Stacking on concrete

[Ohiowood]

Can you stack on concrete or will it hold moisture?

[stumper]

Yes.  Yes.

[SwampDonkey]

I never worry about it, even less cause for worry if the building is heated. In my heated basement the wood gets so dry it practically turns inside out.

[doctorb]

Swamp-

I think the question pertains to stacking outside on concrete.  Do the bottom logs soak up ground moisture and rot, as they do if left on soil, or can wood be stacked directly on concrete without concern for prolonged moisture damage to the wood in contact with the concrete?  I would imagine that stacking on concrete would be far superior than stacking on the ground, but I await more learned experience for confirmation.

[beenthere]

Doc, I think you are on the right track. Given time, all the wood in the pile will likely rot. The ones on the bottom faster than others in the pile. On concrete, the ones on the bottom not as fast as if the pile was on dirt. At least as I see it. ;)

And to me, the yes yes answer is correct.

I think SD is the only one that gets his wood to turn inside out. :D

[Ohiowood]

Yes I am talking about outside. I will take a pic, it's next to my stove on a 8x14pad. We are getting about 3inches of rain and was worried I made a mistake by putting it right on the concrete. I do have a tarp just over the top.

Thanks for all your help

[beenthere]

If this wood is already airdried, and then stacked on the concrete pad you should be in pretty good shape.
If the wood is fresh split, then I would expect little drying to take place on the bottom, inside pieces. Seems the concrete will allow more drying than if on dirt.

[Ohiowood]

Yes already air dryer. 
Thanks for the info

[Al_Smith]

The most simple and economical method to prevent the stack from rotting is to simpley stack it on wood pallets .More times than not the pallets can be obtained for free if a person were resourcefull .

Heavy oak pallets will last a long long time and even the light weight softer wood will go 6-8 years .If it starts to break up burn it in the stove and get some more .

[SwampDonkey]

Bottom line is not to worry unless your leaving it there for years. I have had some scrap lumber on concrete for years and it will dry rot on the barn cement floor. It'll have the fire charred look only not turned black.

I think SD is the only one that gets his wood to turn inside out.

If you split it, the inside is now out. If the bark falls off, the round is inside out. ;D :D

[Weekend_Sawyer]

If the pad gets wet then the wood will soak it up and rot.
I stack on anything, a buddy asked if I could haul away a dozen old landscaping ties.
They work great!

Jon

[Al_Smith]

Well yeah maybe if it laid there 5 years . You get it roasted within a year or two you could stack it on the ground and still burn it . Now you can't toss it in a swamp or something and expect any thing from it .

You get it up off the ground ,concrete whatever where air can ciculate it's hard to say how long it will last .About the only thing you might get is groundhog or two and maybe an occasional litter of kittens now and again .Not all bad because cats are especialy fond of chipmunks .They don't however fair reall well with a groundhog .Those you need a big mean dog  that will no doubt mark his territory on your wood pile which dogs are fond of doing .Just the nature of a dog  .If they can't eat it or breed it they will pee on it .

[Bandmill Bandit]

if the concrete is less than a year old you may have a little moisture draw up to the bottom tier of the wood pile but if the concrete has been down a few years it is more likely  it will draw moisture out of the wood. The issue I see is the possibility of standing water on the concrete under the wood . If the pad is well sloped with no low spots you will be good. If you're on high ground even better

[Al_Smith]

Oh much ado about firewood .Just toss it in ,it will burn .If the bark falls off gather it up in a basket and toss it in too. If it's a funky broken down old apple basket toss it in too .

On an outside burner just about anything that will fit through the door will burn if the fire is going to begin with . I know people who burn nothing but old pallets .Kind of hard on a chainsaw if you hit a nail but otherwise free .You gotta kind of watch where you dump the ashes,nails ya know .Ashes to ashes ,dust to dust ,nails to rust .

[shelbycharger400]

i do know, that with rain water, cement creates/releases an acid, thus, just moisture, wood dry rots over time

[Al_Smith]

Well for purposes of discussion true dry rot is a fungus deteriating the wood without any apparent source of moisture .

Then it goes back to what type wood is it .Maple or hickory will rapidly deteriate as opposed to oak ,osage orange or black locust that could lay on bare ground for years with little deteriation .

Ha those good ole Canadians are so proud of their sugar maples but left uncovered for a couple years all they have is mushrooms .I suppose mushrooms would burn though but I've never tried them to find out . :D

[shelbycharger400]

hey al...
on that mushroom buring...
those flat disc mushrooms,  those burn, well smolder but will burn after a while if your in a jam and need a emergency  :Dcampfire, avoid the smoke !!!

[Al_Smith]

Well yeah I never thought of that . Some of those toadstools I'd imagine if you breathed the smoke after a while you might think you're a toad .

I'd always thought of myself as prince charming but I would imagine some might debate that issue . :D

[SwampDonkey]

Had a smart elic type that thought sticking his cigarette in the resin of a mushroom growing by the barn was worth trying. Until he took a puff and darn near lost his wind. All the while driving a skid steer when he took the puff.  : He just about went down in a heap of mush meat.

[Al_Smith]

Well did he turn into a toad or prince charming ? :D

[grousehunter]

I like to use pallets and place 2 economy studs 4 feet tall with J hooks holding them to the pallets.
You get a nice 4X4 stack mof wood and it is easy to load and unload plus it is easy to calculate how much would you have put up for the burning season.

If you have a tractor with forks you can tie off the tops of the economy studs and pick the pallets of wood up and move them around.

Just a thought

[beenthere]

I stack on used pallets, but find they are less than 4x4 ft square. More like 3 1/2 x 3.
I estimate about 1/5 cord per pallet.

Are 4x4 ft easy to find?

[Raider Bill]

I like to use pallets and place 2 economy studs 4 feet tall with J hooks holding them to the pallets.
You get a nice 4X4 stack mof wood and it is easy to load and unload plus it is easy to calculate how much would you have put up for the burning season.

If you have a tractor with forks you can tie off the tops of the economy studs and pick the pallets of wood up and move them around.

Just a thought

Grouse Hunter I'm not seeing this,  my fault, where do the J hooks come into play? Hook them to the pallet or at the top? I try to stack my wood on pallets and am interested in your way.

[SwampDonkey]

There are also different dimension pallets. We used to get paper boxes from the factory in 50 count bundles and those pallets were different dimensions then our produce pallets that we stacked the full boxes on. That meant that we couldn't use those box pallets. They were refuge basically.

I digress a little here....Most truckers were guarded about their pallets to. But funny how they weren't so guarded when they would unload ones with missing boards. We used to have to keep buying new ones, and somehow by the end of the week we got an accumulation of trucker's junk pallets. But if they had new ones they wouldn't leave them, we couldn't use them on trade for the ones we loaded. So they would have 24 of ours, plus all of their own they hauled around in the truck. That meant we had to buy more. Which by the way, became a nuisance since we had to load and unload them empties. Why bring them at all? Funny bunch.  : The pallet jack we had was electric walk behind and we didn't bust pallets with that kind of jack.

[Al_Smith]

The size of them or weather they're made of red oak or pine makes little difference in the big picture which is keeping wood off the ground .That plus making a nice place for the chipmonks to congregate and play poker or what ever they do .