My three stage method of wood storage

I know many of you have been doing this for a long time and are well versed in best practices with wood storage and retrieval. This is my third winter in NH and each year I have made some changes to tweak my process... I now use three stages to bring my wood from the main woodshed (where it seasons) to the wood box inside by the stove.

My first winter I was carrying satchels of wood in every other night and leaving it near the stove (this completely wore me out and by the middle of winter I was always doing this in the dark).
My second winter I then went on to bringing in a large cart of wood every 4 to 5 days and leaving it in a wood box near the stove. This would typically get me from weekend to weekend but I really had no room for error (like a storm, or a really cold snap where I went through a lot of wood).

So late last burning season I decided to add a middle stage between my wood shed and my wood box, this was a space on my three season porch that doesn't get used at all in the winter.... and allows me to have a supply of up to 2 weeks worth of wood on hand and quick/easy to grab. This additional stage also allowed me to track into the house less dirt, snow, and bugs from the woodpile. As well I could simply do it in my skivvies if I absolutely had to (we've all been there).

I did a video on my experiences, and what I have learned so far.... this is an evolution of learning so if you find something that you do that helps, please let me know and it may be something I can implement into my process. Thanks

 

Sounds like that's a good way to work it.

 

Nicely done video! Looks like your system works great for you!

 

For your situation, you have a great setup.

I bring in wood and stack it in the basement usually in November. My stove is in the basement as well. My "stacking area" holds exactly 3 full cords, but I've had as much as 5 full cords in my basement at once. I fill the stacking area 2-3 times in a season. I burn 7-9 cords a year, bringing it in a wheelbarrow at a time numerous times a week would get old for me, and I'd have to do it in the dark. It's dark when I leave my house, and it's dark when I get home. I don't care if there are a few bugs, having a lot of wood right near the stove and super dry is the golden ticket into the chocolate factory in my opinion. My solution to the bugs is get a cat. You can still get bugs and mice in a house without bringing wood in.

As you mentioned, too many variables to leaving it outside. An unexpected 2' snowstorm, or several storms that never melted over the course of a few months and you didn't snow blow a path. 2 days of rain and a soggy bog like lawn, etc. Not to mention the wood dries that little bit more when only 5-10 feet away from the stove.

 

I can imagine having it all in the same room together almost turns it into a kiln, drying it out super fast. Thanks for the input that sounds like you have a well ironed out setup.

 

Excellent video Jack of All Trades NH, nicely done. Looks like a great system you have going. I have similar setup (same gorilla cart as well as I use your indoor rack system outside works great), although my wood shed (dry wood only) is closer to the house and I use my front outdoor porch which holds about a face cord maybe a little more. Only difference I don't store the wood inside. In my parts we simply just have way to many termites and its simply not worth it the risk. Both areas are close enough to make a run when needed. Thanks for sharing!

 

Welcome to the FHC Jack of All Trades NH
Yeah I do it in October, I have a 12 x 20 wood deck right outside the stove room. It can hold up to 12 cord. I found that going out at 20 below zero and 3 feet of snow in the dark to get wood to heat the house doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. My wood stacks are about 200 yards from the house

 

Hey Jack of All Trades NH , welcome aboard. Nice setup. You're farther ahead than a lot of folks having that shed. Tarps aren't my favorite.....at all.
Similar to CbVT, my shed is about 15' from the front door and comfortably holds 3 cord on each side. I can keep that short walk clean pretty easily, and although I sometimes go out in a T shirt, but I have yet to make the trek in my skivvies. I COULD, but haven't. Nearest neighbors are about 300' on either side and across the road through a swampy power line. If they can see me......they're lookin' WAAAAY too hard.
Anyway, the drying stacks start at about 150' away or so, and extend farther.
Question, since you plan to use this years CSS stuff next year, what kind of wood is it? Doe it sizzle in the stove with such a short drying time? Hard to start?
What kind of stove do you have?
I'm nosy, but just asking the questions everyone else would.

 

I have a Quadra-Fire 3100 series step-top stove that I really like a lot. The wood I'm burning this year is 99% red oak, which I love to burn. I would say a good 25% of it is not main-trunk wood so it was pretty twisted and heavy. I haven't had any issues this year with moisture, last year I had a load of mixed hardwood and I did have issues with that which I was hoping wouldn't happen to me this year since red oak takes longer to season. All of this wood was laid down and bucked in April of '18 and I split in in May-June and stacked it. .... so in total the red oak seasoned for about 17 months before I started using it. If you are curious, I can split open one of my larger pieces and give you the average moisture content.

 

But of course.

NICE stove.

 

Hahaha, the shadows on your stairs made me do a double take.

I’m in sirbuildalots camp. I drop about five cords in the basement. Just toss it down the bulkhead and stack two walls at 90 degrees. A short front wall to create a bin and toss the rest in the middle.
Like to get it in earlier tho. Usually, around here we get a nice dry spell somewhere in September. Outdoor stacked wood is nice and dry. Good time to bring it in in my opinion. I have three basements to fill so I start a little earlier.

as for bugs I dont really see a problem. Just throwing the wood onto the dump truck most bugs are gone. Get dumped back in the field with whatever bark scrap is on the truck after a load.
Used to burn a wood furnace in the basement. I’d get some small spiders here and there. Fire is burned upstairs now so the basement stays around 50 degrees in the winter. Spiders are gone.

 

Looks good! I built a wood bin on my 3 season porch. It holds a half cord, which lasts me about a month in the middle of winter.

 

Ok so I took the iso core maul out to the wood shed and grabbed what I would call a "night log" and then also grabbed a regular log to split. The night log, I can fit probably 4 in my stove at once and the regular one I could probably pack in 7 or 8 into my stove.

These are both red oak split in June-July of '18. The large one has a moisture content of 11.8 on the end facing the sun and 12.6 on the end facing the inside of the shed... the very middle read 13.7 (average 12.7)
All reading taken after splitting the piece down the middle, end readings were taken 1 inch in from each end. The small one wasn't far off, it was lower 11's on the sunny side and high 12's on the shed side with 13.5 in the middle.

I was kind of curious myself as to what it would be, I know I measured the mixed batch last year and some that I was trying to burn were in the upper teens.

 

I have a similar 3 stage set up. The wood shed for dry wood. It’s about 50-60 feet from the house. Then the intermediate rack right outside the back door ( which just gets covered with plywood to keep snow and rain off it.) and this holds up to 1/3 cord. Then the final stage is right next to the stove which is a 4wx4h basic metal wood rack.


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Welcome to FHC Jack of All Trades NH ... looks like your set-up works well for you...

 

Those are great numbers. You obviously have a good drying method and/or good trees available.

 

I have a similar system to you as well. Wood stacks are 100 ft or so from the house. Wood is moved from the stacks to an 8 ft rack on the deck just outside the front door. From there, i fill the indoor wood rack thats next to the stove. Seems to work great for us!

 

Welcome to the club, Jack of All Trades NH !

 

Jack of All Trades NH Looks like it wouldn't be too hard to top off your porch wood if you knew a storm was headed your way. I bring wood into my garage before it take it to the stove and if weather looks not nice, I will top off the garage wood boxes.