How do you store your firewood?

[Balog]

Part of this winter's project list is fixing up our fireplace insert and getting it up and running so we can use wood for a heat source. One thing I'm not sure about though, is how to store the wood to fuel it. We have a small suburban house, fairly large backyard but no outbuildings. And it's western Washington so it rains here a lot. I don't want to just stack it on the ground and put a tarp over it, as it'll rot and attract critters. So I need some type of platform to stack it on, but I'm not sure what to make it out of or how to design it. As for covering, I suppose a tarp would work (especially with standoffs on top of it to provide air space on top for circulation) but I'm wondering if there's a better way?

[charby]

here is some ideas

http://salefirewood.com/storage.html

I keep mine under my deck in a nice stack.

[Monkeyleg]

I have a gas fireplace, so I keep my firewood stuck in the ground with branches and leaves attached.

[Tallpine]

here is some ideas

http://salefirewood.com/storage.html

I keep mine under my deck in a nice stack.

Got termites? 


Pretty dry climate here, so mine just goes in a big heap.  No tarp - I just keep some inside and progessively dry the wet stuff as it comes in.

Someday - a woodshed.

[Larry Ashcraft]

Pallets work well to stack it on.  I just keep mine stacked in the open, but this is Southern Colorado (12" of precip per year).  I tarp mine if snow is forecast, but if I forget, I just sweep the snow off before it melts.  I also keep  3'x5' rack on the porch full, in case we get an extended spate of bad weather.

I think your situation calls for a woodshed.

Tons of info on woodburning here: http://www.arboristsite.com/

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

that site can give ya "wood envy"

[Perd Hapley]

My dad used to put down a pair of runners of some kind, like 2x4s or metal fence posts, just to keep the wood off the ground. Then he tarped it. Now, he stacks it on the concrete pad under his covered deck.

[mtnbkr]

my dad did the runner thing as well, but didn't bother with the tarp (this for SW VA).  My parents didn't heat the entire house with wood, mainly burned wood in the fireplace to warm that one room (family room) and for "atmosphere".  He harvested a few cords of wood via national forest timber auctions and we used that for years until they converted the fireplace to gas logs. 

Chris

[Ben]

My dad does the 2x4 runners thing and stacks the wood behind a shed. He has a little "overhang" roof over the wood, plus still tarps it in the Winter. The tarp is mostly because they get the Tule fog there and that'll just soak right into the wood.

[Sawdust]

Last weekend, I built the one described on this guy's blog:

http://spisblog.wordpress.com/2009/10/03/log-rack-plans/

Took only a couple of hours, and works fine.

Sawdust

[charby]

Got termites? 


Pretty dry climate here, so mine just goes in a big heap.  No tarp - I just keep some inside and progessively dry the wet stuff as it comes in.

Someday - a woodshed.

No, I live north of the termite line.

I do get wood bees from time to time.

[seeker_two]

+1 on pallets....I keep mine on several pallets lined up under a couple of trees. Keeps the bottom row from rotting out. And the trees keep me from needing a tarp. Not enough rain this year to worry about it, anyway...

[Kingcreek]

I keep mine on pallets in an old farm shed/grainery. Plenty of ventilation through the walls but the metal roof still sheds rain.

[41magsnub]

Stacked on scrap wood between trees covered with tarps.

[vaskidmark]

A few of these and 2x4s - I used pressure-treated and had to trim to get them in the slots, but it meant only building it once.

A cord of wood is 4'x4'x8' - you are probably not going to be feeding anything longer than 24" into your insert, so 2 sets of 2 @ 10' + 2 @ 3' + 6* @ 5' makes you two half-cord cribs.  If you want to get fancy you can make a plywood "roof (but angle it instead of leaving it flat).

* Firewood is a lot to ask 2x4s to support - add a brackets and some uprights in the middle of your run.  There's no reason to string them to the outer posts and if you do it will just get in the way of stacking/removing your firewood.  (Trust me, I know this.)

stay safe.

[Tallpine]

Around here you need to keep your woodpile separated from your buildings, etc in case of a forest fire.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

Stack it between trees. Don't use much of it during the winter anyways, so the bottom layer rotting isn't really a concern.

[Scout26]

I've got mine on landscaping timbers (got free) under tarps (From Menards, not free,specifically for Firewood).

[Tallpine]

Stack it between trees. Don't use much of it during the winter anyways, so the bottom layer rotting isn't really a concern.

Good way to ignite your trees if a wildfire comes through 

I had to partially tear apart a stack of wood between two trees this past summer.  An ember had settled in the stack and had a few sticks of wood burning nicely.  Next thing would have been the trees torching and then the cute little log cabin a few feet away.

I saved the guy's cabin by that, and dragging away a few bits of scrap wood that had started smoldering right next to the cabin wall.  Just got lucky - fifteen or thirty minutes later the cabin would have been fully involved.  It just so happened that we got called away from the other house we had been protecting to come patrol around this guy's compound.

Our wood is in a heap next to the well, with a circle driveway around it separating the pile from both the garage and the adjoining forest.  It's a ways to wheelbarrow it in the winter to the door nearest the woodstove.

What I cannot believe is the folks who stack their firewood right next to their propane tank 

[RoadKingLarry]

The wood that is still not dry enough to burn gets stacked outside in more or less 1/2 cord rows. Wood that will be burned this year gets moved into my wood shed in late September/early October. The stacks that will burned this year will also get a cover in August.

A few years ago I acquired a pickup load of some treated lumber that just wasn't worth trying to build anything with crooked, twisted and cracked. 16' 2X6s and 20' 4X4s. They make good runners to keep the wood off the ground.

Another great site for info on wood stoves and wood heat in general.
http://www.hearth.com/talk/

[Bigjake]

Stacked on pallets, tarped and  parked in a row near the treeline.  Then just scoot them in with the skidsteer come fall.

[Perd Hapley]

Stacked on pallets, tarped and  parked in a row near the treeline.  Then just scoot them in with the skidsteer come fall.

There you go.

[Perd Hapley]

Good way to ignite your trees if a wildfire comes through  

Forest fires are so rare, in some places, that they're really not something to plan your wood storage around.

[Tallpine]

Forest fires are so rare, in some places, that they're really not something to plan your wood storage around.

Some places.

Anywhere west of Fort Worth is a different story.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

Some places.

Anywhere west of Fort Worth is a different story.

I'm way to the east of there.