We got pretty tired of walking outside and grabbing some small amount of wood a few times a day. So a few years back, while re-building the porch on my house, I came up with this idea: I put the joists under the floor of the porch the long way rather than the short (normal, cross- wise) way. Two of the joists are really six (6) 2 X 10 planks that run the length of the entire porch, are supported in four places and interwoven and overlapped to make what is effectively a beam that will easily bear 6,5000 lbs. with less than 1/4" deflection (tested with a Ford Expedition). The flooring above is 1/2" plywood and appears quite conventional. Then I opened up the end of the porch on the driveway side and instead of putting up a new wall / screen combination, I put up two vinyl and screen doors that hinge on one edge of the porch; the second door hinges from the first door so they act like bi-fold doors. The third door hinges on the opposite edge of the porch and is used as the 'walk- in' door year 'round (the first two doors are shot- pinned in place when not open). Then I made a set of ramps that will transport a vehicle onto the porch. As the porch is not much wider than my trailer and there was really no possibility of backing up a vehicle / trailer with enough precision to [not] hit the house or porch wall, I installed a front receiver on the vehicle and drive the trailer in front of the vehicle. This allows great visibility and outstanding precision although obviously one cannot go very fast in this mode This year we tried stacking our wood in the 'holz hausen' style, which are round stacks with the outer rings lyind down (and pitched inward) and the core of the pile filled with vertical stacked wood. I think it worked out pretty well. So this is how we handle firewood: first, put the hitch on the vehicle (front), the trailer on the hitch and drive the trailer next to the wood pile. Load the trailer- it holds about 3/4 cord when full as shown. Then open the end of the porch, clean out all the 'summer porch stuff' such as tables, chairs, etc., install ramps and drive the trailer up onto the porch. Remove ramps, button up the end of the porch and it looks like anyone else's house. The thing that makes this work out for me is that my front door opens onto the porch, and the woodstove is only 12 feet directly behind the front door. The porch is roofed so the wood is clean and dry and I never have to get wood in the rain / snow. To load the stove, I just open the front door, grab whatever wood I need and take three steps to the stove. It took a bit of effort and a little expense to set this up but it pays us back every winter, all winter long. We just kicked over to 'winter mode' this last weekend and I snapped some photos if I can figure out how to upload them: Moving the wood: The trailer ready to drive onto the porch: Trailer in place: Brian
Part Deux: limited to eight photos per posting: The trailer on the porch: Trailer and front door, outside: The two 'removable doors' closed and locked: Porch closed in 'winter mode': From inside the house, looking down the hall across the woodstove, through the front door and at the trailer w/wood as it is used: I load the stove without shoes or socks and sometimes even missing other clothing . It is nice last thing at night and first thing in the morning though.... Brian
Now that's a slick set up. I've seen plenty of porch wood stacks, but never would've thought of parking the trailer there. Great idea
Thanks! And it really did not cost much to do either- I already had the trailer, and I had to re-build the porch anyway (years of neglect / water damage destroyed both the floor and the joists underneath it) so installing the girders was really not expensive. The vinyl doors are pretty cheap and do not look awful on the side of the house really. I did have to buy a front hitch receiver for two vehicles now (Ford Expedition and GMC Envoy shown in the photos) but they are less than $200 and a one- time expense. The ramps are plain 'ole car ramps that I modified by welding some extension plates onto them and adding the wood plank 'tails' to extend them and reduce the ramp angle. The only real requirement here is a 4X4 vehicle with a true low range as it takes a fair amount of 'grunt' to force the loaded trailer up the ramps and something like an AWD vehicle will not do; I say that because neither the Ford or GMC will do it either in 4 wheel drive high range. Brian
One more as I just found some photos of the porch being rebuilt- This is the original porch being torn out: These are the new girders that bear the weight of the trailer (and I was wrong, it is five 2X10's interleaved, not six):
Whats nice, being able to streak to the wood pile? LOL Seriously, very ingenious quite impressive. Just wouldn't care to see the late night hi-jinks...........................
Well, here's the thing: there are hedges on the other (non opening) end of the porch so no visibility there. The trailer almost entirely blocks view from the door end of the porch. Now from the street, the wood piled up in (on?) the trailer blocks anyone's view depending entirely on how high the wood is on the trailer at any moment in time. So when the trailer is full, one can get wood (Easy Boys!) without regard to clothing. When 1/2 full, only a shirt in needed.... Once the level of the wood drops to the sides of the trailer, I am afraid at least shorts and a shirt are needed.... Brian
Nice idea. How long do you think a load will give you and how many times per winter will you have to put the trailer in. For sure you would have to clear any snow or ice before attempting to push the trailer up but that should not be a problem. On the holtzhausen, one more thing I don't like about them is when you get the wood, you have to walk around the thing to get wood vs standing right beside the pile all the time. But some like them. I certainly agree that having wood on the porch near the stove is super nice. Here is ours. Just a couple steps to get the wood. We have no neighbors to worry about. Only the deer and other wild life look in.
About the fastest I can burn through an entire (well filled) trailer is 3 weeks when it is bitterly cold, and I have had a trailer of wood last two months in the spring, still burning virtually every day. Wood is the only heat source I use so I burn further into the spring than some others probably do. Snow is not really much of a problem; the two walks in front of the porch get blown out when the rest of the driveway is done anyway so those are clear. The ramps stay inside the porch so they never have any snow on them. The driveway does have snow on it (gravel driveway- I cannot clean it entirely of snow) but if a tire spins and just will not grab, a dose of wood ash on the snow has always worked. This will be my first year using the Envoy for this job and it has traction control when in 4W- low, so I am expecting it to have better 'bite' than the Ford did. I also have not yet had to load during a snow or rainstorm. Once the trailer is coming up on 1/2 full, I look at the weather and pick the next weekend that looks like it will be clear to load the trailer. If there is a snowstorm coming in the next week or so, I fill the trailer over the weekend before or after the snowstorm; I have taken the trailer out to load it full when it is already 1/2 full just so I do not have to deal with harsh conditions. Once the snow is blown and a few days goes by, I can again load pretty easily; a coating of snow on the ground is no problem and the wood is covered so as long as it is not actively snowing I can load and transport. Brian
Brian, nice setup. Reminds me of a fellow who I used to work with that always said "If you give the laziest man the hardest job, he'll find a way to get out of it!" Not applied here, you understand, just reminded me!
Necessity is the mother of invention... Liked the way you beefed up the floor to allow for the added weight.
