I will NOT be storing my wood in the basement next year!

We grow too soon old and too late, smart.

How much did you store down there at a time?
I plan on installing an add-on next year. I'm going to make a large bin that will hold about a weeks worth and drop the wood in through a window. Hopefully this amount won't create too much moisture.

Storing wood you plan to burn in a week should not pose any problem. I assume you would not be burning one week old wood, so it would already have dried before moving it indoors. Taking a little damp off already seasoned wood shouldn't rot your house.

was the wood green when you put it in your basement? you should never get that much moisture from seasoned wood.

I have 3-4 cords in my basement... and STILL have less moisture in the house then previous...


It may not be the wood... %-P

I have always tossed anywhere from 3 to 6 cords right in the basement with no ill affects ie. mold or condensation. Was the wood really green? The wood in the basement routine works extremely well for me I wouldn't have it any other way.

ikessky said:

I definitely like having this much wood at my finger tips, but it has put an unbelievable amount of moisture into the house. Even with the wood furnace running, there is still some condensation on the windows and it is settling onto the wood trim. I've even noticed some mold around my patio door. Definitely not good! I still have the dehumidifiers going in the basement and will probably have to keep running them until it gets truly cold here and I'm firing the furnace a few times a day. Meanwhile, I will be making some plans to build a woodshed or a lean-to off the back of the house close to the basement windows.

Click to expand...

Personally I think it is crazy to store the wood in your cellar for 2 reasons:

Serious fire hazard having so much fuel in your home.

Destructive insect hazard such as termites and carpenter ants..

I keep my wood about 75' away for peace of mind..

Just something to consider..

Ray

raybonz said:

ikessky said:

I definitely like having this much wood at my finger tips, but it has put an unbelievable amount of moisture into the house. Even with the wood furnace running, there is still some condensation on the windows and it is settling onto the wood trim. I've even noticed some mold around my patio door. Definitely not good! I still have the dehumidifiers going in the basement and will probably have to keep running them until it gets truly cold here and I'm firing the furnace a few times a day. Meanwhile, I will be making some plans to build a woodshed or a lean-to off the back of the house close to the basement windows.

Click to expand...

Personally I think it is crazy to store the wood in your cellar for 2 reasons:

Serious fire hazard having so much fuel in your home.

Destructive insect hazard such as termites and carpenter ants..

I keep my wood about 75' away for peace of mind..

Just something to consider..

Ray

Click to expand...

If the wood is seasoned and dry, termites should not be a concern, as they like moisture.

Fire hazzard... lets just say that my house is 110 years old. 110 year old hemlock goes up pretty f'in fast, probably faster than my firewood will go up.

Where I live, probably 1 in every 5 houses burns wood, with most storing it inside. I have never read a story about a house fire where it was worsened by firewood in the house. Not saying it is not possible, just saying that chances are if you live in a house that old and have a fire, 9 times out of 10 its going to be a total loss anyways because of how fast 100+ year old timber goes up.

Is 250 (or more) gallons of fuel oil somehow safer ?

CowboyAndy said:

raybonz said:

ikessky said:

I definitely like having this much wood at my finger tips, but it has put an unbelievable amount of moisture into the house. Even with the wood furnace running, there is still some condensation on the windows and it is settling onto the wood trim. I've even noticed some mold around my patio door. Definitely not good! I still have the dehumidifiers going in the basement and will probably have to keep running them until it gets truly cold here and I'm firing the furnace a few times a day. Meanwhile, I will be making some plans to build a woodshed or a lean-to off the back of the house close to the basement windows.

Click to expand...

Personally I think it is crazy to store the wood in your cellar for 2 reasons:

Serious fire hazard having so much fuel in your home.

Destructive insect hazard such as termites and carpenter ants..

I keep my wood about 75' away for peace of mind..

Just something to consider..

Ray

Click to expand...

If the wood is seasoned and dry, termites should not be a concern, as they like moisture.

Fire hazzard... lets just say that my house is 110 years old. 110 year old hemlock goes up pretty f'in fast, probably faster than my firewood will go up.

Where I live, probably 1 in every 5 houses burns wood, with most storing it inside. I have never read a story about a house fire where it was worsened by firewood in the house. Not saying it is not possible, just saying that chances are if you live in a house that old and have a fire, 9 times out of 10 its going to be a total loss anyways because of how fast 100+ year old timber goes up.

Click to expand...

My third house fire (I was running the engine) happened at a house where the guy loaded up the woodstove and went out. He had tons of paper beside the stove. He also had a lot of firewood by the stove (maybe 1/3 of a cord??). The guys couldn't get near the seat of the fire. It was too hot. That pile of wood was burning really good. They eventually got it out (inside attack with four lines).
Captain said that all that wood was the problem.

