rain on my stacks

[neiln]

I've 2+ years worth of firewood stacked in the garden and 2/3rds of it is along one fence, stacked on pallets.  I cover the top with tarps from August BH through to May BH. Tarps are a slight faff but not too bad,  they occasionally blow or slip or hole and let a bit of rain through but in previous winters I've found a few dry days and the few damp bits dry out ok.  This autumn though, blimey.  Have we had a dry day since...err...since....mid September?  It seems I'm getting a lot of damp wood and its not getting time to dry again.  in fact its getting slowly wetter.  WHen its brought in the  dampest bit I stack around the stove and burn last and although very few bits have hissed so it can't be too bad, its not burning as hot as 2 summers dry wood should.  Oh well, glass is still clean so flue should be too i hope, house is warm and I've plenty of wood.  its just a frustration...after the last 2 summers I was expecting this lot to go woof!

Anybody else having issues with all this rain?

[spuddog0507]

3 minutes ago, neiln said:

I've 2+ years worth of firewood stacked in the garden and 2/3rds of it is along one fence, stacked on pallets.  I cover the top with tarps from August BH through to May BH. Tarps are a slight faff but not too bad,  they occasionally blow or slip or hole and let a bit of rain through but in previous winters I've found a few dry days and the few damp bits dry out ok.  This autumn though, blimey.  Have we had a dry day since...err...since....mid September?  It seems I'm getting a lot of damp wood and its not getting time to dry again.  in fact its getting slowly wetter.  WHen its brought in the  dampest bit I stack around the stove and burn last and although very few bits have hissed so it can't be too bad, its not burning as hot as 2 summers dry wood should.  Oh well, glass is still clean so flue should be too i hope, house is warm and I've plenty of wood.  its just a frustration...after the last 2 summers I was expecting this lot to go woof!

Anybody else having issues with all this rain?

wood is a bit like a sponge it will take moisture in even out of the atmostphere if it is wet shitty weather like we are getting now, i have had customers buying kiln dried logs in september (not from me) and then ring me asking for some dry logs that burn, when there problem is not the kiln dried logs they bought and now dont want to burn like they did when purchased the problem is the storage area where the logs are stored outside the back door where it dont get much breeze and even less sun, in weather like this it is hard to keep logs at reasonable moisture content so they do burn hot,

[neiln]

exactly.  it is difficult.  All mine is probably below 25% average still, it burns and isn't blackening th glass, often not see much smoke if any from the chimney either.  it does need the stove vents wide open though, an definitely isn't going up like my wood usually does.  Hopefully this rain will pack in sometime soon and the wood will dry out again slowly.

[nepia]

Not wanting to gloat or anything but my logs in tarp-covered IBCs have been fine.  neiln - I'm near you too; the logs are 10 miles eastish of you but on high ground.

So perhaps the biggest factor is ventilation rather than the current weather...?  Appreciate you probably can't keep yours in as good a spot as you may want to.

[neiln]

I think I do very well with the wife allowing me to collect, cut and split 12-14m3 each year and to stack 25+m3 in the garden....I think it needs to stay on the fence though....25 IBCs scattered across the lawn would not go down well!  TBF, they could be better ventilated but they aren't bad and dry very very well over the summer, and previously I've not had  problem over the winter. Thinking about it I'm using smaller and cheaper tarps on this bit of the stack....I wonder if this is letting more rain on to the wood? hmm....I might need to invest in a couple more large heavy duty tarps.

[scbk]

The best tarps are old lorry curtainsides, very tough and weigh a ton!

 

Can't beat a proper shed/roof though. Build it well and it will last a lifetime - and keep your logs nice and dry, not losing energy to fungus

[Steven P]

outside my wood isn't covered but if I dig down a few layers, it is OK and dry at the moment - might be worth digging out the driest, covering it well, restacking the rest and see what you get from that

[neiln]

Yes I've read about lorry curtains.  I have a couple of heavy duty tarps on half the stack but when I needed some more I bought cheapo ones to save a few quid and because the heavy duty ones were heavy and awkward to fold back to access the wood, I actually thought lighter and several shorter tarps would be easier.  I'm now thinking even with the overlaps several short tarps are letting more water through, plus they blow about a bit more, plus they have more tendency to pool water in places which then seems to lead to a piece of wood poking a hole and letting the water through.  Hmm, I should probably get at least one more heavy duty tarp.

[openspaceman]

10 hours ago, neiln said:

stack 25+m3 in the garden.

That would take the whole back boundary of my place if stacked 5ft deep and 5ft high, too much for an urban garden. However half that and build a pole shed covered with clear corrugated PVC and it would be fit to burn after one summer in the south, so no need to store 2 years worth.

 

 

[neiln]

its in a number of places and doesn't take over....although my neighbours have noticed....I occasionaly get asked if I want to sell some!  I've an old potting shed in one corner of the rear garden that is well past it for anything nice.  I removed the 2 windows and the door, its 6'6" x 8'6" internally and about 2m tall, that is filled and holds around 9 cube.  I stack 2 rows wide and about 75cm tall against the front wall of the house, in the open other than slightly under the eaves but south facing wall and it dries well.  This stuff being out front is the easiest and first stuff for me to bag up and sling in the car boot to go to mum each time I visit, where it is unloaded into a log store that holds 1.4cube.  My front of house stack can be 2.5 cube maybe by late summer.  the rest is down the fence, 1.2-1.3m wide, 1.2-1.3 ish m tall (higher at the back by the fence so the tarp has a slope to shed water) and something like 14m long.  the garden is a decent size for a zone 3 london house and there is plenty of lawn left for the kids to play... If I was planning to stay long term I'd put a few posts in and a roof over the the fence line stack, but as the girls get bigger we hope to move for better schools and a less frenetic environment!  So its tarps for now.  every 2 to 3 years I'm taking from the shed and its definitely dry and easier, but previous winters taking from the tarped stacks have not been a damp problem like this year, just the odd split maybe, this year with the continual rain and perhaps the cheap tarps not working well, much more is a bit damp.

 

Okay I'm thinking a 3x6m 270gsm tarp from tarpflex for under £30.  6m is long enough to cover the stack currently poorly served by the cheap tarps, folded double 1.5m is enough to cover the top and hang over.  270gsm strong enough to resist pooling between splits well and will last , especially doubled...and the cepa tarps can go back on top to keep the UV off anyway and cover the joins between the 3 decent tarps I'll then have covering the stacks (currently have 2 3x4 heavy weights at one end of the stack...the green wood end annoyingly)