Wood shed-how many cords??

At minimum you need a shed to hold enough wood for 1 year of wood burning. At best 3 years of wood burning. There is a lot of talk on the forum about a 3 year plan. Three years off wood cut and stacked. My recommendation is to build a shed that can hold somewhere between 1 to 3 years of wood. How much wood do you burn a year?

johnpma said:

not sure what we will burn, I'm guessing 4-5 cord. We moved in January to the home. I'm in the process of making energy improvements now for this upcoming winter. I have about 4 cords cut, split, and tarped for this season. Thinking ahead to next season I really would like a shed to put our wood in. The reality is between house projects, kids racing moto-x, soccer, and work a 3 year wood plan is a "pipe dream" at this point in my life.........

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Seems like truly seasoned wood is too!

johnpma said:

lol you make it sound like I'm the only one without a "3 year plan"

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If your burning 5 cords per year and you have 5 cord this year, its going to be impossible to get another 5 now,seasoned for next year. It takes a minimum of 12 months to season northeast hardwoods, excluding oak. Oak takes two years minimum.

Everything I've done is on the free, concerning wood burning. I heat with electric and a fuel oil burner. Wood burning was a hobby, recreation. As I have substituted more wood each year less utilities I have "graduated". But I always weigh cost. If I was rich, I would have a contractor build me a corn crib/ gazebo type structure. I saw one at one of the Great Camps in the Adirondacks. And I always study designs of corn cribs and grain houses. If you have money...the world is your oyster. If you dont....lol...you might be a redneck if you cant remember what the blue tarp in your front yard is covering.

Its kind of a big dream to build a shed to hold 20 cords of wood. Most of the sheds I've seen here hold about 3 cords. Catch 22. If you have the money you dont need the wood/shed. If you dont have money to spend on it then the more you need it. And the less able you are to build what you need.

johnpma said:

lol you make it sound like I'm the only one without a "3 year plan"

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I'm not on a 3 yr plan. I'm two years ahead. Two years is the absolute minimum for truly seasoned wood. Even with two years most oak will not be ready. I stay away from oak unless someone drops it in my yard already split.

gzecc said:

Seems like truly seasoned wood is too!

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I understand that 2 years is better than one from a drying standpoint but it can be very frustrating to new burners to keep hearing that they can't burn wood unless it sits for 2 or 3 years first. I have some soft maple that came down in an ice storm last winter. The wood was cut to length in March, split the beginning of April and stacked mid April. The wood is currently sitting around 22-23% moisture content with another 12-16 weeks to go before burning season. I have red oak that was cut in September 2013 and split and stacked by the beginning of December 2013. It's stacked in the sun where I get a little breeze when it's breezy. Currently this red oak is around 25% moisture content. It will be burning great for me come December.

Oak is worth the wait. Dead oak laying on the ground and dead standing is my favorite. Bugs and punk aside, it usually dries beautifully. But there are a great many species of native trees that season in a year. Birches, red maples, silver maples, poplars, elms, beech, black cherry, pin cherry,

hackberry, tulip poplar, sweet gum, cedar, cucumber magnolia, tamarack, linden, tupelo, willow, box elder, mulberry, paw paw, Paulowina, buckeye, horse chestnut, kentucky coffee tree, sassafrass, mountain ash...silverbell, sugarberry, hophornbeam, ginkgo, buckthorn, catalpa, butternut, walnut, white ash, black ash, blue ash, smoketree, ailanthus, holly....

Applesister said:

hackberry, tulip poplar, sweet gum, cedar, cucumber magnolia, tamarack, linden, tupelo, willow, box elder, mulberry, paw paw, Paulowina, buckeye, horse chestnut, kentucky coffee tree, sassafrass, mountain ash...silverbell, sugarberry, hophornbeam, ginkgo, buckthorn, catalpa, butternut, walnut, white ash, black ash, blue ash, smoketree, ailanthus, holly....

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Too bad most of the new and old wood burners can identify 75% of those species.

johnpma said:

not sure what we will burn, I'm guessing 4-5 cord. We moved in January to the home. I'm in the process of making energy improvements now for this upcoming winter. I have about 4 cords cut, split, and tarped for this season. Thinking ahead to next season I really would like a shed to put our wood in. The reality is between house projects, kids racing moto-x, soccer, and work a 3 year wood plan is a "pipe dream" at this point in my life.........

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Home energy improvements are always good. As much as we like chopping wood we could chop less and still be as happy.

I'm in the north north east and have burned wood for 100% of my heating for 40 yrs.have never had a chimney fire and have never burned hardwood older than 8 months.I don't want my wood older/dryer than 8/10 months, burns to fast. I cut during the winter,split in spring,dry all summer (wood shed) warm all winter. Two year seasoned is just not worth the trouble

Here we go...

We are currently working on a 9 cord shed 8' deep 24' wide enclosed on 3 sides(with vent gaps) open infront. The front will be 8 ft high and six feet at the back. The shed will be divided into 3 sections of 3 cord a piece. We burn about 2 3/4 cord per year. The plan is to burn a section per year and load a section per year. We will progress through the sections each year. Wood is cut split and stacked waiting on my lazy butt to finish the shed. lol, sounds like a 3 year plan just wating on the planner to get r dun!

I burn 4 cords a winter here, my wood shed holds 3& 1/2 cords. I stack another half cord on my covered porch. I replenish the porch from the woodshed 2 times a week with a large wheelbarrow. My woodshed gets loaded in March or April, and sits all summer in the shed heat. I have the next years wood all c/s/s and ready to go in the shed next year. I do things a little different here, I have at least 4 years cut and split, but I just leave it in a pile uncovered. I will stack 4 cord in the sun and wind next spring after I load my shed with what is now stacked. This is pine and fir, I don't top cover as I am in the very dry part of the state of Wa. I just split a cord yesterday as it was nice and cool out. I just threw it in a pile. This wood won't be used for at least 3 years so I will not stack it till the year before. I know it sounds frustrating, but when you get at least 2 years ahead, you can then do your wood prep at a much more leisurely pace without all the frantic work and worry. Well worth it, money in the bank so to speak.
good luck, and stay with it as it will pay off in the future. My wood shed is 50 ft. from my covered porch.

Also , I am in a rural area and have no neighbors that would have to look at an eyesore, I cant even see my wood piles from my house. Wood piles are tucked behind large rock outcrops.

johnpma said:

That right there is what I'm talkin about......would love to get to that point.

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Yeah I think it will be nice. I'm taking pics as I build. I'll make a full post when I'm done. It won't be much to look at. I'm using pallets for the floor and mismatched reclaimed barn metal for for the sides and roof. Lucky I have no neighbors to bellyache my eyesore.

Guess it depends on how big of a structure you want to stare at. It takes a pretty big footprint to store 4-5 cords, and 3 years worth is huge in my opinion. If I had room, I'd go as big as possible though! You can never have too much

Picture of my "shed", made from pallets and some scrap plywood - basically free. Holds approx 3/4 cord and is right next to my garage. Provides a close by and dry stopping point for my woods trip to its meeting with the heating machine. Gets reloaded when needed and time permits during heating season. Woodland currently holds 24+ cords of stacked wood.