Stone as a base for firewood stacks???

[Guido Salvage]

BTW: How do you guys get multiple quotes in one response?

Just like this! You just need to open 2 browser windows and copy from the second into the one you are responding on.

Also, I have access to milled asphalt that was removed from the highways at no cost other than hauling. An elevated pad of the asphalt about 4 inches thick also works well for me.

My experience is that millings will compact and will become impermeable to water.

 

[branchbuzzer]

BTW: How do you guys get multiple quotes in one response?

At the bottom right of each response, click on the "multi-quote this message" icon of each post you wish to quote ( it will then show a checkmark on it ), then Reply To Thread as usual. Each post should be quoted in your text box and no need to copy and paste.

 

[flotek]

i use a 2" thick layer of crushed limestone under my lean too woodshed .works great for me and ground water /moisture doesnt really seem to be a problem on the wood
although you will sometimes get frozen stones adhereing to the splits sometimes when its very cold out and things freeze up .works fine and looks alot better than stacking on junk wood ,homemade rails or cinder blocks

 

[727sunset]

I have all my wood stacked on pallets and there's beach stone underneath that. The stone keeps pallets dry and eliminates the need for frequent replacement. Without knowing the exact amount of stone necessary I just put 6" in and have borders to contain it all.
Bark etc falls thru the slats and it's easy to clean out each spring with a leaf blower.

 

[Guido Salvage]

At the bottom right of each response, click on the "multi-quote this message" icon of each post you wish to quote ( it will then show a checkmark on it ), then Reply To Thread as usual. Each post should be quoted in your text box and no need to copy and paste.

Learned something new today, thanks for the info.

 

[Felman]

Worst case scenario is, place the wood on anything & the cover with a tarp to ground level. Then, the warmer ground can migrate humidity through the pile to the cold top of the tarp.

 

[greengiant]

Worst case scenario is, place the wood on anything & the cover with a tarp to ground level. Then, the warmer ground can migrate humidity through the pile to the cold top of the tarp.

I'm not sure covering with a tarp to the ground (if I understand you correctly) is a good idea. You want air flow around the stacks (hence the reason so many of us use pallets). Some guys do claim this works, but not with the humidity where I live.

As far as the crushed stone, I'd follow the previous advice:
1: make sure there is drainage
2: use larger crushed stone-#2's is the term here
plus
3: put down a layer of plastic/tarp on the ground between the soil and the stone you use to keep the stone and soil from mixing together. If you use 6" of stone you probably don't need to bother with this, but with plastic you can do about 2" and not worry. Then just make sure the top of you piles are covered (not the sides) and you should be dry underneath.

 

[gtsawyer]

Cinder block is what I'm currently using.

Pros: easily moved, keeps the wood off of the moist ground
Cons: costs some money, sometimes they break

The ones with holes do the best job of keeping moisture away from the bottom of the stack, and letting things breath. They also break the most.

 

[StubornDutchman]

At the bottom right of each response, click on the "multi-quote this message" icon of each post you wish to quote ( it will then show a checkmark on it ), then Reply To Thread as usual. Each post should be quoted in your text box and no need to copy and paste.

Hey, it works! Thanks!

i use a 2" thick layer of crushed limestone under my lean too woodshed .works great for me and ground water /moisture doesnt really seem to be a problem on the wood
although you will sometimes get frozen stones adhereing to the splits sometimes when its very cold out and things freeze up .works fine and looks alot better than stacking on junk wood ,homemade rails or cinder blocks

I'm not sure covering with a tarp to the ground (if I understand you correctly) is a good idea. You want air flow around the stacks (hence the reason so many of us use pallets). Some guys do claim this works, but not with the humidity where I live.

As far as the crushed stone, I'd follow the previous advice:
1: make sure there is drainage
2: use larger crushed stone-#2's is the term here
plus
3: put down a layer of plastic/tarp on the ground between the soil and the stone you use to keep the stone and soil from mixing together. If you use 6" of stone you probably don't need to bother with this, but with plastic you can do about 2" and not worry. Then just make sure the top of you piles are covered (not the sides) and you should be dry underneath.

