I used to watch my BIL come home from work when he was still alive and shuffle through the snowdrifts to his woodshed to get enough wood to restart the fire and also bring in enough for the night. It was hard to start, the house was cold from the fire going out earlier and it took hours before the house was warm again. He did this every day of the winter. When we moved in here twenty five years ago it was heated with a wood/oil combination furnace (Duo Therm) that is still ugly as sin but it works well. I unhooked the oil tank and got rid of it early and probably didn't even burn 50 gallons of oil. But I was determined that I would not be going out in the winter and bringing in frozen blocks of wood and fight with them to get them burning and throwing heat. Here is my current setup. Six rows 14 feet long and piled into the floor joists except at the wood door end which also happens to be where the stovepipe goes into the SS chimney. There the last two rows have to be lowered for clearance. I just topped off the woodpile yesterday to replenish what I've burned since filling it up Labour Day with junk wood I had cut around the yard and this will last me until the burning season is done. If you have the room, this is the only way to store this winters wood as far as I'm concerned.
Is it humid where the wood in the picture is stored? I have sort of the same convenience getting wood to the burner .. except that our storage is unheated. Sure is nice not braving the weather to grab a load.
Not when it's cold enough to light the furnace. After filling the basement on the Labour Day weekend I start up the humidifier near the woodplie and leave it run until burning starts in earnest, like now. The little bit that's left over after winter and sits there all summer isn't a concern.
That's mostly elm that was barkless when I cut it a few years ago. It's pretty light now and won't last long. The five rows behind the first one are all red oak.
A good point Chris. I do this for my gasification boiler as well. The wood going into the boiler has been in the basement for a few days at least. It's usually 75 or more down there. My wood has been split and stacked outside on pallets for at least six months. Some day I'll get to the point of it being a year or more. But, it's Ash and Pine so seems to work well.
Yupper. I bring a winters worth if wood into the barn where my boiler is. I would much rather bring it in ober the course of a few late summer evening than all through a snowy winter.
Im in the same camp. My furnace room can hold 1.5 cord stacked. When it gets half empty I'm refilling. Attached shed that I can access from furnace room holds about 3 cord. Also have some stacked outside that I pull from till snow gets too deep. When the snow is on it sure is nice pulling wood from the attached shed wearing slippers and a light coat.
Chris, many of us can relate to getting wood from the outdoors in winter. It is always easier if the wood is stored inside. However, if you were to get on the 3 year plan you'd notice even more difference in the wood and how it burns. In addition, you'd find that you get more heat from the wood. Especially that red oak. Around our parts and for many others, we won't attempt to burn oak until it has been split and stacked outdoors for 3 years. Then it is awesome. No doubt much of that trouble you spoke of with him getting wood and trying to get it going was from the wood not being dried enough. There are many reasons we recommend the 3 year plan and this is just one of them. Dry wood rocks!
Backwoods Savage, I checked three pieces of that red oak a few days ago by splitting it and pushing the moisture meter into it hard and getting readings from 15% to 19% so it's pretty much as dry as it's going to get. I'd love to have another woodshed and may build another one someday. My brother-in-law burned mostly poplar that was a ton when cut and like a feather when dry.
