Mac's World - Stacking using pallets and cinder blocks.

by Mac
(Marshfield, MA)

Good morning:
My kids say I have OCD. I tell them I have CDO: It's like OCD but the letters are in alphabetical order like they should be! I've been heating with wood for almost 30 years now. Here's the way I store it. I put cinderblocks down in a straight line running on the back edge of my property. The blocks are used to support wooden pallets and keep them a few inches off the ground allowing for a free flow of air beneath the pile. A standard pallet is 40" X 46". I run them left to right with the 46" side" to the front. The 40" depth will hold 2 rows of firewood that is cut in 18" to 20" length front and back nicely.

Every 4 pallets (about 16'), I stand a pallet up and secure it to the horizental ones with a 90 degree angle irons to act as my "ends". This allows me to store seasoned as well as newly split wood separately. Screweyes inserted into the sides of the base pallets are used to attach bungee cords to the grommets of 6' X 24' tarps I use to cover the top of the pile. Given that the depth of the pallet is 40" and the tarp is 6", I get just enough overhang to allow protection for the top of the pile without blocking the sun and wind from the remainder of the pile. I've found that running a 16' 2 X 4 from one upright pallet to the next gives the tarp a tented slope when the bungee cords are taut. That allows rain to run off, preventing puddling, which in turn prevents mosquitos from nesting in warmer weather.

Over time, the pallets may deteriorate so as I rotate through the wood that I use, I simply cut them up for kindling and replace them with newer ones. Hey, it works for me. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Enjoy your day. Mac

Mac - sounds like you have a really good system working for you. Pallets are a great resources if you can get hold of them in reasonable numbers and propping them on cinder blocks will go a long way to slowing down the rot.

You have included a sketch, but I'd love to see a photo or two of it in action as well.

How much do you estimate you store in each "bay"?

Mike