To cover, or not to cover, THAT is the quesion

[ansehnlich1]

.......and on the 8th day, He covered His wood stacks, and saw that it was good

 

[WeldrDave]

• .......and on the 8th day, He covered His wood stacks, and saw that it was good ​

...... and on the 29th day a hurricane comes and blow's the S#IT all over the place

 

[JustWood]

The obsessiveness most have on this site with equipment, processing/gathering, species BTU's, and stacking methods, I have no idea why anyone wood leave out the most important phase of wood burning. Keeping it dry.

 

[oldspark]

...... and on the 29th day a hurricane comes and blow's the S#IT all over the place

That's a big 10-4, on a ridge here and we can see 50 mph winds several times a summer, lots of wind and single rows I dont need to cover but I am sure some of yu need it.

 

[Seanm]

Im with the OP. I cant stand to see rain dripping through my stacks! Did a sample of my larch a week ago and found that they were between 11%-17% on fresh split splits. I had the covers off for about a week but this summer weve had thunder storms for what seems like 5 days a week. I have had mushrooms growing on my lawn in August which I haven't seen before. Usually pretty dry around then. The family and I went to Vancouver for a week and the weather looked like it was going to be dry and hot and I thought it would be nice to uncover but couldn't stand to be there and see the weather change here so I left them covered. Of course we came home last night to a heavy and wet thunder storm.....

 

[Ashful]

Just covered my 2013/2014 stacks today. Somewhere around 5-1/2 cords, by my estimation. Rain due on Tuesday night.

My 2014/2015 wood will remain uncovered, until this time next year.

 

[swagler85]

I started covering all my dry stacks last year and it made a big difference. Right now I have 3 cord under my back porch roof and another 4 cord ready to go that I covered today. New to me but old house this year so expecting to burn a lot more than the 4 cord I burned last year. I can't wait to fire up the new princess this fall

 

[Wood Duck]

We are discussing covering as if all types of covers work equally well. I think a rigid cover or carefully placed flexible cover on a stack of wood is a great help. A saggy, puddle-filled plastic tarp draped over a pile of splits is worse than nothing.

My stacks are mostly uncovered because I don't have anything on hand to cover them.

 

[Coal Reaper]

i will be top-covering from now on. just started moving wood (mostly black birch, soft maple, and ash) in for the winter that has been uncovered for the past year and some of it was quite damp int he middle. seasoned and bowling pin sounding, but damp on the outside. now we havent had rain here for 10 days or so. ripped apart some of the 2014/15 stack (mostly oak and black locust) that has been under steel barn siding for a month and those are dry, not seasoned yet but dry. after observing this, i dont see how top covering can be anything but positive. i stack two rows wide so that may have something to do with it. i will say that the ground in between my stacks always seems damp. everything is up on pallets 4' between rows to get the airflow so i would think it should be dryer. trying to aquire some rubber roofing to lay under the pallets. think that would help?
side note: moving a winters worth of wood into the barn is taking me a lot longer than expected!

 

[DuckDog]

I am a top cover guy but I am also a crazy weather watcher. I will cover / uncover my stacks 2-3 times in a week based on the weather. It literally takes less that 5 minutes. I use plywood to cover my stacks and they are near the house. Usually only 3 cord on site.

 

[treefrog359]

I am a top cover guy too. my piles are seven rows wide. the twist I put on it is that I put a crown in the center of the pile to help prevent water leaks into the pile. I have just finished stacking 21 cords of wood. two months before the fires are light so there is a ton of time to dry

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I am a top cover guy too. my piles are seven rows wide. the twist I put on it is that I put a crown in the center of the pile to help prevent water leaks into the pile. I have just finished stacking 21 cords of wood. two months before the fires are light so there is a ton of time to dry

No disrespect intended at all but 2 months is not much time for drying wood.

 

[oldspark]

No disrespect intended at all but 2 months is not much time for drying wood.

I thought the same thing BWS but I believe the little man with the shades grinning ment he was kidding.

