I'm thinking for ever, if its dry and kept free of insect. I know when its wet it looses all energy values after a few years, but dry? Is this right?
I'm taking about it being kept dry outside, with a tarp over the top.
Thanks!
Dean
Well I am talking about a pile of wood outside in the elements, not wood covered up in panelling and paint:)
Thanks everyone. Edwin - won't a tarp underneath hold in water?
Indefinitely.
Well of course. Just trying to picture a tarp underneath, that's all.
Come on, man, use your noggin! :(
All you have to do is have a place it can drain and keep (relatively) dry.
To complete the picture, envision the tarp above covering the top of the pile, and maybe extending outward a bit down a small percentage of the sides. (e.g. propped with scrap)
You want to allow airflow through the pile, not trap moisture up under the tarp. Tarp should cover as little as possible while keeping rain off wood.
HTH, J
I was thinking of the tarp over the support (when I was where I stacked firewood and it was a wet climate in E TN I used blocks and some angle as the base) as a lower "splash guard" if you will...if it's higher than surrounding area, it will drain/carry water away.
Dry and insect free, it can last 100 or 200 years. Firewood is really no different than the wood used to build homes and furniture centuries ago. Those protected survived, those in the weather rotted away. Ground moisture is probably the biggest culprit. Put a tarp under also if you want long term.
I'd put the tarp on the ground, then put pallets on top of the tarp, then stack the wood on the pallets. I've had wood stacked with no tarp and it is good for a couple of years but the pallets in contact with the ground went to hell fast.
I'd put cement block down below first instead of a bottom tarp. A bottom tarp would invariably collect and pool water, making the moisture problem worse....
Rob
My method is to lay down two eight foot 4 X 4 pressure treated beams flat on the ground , and stack the wood on them. The firewood will last for at least 2 or 3 years like this, even if uncovered. It will last much longer than that if covered with a tarp.
--James--
I picture a huge fire ant bed extending up thru the wood and nearly to the tarp.
If you are gonna stockpile more than a season's worth of wood, bite the bullet and build a woodshed, even a 3-sided one with enoough overhang to keep direct rain off the front. A few posts, some horizontal rails to keep the wood out of the dirt, and whatever is cheap and handy for the roof an sidewalls.
aem sends...
I was going to say the same thing. Google on 'woodshed design' and you'll find suggestions on the net. I got the plans for mine out of a magazine years ago, and when I switched to pellets I sold the shed for $1,000 when it was over 10 yrs old. I think it cost me about 300 to knock together, but a few little touches made it an attractive outdoor building that stored 6 cord, plus an enclosed box for kindling. I used 2x6 pressure treated decking, but the rest was a pine box. Just be sure to allow for plenty of air movement.
Keith
I also used 4 X 4 pressure treated but instead created a rack. End posts used metal anchoring spikes for further protection. First row begins about 8 inches off the ground. Simple roof covering is green tarp which barely extends to the edges. Rock solid and not an eyesore.
Ok right now I have accummulated about 20 cords of wood. I started off with a pressure treated rack but that gets a bit expansive and its was a little too high for my liking. Now I'm just putting down stone gravel (2" size) to make a foundation, and then a row of paving bricks I found on top of that,a nd the wood on those. I've been using anything I can find for the covering (tarps, roof liners, etc). Tarps get expensive if you need to buy a lot of them, and the ones they make for logs are BLUE, and I want green or brown to make it discreet.
Anyway, I digress! Just wanted to know how long it can last.
Thanks all for the tips!
Dean
I get my GREEN ones here:
Great! I ordered 5 of the brown 18x3's. Thanks!
Dean
You people are weird. We always just laid a pair of the longer, thinner trees longways, and stacked the split wood on top of that. The stringers rot, but who cares? If you're storing wood for more than two years, the best place to put it is attached to a living tree. If you're using it faster than that then you only have to worry about rot if you're using poplar, or some other cellulose sponge.
--Goedjn
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