It sounds like I can use the field stone with #2's to smooth things out. Like I mentioned before, this will be for long term storage, like five + years, mostly oak. I'll concentrate on using up the cherry, hickory, silver maple etc. before they deteriorate.

 

[joshua mason]

As long as you dont use anything with crushed lime I think you will be fine. The 57's i mentioned earlier in the post would be easier to spread and rake out. 2's will be harder if your doing it by hand. Just something else for you to think about.

 

[joshua mason]

If you decide to go with crushed stone, then 304 would be plenty big enough. I think the numbers I have given you will be the same where you live.

 

[dustytools]

If you decide to go with crushed stone, then 304 would be plenty big enough. I think the numbers I have given you will be the same where you live.

Do you guys have river stone or crushed limestone up your way? Not sure Ive ever heard of a 304.

 

[joshua mason]

Do you guys have river stone or crushed limestone up your way? Not sure Ive ever heard of a 304.

we have both. 304 is crushed limestone with about 1.5 inch rock. 304 is what is used for base on all the roads here in ohio. most around here call it crushed limestone or crusher run. i just know that number from working with it alot.

 

[StubornDutchman]

As long as you dont use anything with crushed lime I think you will be fine. The 57's i mentioned earlier in the post would be easier to spread and rake out. 2's will be harder if your doing it by hand. Just something else for you to think about.

Good point. I will definitely keep that in mind.

 

[CRThomas]

Firewood base

Cut some small strait trees lay them down and stack your wood on them cheap and keep your wood dry and if there is any of them left burn them too later on when your out of wood. We use plastic pallets.some are going on 8 years in use.

 

[StubornDutchman]

Cut some small strait trees lay them down and stack your wood on them cheap and keep your wood dry and if there is any of them left burn them too later on when your out of wood. We use plastic pallets.some are going on 8 years in use.

Except for a few saplings, we lost our entire woods during the storm last spring. To say we lost well over 250 trees is no exaggeration. We need to keep all that are left to help restore the woods. I agree with you tho, I often use junk wood rounds as the base course in my stacks. I wish I could locate some pallets, at least enough to get started stacking.

 

[zogger]

Except for a few saplings, we lost our entire woods during the storm last spring. To say we lost well over 250 trees is no exaggeration. We need to keep all that are left to help restore the woods. I agree with you tho, I often use junk wood rounds as the base course in my stacks. I wish I could locate some pallets, at least enough to get started stacking.

In your situation you are having to generate huge brush piles. You could sort of weave a thick mat of brush and stack on top of that. Start thick and the accumulated weight will smash it down until it gets more stable, then build it to the desired height. Maybe make the bottom row some extra thick splits until it gets stabilized, then finish off with normal sized splits and small rounds.

Here I just use small pine logs. When I get to the bottom of the stack I take the old rotten stuff out and put new pine down. (I put the real rotten wood into the garden and till it in) If I had a *lot* of red cedar I would use that because it lasts so long, but don't have too many here so I avoid cutting them when possible. There's a lot of small ones, I am thinking the larger ones must have been logged out years ago.

 

[StubornDutchman]

In your situation you are having to generate huge brush piles. You could sort of weave a thick mat of brush and stack on top of that. Start thick and the accumulated weight will smash it down until it gets more stable, then build it to the desired height. Maybe make the bottom row some extra thick splits until it gets stabilized, then finish off with normal sized splits and small rounds.
.

Once I get a set of forks to replace the bucket on the FEL I could use your idea to stack a bunch of 10' plus logs the logger left behind. I was thinking of how to do that since I want those logs for extended long term storage. A lot of them are Oak so I want to keep them in reserve for as long as I can.

 

[justchecknjr]

pallets

You can get pallets all over, home depo, lowes, most factory's, and even block plants! i got some from best block that they were going to throw out anyway, he was happy to get rid of them! heavy duty 4 stringer's. Just drive around and look by the dumpsters. I bought some 4 stringers for work for $5 each mostly oak.

 

[CRThomas]

Pallets

Get on Craigslist in your area they try to give pallets away. Fellows have told me they pay to get them hauled away. I have never payed my self. If you can find plastic pallets they beg you to haul them away the city dump will not take them. Later