Living in NY you probably have some periods of the year that it rains alot. You might want to keep your compost from being soaked. A lid wouldn't be a bad addition but you might just use a waterproof tarp occasionally.

No compost bin needs a lid, however, a lid does aid you in controlling, better, what goes on in your pile. A lid does help control the amount of moisture in your compost, although many people have composted, successfully, for years without lids.

I think a lid is very important, not just for cooling rains, but for flies. If you leave off the lid and you compost food, flies could lay eggs and what you get is maggots. The maggots eat your compost causing you to lose some of the volume. Not to mention the horror factor of maggots.

zach - that's exactly what I have now - 3 bins for compost and 1 bin for leaves in semi-shady area with netting on the inside. I started with two bins and added two more through the years. I never treated my pallets with anything and they are still standing strong three years later. The netting on the "inside" side of each pallet helps to keep fine material in. I am actually thinking to replace it with finer , window screen type netting when I need to replace the current one - except it does not look like I need to replace it -- it is holding on pretty good! I put lots of cardboard on the ground to prevent weeds and nearby trees and shrubs to grow in to the pile. When I empty the bin content, if I see too much weeds/roots - I treat the area with weed killer and wait for few weeks before I start creating new batch.

No cover/roof on any of my piles. Some cardboard on top if you notice it dries too fast. When it is scheduled to rain a lot, I just put tarp or fabric from a broken large tent over the entire assembly and the water just runs down instead of into the pile. Good luck.

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thank you all for the notes - what are your thoughts about having the bottom of the bin elevated? Is the air from underneath the pile really important?
if so, how do you stop the compost from falling out the bottom?

I prefer a lid and elevated bottom. This style of bin will keep out all animals but mice. The elevated bottom keeps burrowing animals out and provides a bit of extra ventilation. If you don't use a lid, a piece of carpet on the top will reduce flies and keep moisture and heat in. The carpet will also help shed rain when the pile is a bit higher in the middle.

Here is a link that might be useful: Compost Bin Construction

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A cover keeps the winter rains out and shelter from the summer sun. A big deal now that my slow, no turn bin has gone fungal.

My pallet bins sit on pavers - lots of worms but no burrowing critters or invading roots. Window screen to keep the critters out.

I question the value of the air underneath the bin. Especially when compared to worms moving in.

to sense
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blaamand's bin is amazing looking. been looking at those pics for inspiration for this weekends project. seems almost too well built to dump a bunch of manure in (or at least that will be my excuse when mine doesn't look as nice). I'll post some pics post weekend.
I think I'm going for lid and elevation - maybe some sort of tray system under the bins to save the little bits that fall through.

There is no good reason to elevate a compost bin to provide air circulation, unless you make that compost pile over about 6 feet by 6 feet. There is good air infiltration is any compost pile smaller then that unless there is too much water.
Unless the lid on a commposter is so tight that it would exclude air, and put the compost into anaerobic digestion, any lid will not keep out flies or any other vermin, however, proper management will.

Passive air filtration into compost bins is measured in inches not in feet. All the reseach that I have read says so. You can turn your compost bin, and within two hours, the CO2 levels will have returned to what it was before the turning. This is for actives compost piles, not for curing piles.

The link has some good information on active aeration. Follow the Research & Development link on the left.

Here is a link that might be useful: Active compost aeration.

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Thanks for the link.

I don't want to work that hard just the same.

I'd rather have the worms than some passive air from raising the bin off the ground.
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I don't think you need a lid or cover unless you intend to let finished compost sit for long periods of time.

I use old carpeting and thick plastic tarps on top of my piles when they are saturated and/or a number of inches of rain is expected.

But this is not just a yes or no answer question. Factors include how you compost, what the materials are (fish parts?), and how picky/odor consious you are.

Zach, I'm in total agreement with the folks who say that worms moving in are more important than elevating the bin. In my bins, worms are always hard at work, and I see lots of them. Whenever I fork my compost out of a bin, I replenish the thick layer of moistened newspaper on the bottom. This seem to help attract worms, as well as keeping weeds from coming up into the compost.

My bins (Biostacks) come with plastic lids, but they really only keep rain out--and small rodents can tunnel in if they are determined.

thanks for your help. I decided to go no lid, and put it right on the ground. here is a pic
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In my younger days I constructed compost piles that were 6 feet wide by 6 feet tall by 45 to 60 feet long consisting mostly of tree leaves and horse manure and never had to provide any means of air infiltration. Those compost piles worked just fine with no outside help from me once they were built.
The only time air infiltration was a problem was if I put too much water into the mix because water displaces air.