I have a shed that is only open to the north so there is no sun and some wind that would get to the inside of the shed. Does anybody have any experience with drying firewood this way? Would it dry in a couple of years or would it just be a waste of time trying it.
Sun, wind, and warm are the best combo, but you would have wind and warm at the very least. Probably not optimal but give it a try. Are you talking about putting green wood only? Or partially seasoned.
Could also leave it outside for a year or two and then put it in the shed? Just to finish it off, you understand....
Does the shed have solid walls on 3 sides or can it be set up with a few horizontal slats on the other 3 sides to keep the wood in and allow lots of air movement? Our woodshed gets some air movement but not a lot and is covered on all 4 sides with p.t. lattice. I pile it in pretty solid and it holds 5 years worth of wood and it seasons real nice after 3 years. Its mostly hard maple with some yellow birch and red oak. It all burns well and very little fowling in the chimney each summer when cleaned. If it is solid walls the inner and back stuff my take forever to season well. If it is too small for this I would be inclined to build a proper wood shed of adequate size and be done with it. "Life is short & then it's over" - at least this life. I would do a much better job now than when I built the shed and the forum folks likely have a ton of good ideas and suggestions.
The shed has 3 solid walls except for one side has 3 windows that can be taken out for air flow. I can leave it outside to dry, I was just looking to save a step in handling the firewood. Thanks for replies.
If the wood is dead standing, or partially dried, I think that shed will still work very well even only sitting for a few months. Just getting wood split and out of the rain does help a lot. Yes, wind and sun do help too, but I wouldn't discount what a roof and a summer of heat will do.
I'd at the very least ventilate the top on the closed ends. It'd be ideal to make the walls "slatted" so the wood can breathe easier.....
I would try to take the advice of those suggesting some ventilation area on top or slats. If it works, it would be easier than handling wood twice.
For my first year of burning I had my wood stacked inside a completely enclosed detached garage that only received morning sun. Most of the wood I put inside was fresh cut sycamore, cherry, and some oak that had been dead long enough that the outer 3" had turned into a spongy consistency before I cut it and split it. The sycamore and cherry was ready to burn after 8 months of drying in there, and I ended up burning that outer 3" of the oak, which after it had dried turned into wood that would almost light with a match. The rest of the oak needed another season before it was ready. I did stack in single rows with 3' in between each row, which may have helped with the drying.
Handling as few times as possible is absolutely critical. Without seeing the shed and how it is constructed it is impossible to comment further. Lot's of air flow is important as well as the size and ease of access. If it will hold 3+ years supply and is well ventilated it would be ideal. If you have lot's of wide open space in the sun and all else being equal it can be just as good. I like a shed that keeps the wood away from rain and snow. I did outdoor piles for years and it was always a royal pain in the wazoo as we have little level ground and are surrounded by mature maple/hemlock which creates mostly shade and reduced air flow. Finally went to a large shed and rotate on a 5 year cycle so all is good now.
Primer on Woodburning by Backwoods Savage | Firewood Hoarders Club sam s I don't think I've formally welcomed you to the forum, so now, welcome to the forum. The link above will give you some good ideas. Just remember that the biggest key to drying wood is air flow or circulation. This is why is always works best to dry wood outdoors but some sheds allow for some good air flow but if it is packed tight plus the walls, how can air circulate through the wood? The way we do it is to do our cutting in the winter and we just sort of loosely stack it up. Come spring or at least some warmer air with less snow, we then get the splitter out and go to work splitting the entire winter's cutting. Immediately after that we stack it right there where we split it. Then the following fall or early winter we top cover the stacks using old galvanized roofing. Then the wood just sits there and lets Mother Nature do her thing to dry the wood. We do not have a moisture meter nor do we need one because our wood stays in the stacks 3 years or more for the most part. It is rare to go less than 3 years here. For sure if the wood is oak, that always needs 3 years to burn the best. For the winter's heat, we do now move enough wood for the winter into the barn and use from that rather than having to dig through snow and ice to get it. However it was not always that way and we got along for many, many moons without a shed and it would not bother us much if we had to do that again, so long as we had good top covering for the wood and the wood is stacked off the ground. We do stack usually in rows of 3. Stacking the wood 4 1/2' high which will shrink down to less than 4' height as it dries. Someone else had a thread going about wood piles falling over but we thankfully do not have that problem. We probably would if we stacked higher but we've found this height to be ideal for us. Also stacking 3 rows together has never posed a problem of that middle stack not drying. It dries nicely. Good luck. In October we bring enough wood for the winter into the barn and stack it there like this.
Backwoods Savage, Thanks for the sending the link on the woodburning. I will probably reread it again. You guys are helpful.
Keep in min that handling the wood twice is not entirely a waste of time. I find that restacking wood in the middle of drying it seems to produce more evenly seasoned firewood. Some of the wood from the bottom gets moved to the top, where it dries better, and the wood tends to be tuned and repositioned which evens out the differences between splits in a good position versus those in a less ideal position in the stack.
