Salem

I am about to undertake a big project and surround my home in a plank fence. I have calculated how many board I need (a lot) but would like to ensure I get a 100% success when it comes to drying. Now from basic research I have learnt that having 5 squares empty around it will mean a 100% success rate but was wondering if some of the following counted towards it.

Farmland and paving etc.. would these affect it (I would assume no)
Cliffs (this one I am unsure about)
Stumps rocks and old logs (this one I am sure would affect it)

Any help in regards to this would be appreciated.

Having 5 spaces doesn't 100% guarantee a perfect haul. Some people did some testing with piles spread out with 5+ spacing and there was still some that got mouldy. Jorb confirmed here that there is a randomness to a pile getting mouldy, but if you put all your piles together if one gets mouldy it will spread.

As for things affecting it, I'm not 100% sure on any of these things, but I'd assume Cliffs won't affect it since terrain doesn't seem to affect it. And while I've kept everything away from my piles since I'd rather be safe than sorry, from other people's posts I think it's mostly objects that aren't liftable that cause the most problems i.e. walls/buildings/etc. It sounded like liftable objects don't have much of an affect. But don't quote me on that because I might just have misread some people's posts about it.

I think that there's a random chance for mould to start and nothing affects that, but proximity of solid objects to the pile determines how bad the infection gets. This is pure conjecture, though.

Thanks for the quick reply. I have already given myself a large buffer as I am expecting many loses from varies things (mainly planing)

So far this is what I have then
cliff,farmland, paving, rocks, old logs - no effect
Stumps - bad

I think anything with a hitbox counts, so rocks and old logs would be bad, maybe even cliffs. But once again, this is pure guesswork on my part.

I think liftable items don't count. I specifically put 2 crates, 2 chests and 3 logs near a pile, and I haven't gotten a single moldy board.