I don't bring any wood in the house right now ,it goes from outside into stove , to many bugs . Once it gets cold I bring in about 3 days worth and I have 2 covered racks on the deck
The whole winters worth in the attached unheated space beneath the garage. The spiders stay out with the wood until they're brought in for cremation.
DaveGunter mentioned our setup in his post. Here it is. The reason for the pots on the stove is the wife was making applesauce. But as you can see, the wood is really close to the stove. We do cheat occasionally though on really cold nights and bring in enough wood for the morning fire. Othewise all the wood stays out until ready to burn. Many claim no problem with insects but that was not our experience years ago and is the reason we quit bringing wood into the house.
As long as you get no snow on the splits, seems very easy to walk that short distance. I tried using pots to generate humidity. Gave up and bought a large humidifier.
I keep a single black tote of wood in the house. I also keep about 1/2 cord in the garage and refill from the stacks as necessary.
I have a box on wheels that sits by the stove, it holds about a day and a halfs worth of wood that I fill from my stacks. I also keep about a face cord on the front porch for when the box runs empty and I'm too lazy to fill it up right away. I don't notice any difference between the warm wood in the box and the cold wood I open the window and grab off the porch pile, both burn the same to me. And bugs aren't allowed in the house, so they're not a problem.
I don't have enough room to keep a lot of wood in the house.... I can keep about 3 fires worth (day & 1/2).... I've got it outside under tarp by either the front door or back doors or when it really gets bad I keep a small stash in the stairwell down to the basement... But I'm not fan of the basement due to the stairs. However it's the lesser of the two evils when adverse weather happens...
I don't store any wood in the house. It's all on a covered porch and goes directly in the stove. Years ago I kept several days worth in the house. I don't miss the bugs and spiders.
About 2 days worth in the house. I get nervous if there is less, though I cannot explain why. No problem with bugs from the wood. Greg
Occasionally we get a little snow but if a storm is coming, I usually fill the rack before it hits. Then the only snow is on the ends and that is no problem. Usually it will fall off before we need it. If not, I just knock 2 pieces together and it falls off. Those pots were not for humidity. My wife was making applesauce.
I bought the same racks that the other guy has on rollers and keep two of them in my garage. I burn between 1 and 2 per week, so I go out once a week and play with the tractor in the snow. Nothing goes in the house and sits, just a short trip from the garage and into the stove. The mess and bugs are one thing, but I do not want the mold in the house.
I'm keeping 1-2 days worth next to my stove which means I bring over a wheelbarrow load every day to day and a half. Yes there are some spiders but they don't bother me. Back to firecracker_77 's original observation that it seems wood lights up better, that is probably very true. Last winter I weighed some splits right as I brought them in and then 2 days later and found that they were losing an ounce more or less. That weight equated to 1-2% of moisture overall in the split assuming I was at 20%. The split's surface being where it dried from means that the surface got significantly drier, hence easier to spark up. As far as room temp wood burning better overall, I doubt that it can be measured. You might raise the wood from say 20 degrees to 90 if it's near the fire (and melted the ice that is the 20% or so moisture content still within the wood), but it still needs to get raised another 400 or so to combustion temp and the water within needs to get gassed which takes about 10x the BTU that it took to melt.
A number of years ago I got a couple of wooden boxes from work. I have a smaller one for kindling and a larger one for the regular wood. I keep those in the garage and they hold 2-3 days worth of wood. I have gtwo wood boxes by the stove, again one for kindling and the other for regular wood.
That's what I use, mine's a little smaller. I can take it to the back of the house and fill it from the wheel barrow or take it on the front porch and fill it from those stacks. It's the best system I've had yet and there is no trail of crumbs. I plan on making another one for this winter since the wife doesn't like the way the current box looks. That's ok because it was a prototype. You need better wheels, a handle helps too.
The farm house I knew as a kid had an attached wood shed. The wood box for the kitchen stove was loaded from the wood shed side but also opened from the kitchen side. The box would hold about 10 cubic feet of wood and each side of the wall had a simple hinged door on the top of the box. Even with wood constantly passing through that box I don't remember any critter problems resulting.
