[Greenbuilding] Wood again [storage]

[Kathy Cochran]

Assuming "perfect" air circulation, stacking, splitting and drying
conditions, what is the ideal length of time to age wood before burning?

Kathy

-----Original Message-----
From: greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of RT
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 10:59 AM
To: GBioEL
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Wood again [storage]

On Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:04:34 -0500, Clarke Olsen <colsen at fairpoint.net>  
wrote:

> I think that air circulation may be a more important factor then
> keeping rain off in drying firewood.
> My plan for the ideal woodshed is open all around, with a glass roof
> of recycled (repurposed?)patio door panels.
>>
>> When it's icy out, the wind is blowing and you haven't convinced
>> yourself of the best system to order your wood (whether to take it
>> from this stack or that, leaving the wood under cover until later
>> when it snows etc) measuring sometimes takes a back seat.


[Doing my Sergeant Schultz imitation]

"Ve-e-e-e-r-r-r-r-y intayrestink "

Clark has sort of described my woodsheds.

Two of them -- one for wood which has been seasoned in years previous,  
ready for burning ... and the other for green wood to season properly  
before burning sometime in the future.

When the first shed has been finally emptied, the wood in the other will  
have been seasoning for at least a couple of years and will be ready for  
burning while the just-emptied shed will be filled with green wood to  
season.

They are simple post & beam affairs, 4 bents (each being 6 ft I/S - I/S of  
the posts so that it will accommodate 2 standard pallets (to keep the  
bottom course of firewood up off of the ground) arranged with two four  
foot bays at each end and an 8 foot centre bay ...
total "floor" area of each shed being 100 sf, the maximum size of an  
outbuilding for which a building permit was not required.

On the four foot bays, 6x6 welded wire mesh is run from the top plate to a  
girt near the post bases at the end "walls" of the 6 ft widths so that  
time-consuming/careful stacking at the ends of the pile isn't necessary.  
(ie each four foot bay accommodates three stacks of 16" long logs, each  
stack 6ft wide by 8 ft high ... a little more than one heating season's  
worth of wood, wood being the sole auxiliary heating fuel for the house  
ever since it was built back in '85 of the previous millennium)

The two end bays are filled first and then the centre bay is filled using  
the previously-filled end bays as abutments to prevent the ends of the 8  
ft x 8 ft stacks from spreading.  Relatively effortless to fill, no  
cross-stacking of logs at the stack ends necessary.

There are broad 3 foot wide (salvaged tempered patio door glass) roof  
overhangs on all four sides.

Firewood seasoned in those sheds produces a clear ring when struck, as  
opposed to the dull thud one gets from wood that was seasoned  
haphazardly.  I'd say that everything is important -- good air circulation  
through the wood, good access to sunlight, keeping rain and snow off  
(including wind-driven)

I have the sheds about 100 feet away from the house and use a little  
child's sled (soon to be replaced by one made out of a couple of retired  
snow boards) to haul a couple of armloads (60 to 80 lbs)up onto a porch at  
the house where I can just step out the door half nekkid and barefoot in  
the middle of a winter's night and grab a stick or two as needed.


-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
< A r c h i L o g i c  at  Y a h o o  dot  c a >
manually winnow the chaff from my edress if you hit "reply"
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 

_______________________________________________
Greenbuilding mailing list
to Send a Message to the list, use the email address
Greenbuilding at bioenergylists.org

to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page
http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioener
gylists.org