 

[treefrog359]

sorry I was in a rush. my wood has been cut for over a year. sitting in a large pile drying out. then in late summer I start splitting. I have checked most of my rounds and the MC was around 23 to 25%. I split small in order to add in drying. around hear there is a almost constant wind living on top of a hill and no shade around the wood. I checked some of the earlier stacked wood and it is 15% or under. oh and backwoods savage I am hear to learn and I do not mind some one asking questions when something is not clear.

 

[ansehnlich1]

Hey treefrog, what kind of stove you got? I'm burning a Jotul, and it likes dry wood for sure, don't burn right when water's sizzlin' out the ends of the splits. I'll be burning almost all red oak this winter and it's been stacked and COVERED for over 4 years

Get you some pictures up on here of this woodpile, and your stove setup......maybe start a thread on it, I know all the guys and gals around here like pictures!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

sorry I was in a rush. my wood has been cut for over a year. sitting in a large pile drying out. then in late summer I start splitting. I have checked most of my rounds and the MC was around 23 to 25%. I split small in order to add in drying. around hear there is a almost constant wind living on top of a hill and no shade around the wood. I checked some of the earlier stacked wood and it is 15% or under. oh and backwoods savage I am hear to learn and I do not mind some one asking questions when something is not clear.

Treefrog, you'll get along fine. No doubt you will be doing things right. You've also no doubt learned it is still best to get that wood split before late summer as it will dry much, much faster. I like being on the hill with wind and sun. You have some ideal conditions there. Good luck.

 

[Bacffin]

Top cover here... Stack between trees single row, top cover and forget about it for 2 years. Been working so far.

 

[MrWhoopee]

If rain was the only concern, It would leave my stacks uncovered. Rain runs off quickly and does not penetrate very deeply A foot or two of snow melting slowly over a period of days or weeks is another story. I top cover in the late fall.

 

[KaptJaq]

I top cover when the leaves start to fall and leave it covered until after the spring rains... I have a blocks of stacks, each stack is 10 to 12 feet long and there are 12 to15 stacks per block with about an 8 inch gap between stacks. When the gaps fill with leaves, then with snow, nothing stays dry. When I stack the centers are about 7 feet high, the edges around 6 feet. This creates a crown (like a road) so the water quickly runs off the top cover. I hate snow covered wood or having to scrape frozen leaves off before bringing it into the house...

KaptJaq

 

[BrotherBart]

If you think rain and snow do good things for your firewood, don't cover it.

 

[Brewmonster]

I am a top cover guy but I am also a crazy weather watcher. I will cover / uncover my stacks 2-3 times in a week based on the weather. It literally takes less that 5 minutes. I use plywood to cover my stacks and they are near the house. Usually only 3 cord on site.
--DuckDog

Five minutes to cover or uncover three cords? You user name should be Speedy Gonzales! That just seems like way too much work for me. My stuff stays covered from the day the stack is finished till the day I bring it in the house. Top cover over pallets to allow air circulation.
It's funny how many people believe that firewood, unlike every other thing in the world, doesn't get wet in the rain. I wonder if they are the same people who believe that hot water makes ice cubes faster than cold water.

 

[ansehnlich1]

If you think rain and snow do good things for your firewood, don't cover it.

I never considered this BB, it's an amazing thought, my wood is covered, and they're calling for thunderstorms the next couple days, should I go out and uncover it?

 

[oldspark]

How many times can you beat a dead horse?

 

[firecracker_77]

This argument rears it's ugly head several times a season (usually in the summer/fall) on here. And I've said it many times, I stack my wood in multiple rows (around 8 to be precise), off of the ground on skids, and I top cover it. But I usually only top-cover the wood I plan on using in a given winter around August. I usually let it season two years without the top cover, the third year it gets covered. I'll be top-covering ALL of it this summer as I now have enough rubber roofing material to do so....

As Sav mentioned above, different strokes fer different folks. some people get along fine without covering their stacks, some don't. I choose to top-cover because it works for me, and it works fantastic.....

View attachment 106683

Starting next year, the woodshed will come to fruition.....

Wow...nice stack. How long is that and what is the width?

 

[MrWhoopee]

How many times can you beat a dead horse?

A dead horse never objects to being beaten.