Should You Cover Your Wood Pile?

[Hasufel]

I did a drying test a couple of years ago, in case anyone wants to see real data. But the bottom line is what others here have already noted--wood will dry faster if covered. Uncovered wood will still dry, just not as well over time.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I did a drying test a couple of years ago, in case anyone wants to see real data. But the bottom line is what others here have already noted--wood will dry faster if covered. Uncovered wood will still dry, just not as well over time.

I like your work, Hasufel. Ends the speculation.

 

[fire_man]

We've had about 20 inches of rain just since August. I am pretty sure if my stacks were not covered the oil furnace would be $$ heating us $$ this Winter.

 

[TJ1]

I stack wood between trees on a bottom rack built from 2x4's just to keep it off the ground. The stack that will be used this season will be covered with tin roofing sheets starting around April.

This season will be my first using white oak that I know for certain has been cut and split at least 2 years and covered all summer. Anxious to find out how it burns compared to other wood used in the past.

 

[BIGChrisNH]

plywood and tarps. If I didn't top cover my stacks they would get filled up with rotting leaves and pine needles and stay wet and rot. Depends on climate and stack location, but I've only stacked and not covered once with a small pile. I ended up with a pile of black fungus wood that I had to throw away.

 

[Dug8498]

Ditto to what most people are saying here. I have one small pile of uglies that is uncovered. It's in the same location with the same sun and wind as my other covered stacks and it is significantly heavier and wetter than the covered wood that was cut from the same tree and has been seasoning the same amount of time. That may be due to a particularly wet spring, summer, and fall here, but that' what I'm seeing

 

[billb3]

I top cover.
Some wood is horribly porous and hygroscopic.
I live on the East Coast where we get tropical weather and northeasters constantly.

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[Dug8498]

I top cover.
Some wood is horribly porous and hygroscopic.
I live on the East Coast where we get tropical weather and northeasters constantly.

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Wow, that's amazing how much water the red oak is soaking up. Thanks for posting the video, very cool. Wondering now if it's a problem that some of the ends of my red oak splits get wet during rainstorms even though the stacks are top covered...