Drying

[slowp]

Guess I need to take some pictures. Look at them closely. I'd say some are piles of GREEN wood, and all are taken in the summer. You also need to study your PNW geography. Spokane is a whole different climate than Seattle.

How come these pictures aren't taken in November or December? Because then you'd see a sodden dark looking pile. Later on, mushrooms would be poking out.
Nice try, but one has to cover the top of woodpiles outside to get dry wood. I'll take a picture of firewood that has been stored outside, uncovered and show you that the wood in your photos is newly stacked and gathered. I've got some sodden, moss covered stuff that's been on the ground. That's another thing. The bottom rows are going to be wet. Very very wet. Slugs like it, as do sowbugs. I just stacked soggy wood that was dumped, like in the pictures, in a kind of pile. The outside sticks, having sat all two months of fairly dry weather, looked fine. The inside sticks had fungus starting, slugs, slime, and were wet.

Also, where'd you get that picture of High BTU wood? It says Seattle, but it looks more like it is on the dry side of the state, which is not Seattle.

Nice try but Spiderman, you know nothing about our climatic zones. Got any pictures of uncovered stacks from Forks, WA? Aberdeen, WA? Darrington, WA? Stuff that isn't newly cut, but wood that has been there a year, on the ground, exposed.

 

[slowp]

Yup, no need to cover wood to get it dry here.

 

[olyman]

Yeah right... some people...
I'm sure you know exactly what your talkin' 'bout... ya' flat can't season firewood uncovered in Washington.
Or do you know what you're talkin' 'bout??

Firewood for sale in Camas, Washington

Port Angeles Firewood, L.L.C.

"Top Quality" Firewood - Spokane, Washington

For Sale - Woodinville, Washington

High BTU Firewood for sale - Seattle, Washington

you knew damn well,,she was going to retort to you,,that you dont know jack squat,,and she did......

 

[Whitespider]

Yup, no need to cover wood to get it dry here.

View attachment 366864

@slowp ,
Your picture reminds me of my "city guy" neighbor who tossed un-split oak on the ground, under trees, and let the weeds grow waist high around them... and then whined because the stuff was complete mush 18 months later. If'n I tossed un-split rounds on the ground, in the shade, and allowed weeds to grow up around them... they would look just like that here in Iowa. That's hardly what I'm talkin' about... and you flat know it. If that stuff was split, stacked off the ground or on a moisture barrier, in an open (and mowed) area... there ain't no friggin' way it would look like that.

Are you really expecting me to believe that stuff in your picture would be in better shape if the only thing you did different was cover it... really?? You're tellin' me you could have tossed that stuff in the exact same place, just as it is now, and then thrown a cover over it and it would be just fine... really??

Well, heck girl... I'm callin' BU‼$H!T ‼
*

 

[outdoortype]

Just because people advertise top quality firewood doesn't mean that it is. I even know some folks who cut and burn the same wood in the same season. I find that the rain is helpful in the early stages because it draws the sap out. Walk by your woodpile right after it rains and you can smell it. But the middle piles can't get the air flowing so they can sometimes get moldy. What hurts is when people cut it, leave it laying around for 6 months and then split it a month before they burn it.

 

[stihly dan]

Spidey, I understand where you are coming from. Obviously not all places in Nh can't do it. Not all places on the same acre can't do it. That pic of wood in nh looks like its in a sand pit. Yup that wont be moldy. In NH we have lots of hills and valley's, Plus trees everywhere. I could stack a single row stack smack dab in the middle of the yard and I know for a fact it wont get moldy. My story was a comparison to wood in the same spot with 50% sun. I also have to pressure wash the north side of the house yearly from the mold growing on the vinyl siding. Uncovered stacks can dry here, but covered can too, everywhere, with no guess work.

 

[brenndatomu]

Yup, no need to cover wood to get it dry here.

View attachment 366864

Looks like Cherry...heck, that stuff left un-split will grow 'shrooms n go punky even in Phoenix!

 

[Poindexter]

FWIW the wood burners on Kodiak Island in the gulf of Alaska put their green splits in roofed sheds with a layer of slats on the outside of the building, and an overlapping layer of slats on the inside of the building. What they get there is enough wind that rain tends to fall almost horizontally, the overlapping slats allow air through but catch most of the rain drops.

