're right maple1, you do have to watch for nails though (like when I'm dragging an old pallet over to the pit).


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