Seasoning Wood

[Buckethead]

I having some "issues" with this season's firewood.

First the history.....

This year the White Oak was cut, split, and stacked last November (13 months ago). The stacks were oriented east/west with the prevailing wind mostly out of the south.

The Maple, Ash, and Elm were cut and split starting in March and the last little bit finished in early May. This wood was seasoned in what we call a "half-a$$ed hausen." Like a Holtz Hausen the outside of the pile is stacked but all the pieces on the inside are just piled. The "half-a$$ed hausen" is 9' wide x 24' long x 6' tall. Like the rest of our wood it sits up on pallets with crushed stone and landscape fabric under the pallets.

All of the wood gets good sun and wind all summer long. We didn't cover any of them until mid-October and even then the sides are still open.

My problem is that I not real happy with the way the wood dried this year. Some of it is perfect...nice gray color, good weight and burns beautifully. But a lot of it is still heavy and burns okay but sizzles, hisses and pops alot. We also noticed a lot of fungus and mold growing on the wood this year.

My concern is did we screw up in how we stored the wood this year or is the problem because we had such a wet summer? I was ready to blame the "half-a$$ed hausen" but we have the same problems with the stacked wood. Last year all the wood was stacked and it seasoned great and the year before we piled the wood and it was fine too.

So do I chalk this up to the wet summer or do we need to make changes to the way we store our wood?

 

[forestryworks]

white oak sometimes takes longer than a year to fully season

 

[husky455rancher]

im in ct and my wood is the same as you described. i actually had alot of it with friggin muchrooms growing on it. im not new to wood burning and this is the forst year this has happened to me. i didnt do anything different than i have for any other year. i attribute it to the super wet summer we had.

 

[Mike Van]

We've burned wood forever, I'm 57 - I've always believed in covering the top, moving it into a shed, whatever you can do to keep the rain & snow off of it. In new england, summers sometimes suck - You get weeks of humid, no sunshine weather where nothing dries out. This past one was so wet many sugar maples lost their leaves early, some fungus. This years pile is 9 cord, it's covered on top & nice & dry. The wood I sell gets the same treatment, as I wouldn't want to buy wood at any price & find it too wet to burn.

 

[PaulinNY]

Buckethead

Have you got any pictures of your Holtz Hausen pile.

 

[dnf0929]

I agree with mikevan. A really wet summer will set you back a bunch. We had a really wet July. In fact I remember opening day of the Saratoga Horse Racing season, July 23rd, which is a huge deal around here it rained over 3 inches and the first 3 weeks of the meet were miserable. Like trying to dry wood in a sauna.

 

[Richard_]

are there any advantages to this Holz Hausen over conventional stacking ?

 

[hausfire]

I found that White oak retains its moisture longer than any other wood I've used. Also when I split it after it has sat for a year it still needs some time to season. unlike the rest which I can usually burn almost right away. good luck

 

[Mike Van]

In the Waterbury paper today - This year [2008] has been the wettest ever, knocking 1972 off the top. Back in June, guys I know were going nuts trying to get hay in. It either rained or was so damp it wouldn't dry. I don't miss that.

 

[coog]

A couple of weeks around ten below will set things right for you, course heating with wet wood during that period will be no fun.
We also had the wettest year on record.My tractor is still covered in June mud.

 

[Signoflife]

We've burned wood forever, I'm 57 - I've always believed in covering the top, moving it into a shed, whatever you can do to keep the rain & snow off of it. In new england, summers sometimes suck - You get weeks of humid, no sunshine weather where nothing dries out. This past one was so wet many sugar maples lost their leaves early, some fungus. This years pile is 9 cord, it's covered on top & nice & dry. The wood I sell gets the same treatment, as I wouldn't want to buy wood at any price & find it too wet to burn.

This is right simply covering the top of the pile with metal flashing, tarp or even better an open sided building with roof and columns only work far better than a pile without any cover. On really dry summer/falls it doesn't make a "pile" of difference but on the wet years the wood just sponges up the rain.

We have found over the years that piles north/south spaced about at least 8 feet apart at the base, covered at top works the best for us. The wind no matter what the prevailing conditions are seems to have less affect than the morning and afternoon sun getting to both sides of the piles, imo.

I also found out that Holz Hausens work far better if in full sunlight and areas not blocked by wind at all. This year however I would think they should have been covered immediately after piling especially one as big as you mention, if not it would have been like running the lawn sprinkler on it every few days all year long, the middle of the pile never getting a chance to dry out, let alone cure and season.

 

[thejdman04]

It is probably just the wet summer, many times I have had to go 2 summers with oak ot get it dry

 

[trek5900]

firewood stacking follies

are there any advantages to this Holz Hausen over conventional stacking ?

From another website it appears that Holz Hausen is basically a fraud.
Link here I hope: http://www.woodheat.org/firewood/holtzhausen.htm
I hope it is permissible to reference another site here. Apoligies if not.

It appears to me that most of us homeowner wood cutters have the most success stacking in rows.
It also appears to me that after looking at the commercial firewood businesses they use a conveyor to stack the wood in huge piles. I can't imagine trying to stack the volume of wood they go thru in rows.

 

[PaulinNY]

Hausen

That was a great follow up. Im am very interested in the subject because i like to keep between 20 to 30 cords split and stacked throughout the year. I personally like the windrow method. The problem with it is if youve got densely stacked piles of wood and its going to require more drying time. Single row between trees seem to work best ( maximum wind and sun exposure). Imagine 30 cords stacked in single rows! It would resemble a corn maze! I have to agree with previous posters and not bother with it.

 

[coog]

I've had good luck with holtzhausens.Certainly there are some myths surrounding them, but heck, what would you expect from something that looks like a hobbit house? The great thing about them for us urban types is that are space efficient; I get over two cords stacked in a 7' circle.They look neat, so the neighbors are less inclined to complain.I think, at worst, they dry wood at least as fast as rows.I question what that website says ( the author admits to drinking on the job) as even the first one I built was many times more stable than row stacking.I wouldn't feel safe without rows at least two, and better three, pieces deep.I guarantee more air goes through a h.h than a three-deep stack.

 

[darren_nh]

I experimented this year, just for sh!ts and giggles. I didn't cover my piles until October, to see if there would be a difference in the drying.

I will be covering my piles (just the tops) from now on. I was not happy with the results.

I am glad I have about five cord that is two year old, so it is quite dry even though it was not covered for the summer. The stuff I processed is still burnable but is as you described, and pisses a bit.

 

[Buckethead]

Phew! Thanks guys.....

I'll write off this seasons wood to a wet summer and no cover. I also had some very impressive mushrooms and some multi-color molds growing on the wood. Next year I will NOT make the same mistake. In fact, I already have some of next years wood stacked cris-cross and covered to keep the most recent 12" of snow off of it.

Regarding the Holtz Hausen...maybe they are B.S. or maybe not. One of the guys I split with seasons all his wood in a pair of Holtz Hausens. Up until this year they have worked very well for him. His wife refers to them as the grand tetons. The neighbors also enjoy them...especially the day he had a major blowout while one was under construction. He could have made a bundle selling popcorn that day.

 

[LumberjkChamp]

I have not had a problem with any of my wood this year, even with the wet summer. You have to keep the top of the pile covered and the sides open. The object is to allow air to be able to move through the pile, so you really can't make them more than one or two sticks deep.
Remember, your wood piles should be one wood length deep, as long as they have to be, and as high as your wife can reach -it works for me.