Tips on Storing Firewood

More and more, people are turning to firewood to supplement other home energy sources that are either expensive or in short supply. In many cases, firewood is being used as the primary alternative to these more costly sources.

If you buy dry, seasoned wood, you’ll need to keep it dry, and if you buy unseasoned wood – lumber that has been felled recently – you’ll need to season it by drying. Depending on the species, it can take anywhere from 15 days up to a full year for freshly harvested wood to dry. In both cases, store the wood so that air can circulate around it, and so that it is protected from rain, snow, and ground moisture. Keep wood that is stored outdoors off the ground, and sheltered under a shed roof. Don’t seal it off completely, or you’ll trap moisture and condensation inside the wood. The wood will dry faster if you split it before you stack it.

Wood can be stacked in either parallel or perpendicular rows. For safety and neatness, brace tall woodpiles with vertical supports.

Firewood can be infested with anything from ants to wood beetles. Help minimize or prevent this by keeping the wood off the ground. Never store wood up against your house, as insects can make their way inside through cracks in the foundation. Storing wood at least 10 feet away is ideal. Bang the wood against the ground to get rid of as many insects as possible before bringing it inside.

To reduce the risk of having insects spread (should they make it indoors), only bring in wood as you need. In general, don’t store more than a day’s worth of wood inside. As an additional precaution, you can surround the wood bin inside with sticky glue strips to catch any insects that wander away from the wood.

Survey your garage, basement, carport, or attic for likely places to store firewood. You can easily stash a supply of wood under basement stairs or beneath a carport or garage cabinet.

Instead of getting wood from an outside pile every day, try the following: Install a simple wood box through a wall to the outside of your house with an access door near your fireplace. The door will enable you to pass logs from the outside directly into the box, instead of making several trips through the house. The opening can be an attractive addition to the room, with a hinged door and a molded frame that projects from the interior wall.

If the wood box opens into a garage or carport, most building codes require that the opening have a solid-core self-closing door. In cold climates, insulate and weather-strip the door. To keep insects out of the home, line the wood box with sheet metal.

For a stylish variation on this pace-saving idea, store your wood under a fireside bench seat that can be loaded from the outside. When you need a log, just lift the carved or otherwise decorated seat. You can also set up a basement-to-fireplace dumbwaiter operated by cables and a hand winch to bring logs to the main floor. Make sure the mechanism is sturdy enough to handle the weight of the firewood.