Firewood tarps

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

rmihalek

Where's the wood at?
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
Messages
2,258
Reaction score
345
Location
MA
My usual method of stacking/storing firewood is to line up a bunch of pallets between some trees in my backyard and then stack the wood on the pallets. Once the wood is stacked, I like to cover just the top of the stack with a tarp, mainly to keep the leaves and rain off of the wood. However, I don't like having the tarp hang down on the sides of the stacks because I want the air to flow through there.

The problem is that most tarps are either square (10x10 or 12x12, etc.) or not too much of a rectangle (12x20 or 15x30, etc).

What I want for my firewood stacks is a tarp that is 6x30 or something like that, maybe what they'd call it here in Massachusetts is a "wicked rectangle."

Anyway, here's what I tried today and it seems to work pretty well. I got one of my 15x30 foot tarps, laid it out in my driveway, folded it in half, and then fired up the propane torch. I walked along the seam where the tarp was folded and melted the tarp into two sections, each roughly 7 1/2 x 30. Now, I realize that I'll lose the grommet holes on one side of the tarp, but I really don't use those anyway, I just throw a few pieces of wood on the top of the tarp to hold it in place.

So, for the price of a single tarp that isn't really suited to the job, I now have two tarps that are the shape I want them to be and since the torch melted the plastic strands together, the "cut" ends appear to be less likely to fray.
 
I used tarps for years up until last weekend.

My neighbor was taking down his pool and when we were removing the metal side, i thought to myself.....this might be good for the stacks since the tarps rip every year.

We cut them 20" wide and mine are 9' long. I find them easier to remove when no rain in the forecast and easier to install when heavy rain is coming. I kept the remainder of his pool for other stacks/future years.

Hey, everyone does things different....if it works for you, GREAT !!!
 
My Buddy works for a roofing contractor and gives me rubber roofing,It works really well i just cut it so it just covers top and hangs down about 1 ft on the sides and than just tack it fast with some roofing nails.
 
Check with your local lumber yard for the lumber shipping tarps. My local yard considers them disposable and can't wait to give them away.
 
Dairy farmers use tarp's to cover silage piles and they often give away or burn old material. It is durable and you can ask them to cut it off in sizes for you. They throw away after one use.
 
I drive past two mills every day going to and from work. Never seen any covers on any of the departing lumber and certainly not on the logs going into the processing plant. Too bad there is not a good use for cow patties because I drive past 3 dairy farms too.
 
I have some new stacks now, but still uncovered. Going to try something a little different. Wait until fall, well after summer heat, right before the leaves start coming down, then put the real lightweight pallets I have, that arent stout enough to stack wood on, on the tops of the stacks, then my used broiler wall plastic sheets just over the top. This will give a little air space at the top for flow through ventilation. With my previous stacks I have still, that top several layers doesnt dry very well, with the plastic directly on them. Planning on redoing those as well, as I get more lightweight pallets.

On the ground I use pallets, but not touching dirt, they are all up on junk railroad ties, pressure treated scraps, bricks, busted concrete, etc. Pallets right on the ground rot too fast, plus some additional height off the ground is, again, better for air flow. It has become darn near impossible to scrounge the real heavy big pallets anymore around here, they get resold and reused. So, trying to conserve what I have. ditto with trying to scrounge cement blocks, which are great for stacking, but free ones have so far for me around here been unobtanium. The guys who have used ones want pret near brand new price for them.
 
Underwear

By the time I'm done with them they are so nasty that the only thing left to do is throw them on the woodpile

They make a great fuel source as well
 
Some type of cover is probably better than none at all.
I like the torch idea for making a clean edge.
Off the ground, covered on the top only and time are all good ideas.
Hopefully the "Emu Legged Cow" will chime in here shortly. I understand he employes bed wetting midgets in his endeavors to to season firewood as well. :yoyo:
 
Make sure the pile is exactly 4.5 degrees off north to the east and I alternate each piece as I stack it for which way the bark goes. IE: piece one the bark is down, piece two I rotate the bark 90 degrees



I find using a GPS is a great way to get my stacks aligned
 
naked-gun-facepalm.gif
 
Back
Top