Pallet wrapped wood seasoning

[LogGoblin]

I've enjoyed reading the posts about firewood and thought I'd share my little experiment. 

 

I've been seasoning my own wood for 3 years now. With limited room in my garden I don't have the capacity to store 3 years in advance. I've found in previous years that if I don't rotate my stacks in my log store (3 stacks deep with about 4 inches between) those near the bottom and middle don't season properly.

This year I decided to wrap my main store (approximately 4m3) in pallet wrap to create a greenhouse. The roof is clear corrugated plastic too (both a good and bad idea), and the rear is chicken wire to allow maximum airflow /sunlight. 

 

I've just tested a couple of pieces of ash from my smaller unwrapped store which have been seasoning since June 2019, and they're at 15% MC. I also tested (admittedly near the top of the middle  stack) a piece from the pallet wrap store, which was CSS'd in March 2020 (had been sat in big rounds at the bottom of a guy's garden since March 2019), and it's now reading 8/9% (freshly split and tested in multiple places) .  I appreciate that my moisture meter could be off, but it seems fairly reliable in the other tests I've done. 

 

My findings are purely anacdotal at this point, but for anyone needing to season wood quick, it might be worth a try.  Hopefully the MC will raise a bit by the time I need to burn it! (Edit - this is a poor attempt at a joke). 

 

For info, I live in Kent, and admittedly we've had a lot of sun this year! 

 

Edited September 16, 2020 by LogGoblin

[shillo]

Just what we need... more plastic waste.

Forgive me, ive just watched Extinction on iplayer!

[LogGoblin]

I a

8 minutes ago, shillo said:

Just what we need... more plastic waste.

Forgive me, ive just watched Extinction on iplayer!

I appreciate your comment. I hadn't really considered the environmental impact of the pallet wrap, which is part of the reason I started seasoning my own locally sourced wood.

My intention is to replace the pallet wrap with the roof from my soon to be dismantled conservatory roof, but your point is certainly a valid one. 

[Squaredy]

34 minutes ago, LogGoblin said:

Hopefully the MC will raise a bit by the time I need to burn it! 

I don't think it is possible for firewood to be too dry.  This is a myth propagated by people selling firewood that is not dry enough!

 

If your fire burns too fiercely and hot you need to use fewer larger pieces, not wetter wood.

[LogGoblin]

Yeah, sorry. That was a little joke, having literally just read about it in Norwegian Wood, and the reason that myth came about. 

[sandspider]

Out of interest, why was clear plastic corrugated roofing a bad idea? Toying with this idea for my next log shed...

[LogGoblin]

Just now, sandspider said:

Out of interest, why was clear plastic corrugated roofing a bad idea? Toying with this idea for my next log shed...

It causes a lot of condensation. It's fine in the summer, but in autumn and winter as soon as the air cools in the evenings it condensates on the underside of the roof. It's not a major problem, but it does drip on my lovely dry wood.

 

I'm considering stapling a perforated vapour barrier up in winter. 

It may not be as big an issue if your shed doesn't cool as rapidly as mine (it's completely open front and back). Twinwall polycarbonate might eliminate some of the issue, as might a steeper pitched roof. 

 

Thinking about it though, I don't think my smaller shed suffers as badly. The only differences I can think of are that it's slatted at the rear instead of chicken wire, and the wood is generally stacked nearer to the roof.  

[Ratman]

I put up a temporary store from pallets, had a solid bitumen / rubberised corrugated roof with a small pitch, worked great [emoji106] didnt need to wrap it though, if it ever rained then i just had some old weathered ply i used to lean on one side to stop rain blowing in. I did forget on occasion to put ply up and it never really got wet enough to worry about it. Air flow is the key. Only issue i had was it housed some mice cos a neighbour has shed loads of bird feeders out in his garden so it was a perfect home for em, just put some fine mesh up to keep em out and youd be fine.

[headgroundsman]

1 hour ago, Squaredy said:

I don't think it is possible for firewood to be too dry.  This is a myth propagated by people selling firewood that is not dry enough!

 

If your fire burns too fiercely and hot you need to use fewer larger pieces, not wetter wood.

Or larger lumps

[Steven P]

That condensation under the roof, the moisture comes from where..... If it drips back on the wood it's only going back where it started. If it worries you a lot you could get a -probably- cheap solar / battery powered fan to run on at dusk to create some air flow under the roof, will dry the wood out qucker too