Deck Stacking Question

[Dunadan]

I just got my deck stained this weekend (or at least the portion I plan to start stacking wood) and have a question about stacking wood on the deck.

Do I still need to put my wood on some type of rack (i.e. pallet or homemade base) if I'm stacking on a wood deck? In other words, can I treat the deck as my "rack" since air will circulate under the deck, and come up through the cracks between decking?

Or do I need to put something down first?

 

[Gibbonboy]

You definitely want something down, either some 2x4 "sleepers" or a pallet of some sort. The splits that are laying right on the deck will keep some moisture under them, it will at least discolor your deck, and probably eventually accellerate the decomposition process. The gaps between boards in your deck aren't ( or shouldn't be) big enough to get the proper air under the pile. A rack of some sort that only has 4 or 6 "feet" touching the deck, as opposed to the whole bottom of the rack resting on the deck should be even better.

Of course, if the wood will only be there a short time, I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Mike Wilson]

Definitely stack it on sleepers, or something to keep air circulating underneath it. Anything to prevent the deck itself from developing mold or rot.

-- Mike

 

[elkimmeg]

Make sure you stack it near the support base and not the middle. Decks are designed for 60 lbs per sq ft. If we are taking more than a day's supply ahead.

A cord of wood can be over 3000 lbs

 

[nshif]

Elk
At 60 lbs per sq ft thats 1920 lbs in a 4x8 area. At least half a cord, if you are burning a half cord a day you need new stoves, and more wood.
My deck has 6x6 posts on 10' centers topped with a 6x12 header. span is 12' joists are 2x8 PT 16"oc
and im guessing thats abit more then 60 lbs a sq. ft
I only store about 1/3 cord up there but that good for at least 3 days in the worst weather

 

[Dunadan]

Thanks for the reminder Elk (and all others for their comments).

I built this deck way over specs, using two lines of 6x6 posts (the first about 7' from the ledger, the second at 14' from the ledger right at the end of the deck - no overhang), 2 beams - 1 over each set of posts made from 2 - 2 x 8s laminated together, and 2x8 joists.

I'm planning to put about 1 to 1.5 face cord of wood on each side of the deck and have the wood start slightly before the outside post of the first line of posts, ending at the end of the deck, directly over the outside post in the second line of posts. I figure this will split the weight between the two sides of the deck, but more importantly split the load over the 2 posts, keeping the weight away from my ledger.

I'll have to pull out my deck building books and look-up the load capacities, but I believe it should be fine.

 

[Dunadan]

A bit more complicated than I thought. Pretty easy to figure the load areas of the deck and load capacity at various psf. Not so easy to find the information on how different size components affect load bearing capacity. Since I don't want to take any chances damaging my deck, I will error on the lower side.

Also, I don't burn that much wood in a day, but my thought was to get the wood on the deck now, when the weather isn't so bad, and then not have to restock as often from my supply in the yard. I'd rather not be lugging wood up from my wood pile to the deck every couple days, or even every week. I had hoped to keep a couple weeks supply on the deck, so I only had to carry wood up that often.

I guess in the grand scheme of things, it's all the same. Less trips with more wood (to fill a larger deck supply) is the same as more trips with less wood (to fill a smaller deck supply).