Who else in the Northeast is getting concerned their wood isn't drying

[PunKid8888]

Now I am wishing I put some tarps over my my stacks too. that one half day of sun over the weekend would have been a perfect.

I will say though that I was very surprised what a few hours of bright sunshine will do to dry the wood, but I still plan on covering the tops of my stacks as soon as the next dry spell................. when ever that is.

It just starting down pouring again.

 

[Dix]

Open & uncovered, with plenty of draft.

Atleast 1 cord ready to go here, with 3 cord sitting at the tree dudes (split in January, hardwoods) ready to roll when he can get here. He also takes down trees, makes tree canopies, tec.

And about 3 cord cut in rounds and ready for the splitter in the fall. And wayyyyy more trees to cut down

 

[iceman]

I am worried that my fore wood will never dry, I know we have a long summer ahead of us but I want every minute of seasoning time that I can get! I have also noticed as someone stated, Some of my stack are cracking and stuff but when it rains, it looks like it was just cut!

Skinny when did you split it?? and when do you plan on burning it?

April/ Mayish.

and I hope to burn it in the fall.

well, if you have small splits there is hope as next week looks mostly sunny.. but if it was fresh cut dunno i would say make sure its loosely stacked

 

[burntime]

If your not reeady you need to get a softer wood cut and stacked. By me that is silver maple. That stuff dires in 3 months. By others I dunno... Maybe...GASP...pine!

 

[stejus]

I think we're about to turn the corner here in NE! I covered the top of each of my 2009/2010 season piles at the start of June. It's just a tarp on the top, not the sides. I am glad I did this because the top layer would be water logged by now where I am. The past week we've had three heavy downpours lasting 30 minutes or more. Two or more inches! The most recent weather says we are going to break this pattern starting Saturday. Bring on the heat so we can dry out!

 

[CrawfordCenturyGuy]

Half of our 2009-10 supply is already in the barn attached to the house. The other half is stacked out in the dooryard getting doused by daily downpours and drizzles.

I'm not worried. Lots was cut dead standing. A goodly part of my green supply was cut, split and tossed in a pile over the winter before spring stacking. Unless daily rain continues non-stop through Oct. it'll all be fine.

 

[iskiatomic]

Weellllllllllllllllllllllllll, I truly was trying to look at this spring/summer rain as the glass half full. I have been living in MY house for nine years. ( well actually the bank owns some for six years) I have NEVER seen water RUNNING through my back yard. Uncovered my stacks mid April, and then holy crap, I need to build an Ark.

Maybe put my wood in the Ark.

I am working on posting pics of my soon to be "rice field". But, at these moments I am also whetting my insides........To be continued......................



KC

 

[PunKid8888]

I heard me might see a peak of sun tomorrow. I don't even remember what that thing looks like.

 

[Brian VT]

NEWB last year. Had to buy CSD.
For this year I cut and bucked standing dead ash and cherry last fall/winter and had 2 cord split and stacked by February and
the rest (2 more cord) split and stacked by April. I heard standing dead wood dries well, especially ash. I threw out any punky stuff.
The rain all summer had me nervous but I didn't cover my stacks because of what I read here. I have one small rack that has a roof.
I opened a few splits about a month ago and they tested almost 30%. I was sad and thought about adding top covers but didn't do it.
I tested today and I'm still about 27-28%. :down: The one rack, maybe a face cord of ash, that has a roof tested 15%.
All my stacks are 2 rows on pallets with about a foot between them. I figured they'd have plenty of air through them,
but it guess it wasn't enough to dry all the rain that they had to endure.
I think I'm gonna cover the tops of my stacks next year with plywood or something.

 

[branchburner]

Nice drying week we have now - time to make hay. I'm pulling in some dead stuff from the woods that's a little damp, splitting it up in small piles on the hot driveway. It's drying out pronto. Open up those covers and let the sun shine in... that water wants to get back up to the sky!

 

[LLigetfa]

I'm still moving my outdoor pile of wood into my shed. It was getting rained on every other day for a while but for the last week has been drying out. most of it is for 2010/2011 so it will have lots of time to dry out in the shed. I'm separating the dryer stuff from the top for 2010 burning.

I also have a 2 cords stacked sitting out that I recently threw some rubber roofing over which kept off the last two rains. I have another 3 cords stacked uncovered.

