A Beginners Wood Pile w/pics

[JOHN BOY]

Hay Todd i live also in western NC. About 23 minutes from Ashville in Morganton. Welcome to the forum. Stacks look good . We burn about 2.5 chords per winter depending on the wood
Ive recently just hoarded 11 truck loads of red and chestnut Oak, and a lil cherry too . Get all the wood you can .

 

[bogydave]

Nice looking stacks.
Keep them growing.
AND
I'll be the 10th to say it is a good idea to keep the wood off the ground
I use pallets, free at Lowes & HD here

 

[NortheastAl]

Toddnic, welcome to the Nut Hut. You did a lot if good work this season. Keep it up and you'll be at three years ahead right quick.

 

[Shadow&Flame]

Your feeling the first signs of the fever...looking good. Like others have said...need to get that wood off the ground. If you have a heavy
rain there will be a lot of water running down that hillside.

 

[Trooper]

Heck with the stacks...that spreadsheet's purdy! .

Todd, you said the splits came from downed trees. Maybe your seasoning time won't be as long as you think, depending on how long the trees have been down and the EMC of the wood in your area.

 

[HDRock]

Go get some T posts

 

[Missouri Frontier]

Lol t posts and pallets. Backwoods Savage's head must be spinning.

 

[mattjm1017]

I am in western North Carolina in the Appalachian Mountains at about 4000 ft. elevation not too far from the Appalachian Trail and the Bartram Trail. Beautiful area with lots of mountains and wildlife.

Thats some beautiful country out there, Im guessing you get a good bit colder weather than I do being in the mountains like that. I love going out there to visit.

If you are anywhere near the Outer Banks, you're on!!

Scotty Im close to the outerbanks Ive got a jeep for the beach and a cooler full of beer for after the wood stacking is done

 

[blades]

Ah, Grasshopper, you have done well.

 

[toddnic]

Thanks all! I just finished adding another cord of red oak to the stacks. We definitely get a lot colder weather in the mountains than the eastern part of North Carolina. It is actually 5 to 10 degrees colder just coming up the mountain from Franklin or Sylva, NC which is wonderful during the hot summer months . Thankfully though we have very few days in the winter that get below 0 degrees. I'll post another pic after I finish adding the additional wood this weekend.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

You all are going to think I'm crazy but here is a copy of the spreadsheet that I used to determine my current BTU's to heat my home versus what I am going to need to heat it with wood. It also includes the measurements on the various stacks in the pictures. Currently at 4.4 cords.

That's good Todd. Just one word of caution. The figures given for btu on the wood are not absolutes by any means. Use them only for guidelines. For example, we don't know what the moisture content was when someone did the math and there is no way of knowing if your's will be the same or different. Even if you measure with a MM, it is still only a guideline. Still, you are to be congratulated for doing the math to get an idea of what you need.

 

[Coog]

Here is another picture of the wood from above our house.

View attachment 109270

Now that looks like 5 cords of wood. Not sure about criss-crossing. Thought that reduced the total. Close enough and nice stacks.

 

[basod]

Don't be surprised if your burn more wood than you've calculated for - believe me I was looking for an excuse to open the windows on an early October evening after installing my stove.
Plus figuring out air controls and teaching spouses that the flames don't always need to be full on for maximum heat & burn times - it's a learning curve for all... patience is in order.

You've got a nice stack of wood going - I could swear my depth perception got the best of me when you posted those stacks were 15-16' long