Lumber Covering Materials

Advice on how to cover piles of sawn wood for air-drying. December 6, 2009

Question
I am looking for an economical, durable wood cover. My first choice has been two sheets of galvanized interlocking 3' roofing metal, overlapping in the center so it sticks out 6-8" on both sides of a 4' wide pile. However this material is up to about $1.50 a square foot ($50 for a 12' sheet) making it $100 to cover a 10' long woodpile properly. What else can I recommend to my customers besides 4x8 sheets of CDX plywood? Any favorites out there? I hate tarps - they leak and tear, and some people end up asking me why their wood has mildew on it (because they covered the whole pile!).

Forum Responses
(Sawing and Drying Forum)
From contributor A:
Most of my piles just have two layers of low grade wood stickered on top. Good wind flow helps as much as anything.


From contributor D:
Several top layers just soak up the rain, and it doesn't get down much more than that?

From Professor Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor:
Tar paper and low grade lumber.

From contributor C:
Good old heavy poly plastic on an A-frame.

From contributor L:
Go see a barn building business. Ask if they have bent or torn metal roofing material for cheap. Got mine for free! It's been working fine for 15+ years. Might need extra to overlap holes or tears.

From the original questioner:
Thanks for your responses. The tar paper got my customer's vote.
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