 

[Vic99]

Early last week, I resplit some of my stuff for this year. Seemed like the right thing to do given the rain that we had. Should still dry for another 2 months before I move it to the covered porch.

 

[Skier76]

The rain this year has been something else. We received about 2.25" last week in southern VT; between Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

I have the stacks covered with tarps on the tops only. The weather looks good for the rest of this week, so when we go back up, I'll pull the tarps off and let things "air out".

I'm thinking I may start to move some of the wood under the deck; closer to the stove. It's really cooled off here quite a bit.

 

[stejus]

We've been waiting for this High pressure sytem to set up in New England and it finally arrived. Like Skier76 said, let's air it out boys! We loose 1.5 hours of daylight in Sep so time is not on our side anymore. One advantage is the sun is lower on the skyline and hitting the wood at a better angle.

 

[Skier76]

Another advantage: More sun when the leaves fall off the trees. Our backyard in VT is really shady with the leaves on the trees.

 

[CTburning]

I always cover my wood. I have a 6 cord woodshed and it gets lots of morning and early afternoon sun. After that it is blocked by trees. On a hot day I can feel the difference in temp inside versus outside. It acts kind of like a kiln I guess. By the afternoon it cools down pretty quickly as it has good wind blowing through it. It is covered all the way around with a tarp that goes 2/3 of the way to the ground and two sides are half way open, if that makes sense. I wanted to leave it open all the way but my retired/bored father talked to a guy that used to live in Maine and that was an argument I wasn't going to win. So he was helping, we stapled up the tarps. My maple has been split 6 months and 12 months. The 12 month stuff is now below 20% with some testing at 16%. the six month stuff is hovering just over 20% and should be ready to go by the time I need it. The oak has been stacked for 12 months and is around 26% in the two big splits (5-6 inches) square that I resplit and tested. I cut my red oak to 2-3" square so it would be ready to go late winter if needed. This year especially I would argue that those that left their wood upcovered in the northeast this year lost the drying race. A dry fall might even things up.

 

[iceman]

the wood that the op said was 27-28 will be fine by early to mid dec..... as long as we have decent weather .. the cold will suck that right out no problem

 

[branchburner]

I would argue that those that left their wood upcovered in the northeast this year lost the drying race.

Agreed. Who woulda thunk?
I stacked a few cords uncovered in an easy-access place, but fully shaded, which I swore I wasn't gonna do anymore. Looks like 2010-11 for that. So now I'm swearing at myself and doing what I did last year, scrounging for standing/leaning dead that will dry up in the fall.

 

[flyingcow]

I was a little concerned earlier this summer, but there wasn't a darn thing i could do about the weather. I finished splitting my wood about the first of may. I stacked up about 2 1/2 cord in one long row a little earlier. (This was all rock maple and beech delivered treelength the first of march, 12 cord by weight) the rest I threw in a big pile. This is all in an open field piled on gravel(well drained). No shade. Kept the grass near the pile mowed short, if the wind blew, the wood got it.
Just checked my stacked pile, 21/22%. I'm very happy. I will put all this in the garage in mid to late sept.

 

[PunKid8888]

I just checked some of my stuff I split and stacked in April, looking like average 24%. This was all uncovered up until the beginning of August, now it just has a tarp on top. I also have some hemlock that I cut split and stacked a month back, it was around 34%, Yikes

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Made a tent cover with a tarp over my woodpiles to prevent rain, but allow airflow....basically, the tarp doesn't touch the woodpile.
Just checked some larger pieces and split and got a reading in the middle , and most were 19-20%...so I think I am good to go

 

[savageactor7]

Our spring cut uncovered piled wood is seasoning OK. I'm a few years ahead of the game but still think it's a good idea to leave splits uncovered till almost winter. The wind and elevation of a pile sucks any moisture away pronto. Just like attempting to land a golf ball on an elevated green...they get as hard as sidewalks exposed to the elements.

 

[Hurricane]

My stacks were started between Dec and Feb and are not dry or even close. I have lots of shade and left uncovered. I am concerned but it is what it is. I have about 1 1/2 cords ready to go and hope the rest will dry quicker in the oct/nov/dec timeframe. I am not sure what I could have done differently. This is the first time I am 2 years ahead so next winter will be good for me.