Firewood Pass-Thru Door Design

I plan on installing a wood insert this summer and I have been throwing around the idea of putting in a door near the fireplace that will give me access to a box on the outside of the house. The exterior wall the fireplace is on it adjacent to my wood shed, so it will be nice to fill the box up and have quick/easy access to it from the inside. Kind of like what was done in this thread: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/firewood-wall-pass-through-air-lock.29850/

This fireplace is for supplemental heating (though I do want to burn as much as possible), so I may be getting too ambitious. The back porch/deck is not too far away, so having a stack on the deck might not be too bad...just having to pack wood through the dining room seems like a pain. That'll be my plan if I don't end up with a door.

Anyways, the reason for my post is that I would like to build a door that is somewhat inconspicuous...but I just haven't been able to find many pictures to get ideas. I'm not really sure that is possible unless it is built into a piece of furniture, kind of like the bookshelf in the thread I referenced. Anyways, if someone has ideas and/or pictures, I would be very interested to see.

privatejoker75 said:

I'd love to do this but our stove is in the middle of the room. I was thinking something like a mailbox door, where you pull it open and drop the splits inside into a storage box or something. It would be easier to hide something like that I think. I don't like stacking too much wood near the house since this place is like disneyland for mice, so the less attractions for them the better.

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One thing to consider about stacking wood inside is the bugs and whatnot that you'll bring in. That's why I like the idea of having the storage box on the outside of the house, with an access door...keeps everything outside until it is needed. Is there an exterior wall near the stove you could use? Even if it is not right next to the stove, it would still make bring in wood easier (not having to put on shoes/jacket/etc and walk outside.

privatejoker75 said:

Oh yeah, i only ever bring in as much as I need, i hate spiders. I just dislike traipsing through the house with an armload of wood. And no, there's no convenient place to put a door, i've thought about it a few times. We're building a new house here in a few years though and that door will be on my list of needed features lol

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Yeah I'm with you on walking through the house with an arm load of wood. Maybe at least get one of those canvas wood carrying bag...helps minimize dropping debris throughout the house.

My issue is that I have a perfect spot for a door, I just want it to be somewhat hidden...or at least not so noticeable. I plan on re-facing the old brick fireplace, so I was thinking I could extend one side of it onto the wall/floor (kind of like a little area where one could stack wood), but then have the door faced with the stone also to make it hidden. I dunno, I think that is kind of a stretch, though, because I might not be able to get the door as close to the fireplace as I want.

I'm thinking at least to start I'll have a rack on the back deck for a temporary stack of wood, right outside the door. Then I can decide after one season how much of a PITA it was and if I want to figure out a door situation.