Firewood Storage Rules to avoid hazards & pests
Winter’s best memories are made around the warm and crackling glow of fire. Whether roasting marshmallows outdoors or snuggling up with your favorite book and warm beverage by the fireplace, nothing will dim your light faster than not having logs ready to burn. You may not know it, but there is a right and a wrong way to store your firewood this winter. Highroads Living is here to help you with tips on indoor and outdoor storage for your woodpile that is safe and pleasing to look at (because who said function couldn’t also be fashionable when it comes to firewood?).
Safety First
Whether you opt for indoor firewood storage or outdoor firewood storage, everyone should follow two simple rules to avoid hazards to your health and home or unwelcome pests.
Rule #1: Airflow – damp or moldy logs are logs that won’t burn and could cause unwanted winter allergies or illness if stored indoors. To avoid these pitfalls, ensure you are stacking your firewood correctly by creating small gaps between pieces so air can move through. You can achieve this by making sure all your logs are facing the same direction and by leaving at least 2 feet of space around the stack as a whole, so no shoving the pile against a fence or wall of your home.
If you are stacking freshly cut wood outside, stack it bark-side down to encourage moisture to evaporate more efficiently. This will “season” the firewood. Once your logs are seasoned, or if you are storing purchased kiln-dried wood, you can stack the logs bark-side up to protect seasoned wood from moisture infiltration. Loosely covering your outdoor piles with a tarp can also help protect against moisture from rain and snow.
Rule #2: Location – You only want your indoor firewood storage in the main rooms of your living space if you have plans to use them soon. Leaving a stack of firewood unattended indoors invites spiders and other unwanted guests to become your roommates, and storing unused piles too close to sheds or the main structure of your home could invite termites or carpenter ants to start snacking. For firewood that will take you a while to burn through, you can still store it indoors, but a room with optimal airflow and low humidity is best, like a cellar, basement, and some garages.
Aesthetic Second
Now that you know the rules of safe firewood storage, let’s talk about how those measures can be beautified. If the practical can also be pretty, why not opt for something that will elevate your property’s appearance and make using the firewood less like a chore?
Tasteful Structures – The easiest and least labor-intensive firewood storage, indoors or out, is to purchase or build a decorative rack. If you like a minimal look, consider purchasing a traditional rectangular steel log rack or a curved one. These designs will withstand the weight of larger collections of wood, keep logs off the ground and well-ventilated, and create visually appealing straight lines and a sense of order. Cover the top of the pile with a fitted tarp for additional protection for your wood on steel frames.
Other structures to purchase or build for outdoor firewood storage are sheds, small buildings that stand off the ground with one open side and a slanted roof to help keep wood dry. The sizes and styles of these firewood sheds vary and can be made from treated lumber or steel. They come in smaller models that are small enough to be placed indoors beside a fireplace or near a patio firepit.
More Than a Pile – If you aren’t ready or able to invest in a physical storage structure for your firewood, you can stack your logs in unique outdoor arrangements to resemble a wavy garden wall. To create unique patterns, you can make log stacks of various heights or alternate stacking patterns within a more traditional rectangular wall.
Another option is to form a cylinder structure by stacking logs upwards in a ring. To add whimsy to this stacking style, some people top their structure with a tarp or other logs to form a peak, so the pile resembles a little cottage.
No matter how many fires you light this winter, Highroads Living hopes you found this information helpful and that our article about “DIY Firestarters That Double As Decoration” is just as enjoyable.
