BTU Possessor: Finally got a shot of the shed for the forum. From left to right: 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022 From right to left: 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022 Each bay holds about 6 cords (depending on how high I stack). Burn one, season one, fill one.
thats a beautiful piece of work FreedomFamilyFarms Well thought out. Gets plenty of air movement too.
Great that you can get at it from two directions. Do you fill with freshly cut and split wood, or season it in a stack somewhere first?
Very nice. Planning to do something very similar this summer. The previous owner of my house poured a 12x24 slab that will get me 3 bays a little shy of 8’ each. Or maybe 2@8’ and what ever is left. Can’t wait! I hate tarps. Not much overhang on the sides from what I can tell - any issues with blowing rain or snow ?
There is 18” or so of overhang. A little rain or snow won’t hurt the wood or slow it’s drying. I try to stay 1 fire ahead on my wood cart that stays in the garage to take the chill off the wood before I burn it. Makes a big difference getting a fire started. Russian Bell style masonry heaters want a big fire that goes to coals all at once so you can “trap” the heat in the bell by cutting off the primary air when the wood burns to coals. The 8’ wide bays are perfect for using pallets as a floor. I get them free at work. Keeps air moving under the stacks and prevents moisture from collecting. The bottom of my stacks are as dry as the top. I would love to have a slab under it though... just on earth now. I just found my original sketches and materials list if you want them.
Sugar Pine at 5,551 ft elevation. 151' ...4 33' logs with the last still 38" at the top of the 17'. That would build your cordwood lot... Fell Jan 4, 2020.
Same basic mistake...white man build big fire stand far away, burn up all the wood. Indian build tiny fire stand very close have wood all year long.
Quick dimensions: 24’ wide x 12’ deep x 7’-10’ high (3:12 pitch). Creates 3 bays that hold just over 6 cords each. The first bay I filled only as high as I can reach (I’m 5’9”). The middle bay I stacked to within inches of the metal roof by stacking as high as I could then starting another rick and standing on it to finish the previous rick. I’ve attached my preliminary sketches and the initial budget when I built this 3 years ago. The metal for the roof was given to me so that is not in the budget. All of the materials are common dimensions to minimize waste. After completion the whole project was under $1000. I dug the post holes with an auger (rented) and set them in concrete several days before some friends came to build the shed. 4 men with good basic carpentry skills were able to complete the shed before 2 pm on a Saturday with power tools including 2 air nailers. I highly recommend an air nailer on a project like this even if you have to rent it. Once my buddies left for the day I stained the untreated lumber by hand. View attachment Woodshed Preliminary Sketches.pdf I was planning on placing my primary electric panels for the property on the side of the shed. My electrician talked me out of it and I’m glad he did. Panel is in an attached garage. A few things didn’t go quite as planned. In the drawings you can see the initial height was planned for 8’ at the rear and 11’ at the front. Once we were on the ground I realized that was taller than necessary so I lowered it to 7’-10’. Also I didn’t to the greatest work in placing the posts so I couldn’t use a single 2”x4”x12’ for the side rails. Ended up cutting framing studs to fit. I buried conduit to the shed for adding lighting someday. The light on the house sheds enough on the wood to fill my cart in the dark so wiring the shed hasn’t been a priority. I hope this is helpful to someone.
Thanks! Definitely helpful, especially the height info. Since I have the slab, I’ll loose a little on the inside dimensions but should have similar capacity. I burn about 3 a year so bay 1 front for year 1, bay 1 rear for year two, etc. talking with my carpenter dad I’ll anchor the posts to the slab and have a very similar build. Previous home owner left some sort of 3x24 metal sheets that I thought were roofing but the grooves run the wrong way. Might use them anyway.
Great looking shed man, going to be doing one similar soon just on a smaller scale. Did you treat your 4X4 posts at all or just filled the post holes with cement?