Next year I am going to season a couple cords of green splits uncovered just to see what happens in my local climate. I don't believe for a minute that just about everyone within 100 miles of me is covering their green splits because they don't know any better. I _suspect_ what happens in my local climate is green splits up and stacked season to <20% MC between May 15 and July 31- but uncovered when the rain starts typically on August first the wood ends up too wet to burn my mid September when the rain turns to snow. I _think_ my neighbors are covering the tops in mid-May so they don't have to go fool with the wood pile _again_ at the end of July before they start burning in September.

 

[slowp]

Those chunks were on the ground. Then I gathered them up last winter, and put them on gravel. Yup, gravel. It is alder. Now, I thought I had an uncovered stack that has dried, but then remembered it was covered until early spring. Another factoid, I don't live in the middle of a farm. I live in the woods. I have a lot of shade. There isn't the choice of having a stack in the open sun, not that we get much sun for 9 months. The aerial photos show a tiny speck surrounded by woods. I like it that way, because the crop that grows best here is trees. My property is not level, and that also limits things. This is not Iowa. It isn't even close to having the same conditions. Aren't those beautiful freshly cut piles of wood you posted just dumped on the ground?

Once again, we live in different climates, not a one size fits all world. And by covering, I mean only putting a roof over the stack or a tarp on top. Nothing on the sides. Now nearer to the Pacific, on the coast, I'd want a rain/wind break because the rain blows in, like in SE Alaska. Here, in what the weather people call The Foothills Of The Cascades, we usually don't get wind with all the rain. Sometimes we do.

My method works for me, and I'll assume it wouldn't in Iowa. Don't ridicule what we locals do if you haven't lived here, or have any knowledge of our local weather and ground conditions.

 

[GVSII]

If the OP's wood is at 23-24% right now he won't have much of a problem burning this winter.The moisture content will be even lower when it's time to burn. As for covered/uncovered,tarped or sheded-all fire wood is covered around here simply because nobody wants 2 or 3 feet of snow dripping into the wood when the Jan. thaw hits.Then when the temp. drops the wood is sheathed in ice.

 

[haveawoody]

I think the PI vine growing in the middle of the wood pile gives it character
All that wood pile needs is splitting/sun/air and off the ground, for me pallets are a cheap easy solution for that.

To cover or not is the real question.
If all of the above are met then really top covering is a personal choice and each has it's advantages and disadvantages.
Local climate makes the choice easy, if it rains every other day then top covers will make quite a difference in drying, if it's a dryer location then top covers will have little impact or even be a negative impact.
As many others mentioned covers just before it gets cold is a good idea to keep you from playing ice/snow chipper on ever load.

I cover all year but just a top cover of pulled tight clear plastic.
Lets all the sun in and allows air to flow so for me I find it works well, then again it's winter here for 4 months plus with wild temp swings in parts of winter that take you from rain to frigid cold in a day.
My location gets rain about every other day in general so covers make a difference here.

 

[jrider]

Some people have too much time on their hands

 

[Jeremy102579]

I was a tarp on top cover guy until about 1.5 months ago......I removed just about all of my covers then...I noticed the top 2-3 layers under the tarp didn't season much over the previous 6-8 months.....after 1.5 months now....I notice a big difference. We have had a good share of rain over the last 1.5 months also..... and even 1 inch last night....but even with a cloudy day today.....all the stacks seem dry and after a sunny day tomorrow.....will be fully rain dry.

I may lay some metal pool siding over the stacks this winter....to keep next years wood not covered with snow.......

 

[zogger]

I was a tarp on top cover guy until about 1.5 months ago......I removed just about all of my covers then...I noticed the top 2-3 layers under the tarp didn't season much over the previous 6-8 months.....after 1.5 months now....I notice a big difference. We have had a good share of rain over the last 1.5 months also..... and even 1 inch last night....but even with a cloudy day today.....all the stacks seem dry and after a sunny day tomorrow.....will be fully rain dry.

I may lay some metal pool siding over the stacks this winter....to keep next years wood not covered with snow.......

I cover my this winter's stack as soon as the leaves start falling heavy. Just the top. Everything else is uncovered until that winter arrives. Seems the best performing compromise, I've tried everything else so far.