I store only a day or two worth of wood in the house. Maybe a weeks worth outside beside the house. Wood pile is 75' away from the house. I am in forest fire country though so we take care not to add to the fire load.

Just a thought. However if you are rural, by the time the fire dept get to you all they are doing is saving the neighbour's house anyways.

d.n.f. said:

CowboyAndy said:

raybonz said:

ikessky said:

I definitely like having this much wood at my finger tips, but it has put an unbelievable amount of moisture into the house. Even with the wood furnace running, there is still some condensation on the windows and it is settling onto the wood trim. I've even noticed some mold around my patio door. Definitely not good! I still have the dehumidifiers going in the basement and will probably have to keep running them until it gets truly cold here and I'm firing the furnace a few times a day. Meanwhile, I will be making some plans to build a woodshed or a lean-to off the back of the house close to the basement windows.

Click to expand...

Personally I think it is crazy to store the wood in your cellar for 2 reasons:

Serious fire hazard having so much fuel in your home.

Destructive insect hazard such as termites and carpenter ants..

I keep my wood about 75' away for peace of mind..

Just something to consider..

Ray

Click to expand...

If the wood is seasoned and dry, termites should not be a concern, as they like moisture.

Fire hazzard... lets just say that my house is 110 years old. 110 year old hemlock goes up pretty f'in fast, probably faster than my firewood will go up.

Where I live, probably 1 in every 5 houses burns wood, with most storing it inside. I have never read a story about a house fire where it was worsened by firewood in the house. Not saying it is not possible, just saying that chances are if you live in a house that old and have a fire, 9 times out of 10 its going to be a total loss anyways because of how fast 100+ year old timber goes up.

Click to expand...

My third house fire (I was running the engine) happened at a house where the guy loaded up the woodstove and went out. He had tons of paper beside the stove. He also had a lot of firewood by the stove (maybe 1/3 of a cord??). The guys couldn't get near the seat of the fire. It was too hot. That pile of wood was burning really good. They eventually got it out (inside attack with four lines).
Captain said that all that wood was the problem.

I store only a day or two worth of wood in the house. Maybe a weeks worth outside beside the house. Wood pile is 75' away from the house. I am in forest fire country though so we take care not to add to the fire load.

Just a thought. However if you are rural, by the time the fire dept get to you all they are doing is saving the neighbour's house anyways.

Click to expand...

No one is saying that it won't have any effect at all.

The story about the guy loading the stove, leaving and having paper/wood THAT CLOSE to the stove is just asking for trouble. My wood is about 15' away, with a 3 ft thick concrete wall (don's ask, they did some pretty f'ed up stuff with this house). The only thing with in spitting distance from the stove is the ash bucket and a 5 gal buckey (empty) for me to sit on.

There should be no problems with storing wood in the house as long as the proper precautions are taken.

My main pile is appox. 45' away at the other end of the basement. I only bring over a wheelbarrow load at a time and work out of that. I am also very particular about keeping debris, paper and kindling picked up and stored away from the stove, just seems like common sense to me. My first thought was also what about the huge tank of oil down in the basement.

billb3 said:

Is 250 (or more) gallons of fuel oil somehow safer ?

Click to expand...

Yes because it in a steel tank and will only burn under the correct conditions.. Oil will not attract c-ants or termites either.. Just my opinion not looking for a battle over this.. If it works you that's great.. No offense intended..

Ray

I am just saying that all that wood will add to your fire load. So will gas in your garage, paint cans, and a whole bunch of other crap.

However like I said, if any of you guys are rural, the fire dept is not going to save your house. Your fire dept is coming to save your out buildings and your neighbour's house.

I worked for a volly dept where we were on scene in less than ten minutes. Small town 12k people. We did interior attacks.
I then moved to a rural dept. where we were lucky to be on scene in 15 to 20 minutes. We prevent house fires from spreading. We do no interior attacks unless it is some very small fire that by fluke hasn't spread.

Get a big dehumidifyer and run it hard for now.

I second the dehumidifier.

I would look for other sources that the moisture might be coming from. With the amount of wood that you have that was green, it seems to me that you just shouldn't have that kind of moisture. The wood furnace alone should be able to handle the moisture that the wood is giving off.
How much water are you getting from the humidifiers?
Have you had a lot of rain or snow recently?

MY TWO CENTS: I dont have a basement to store my wood in. My wood stacks are 30' from my side deck on pallettes covered tight with tarps. Now ...I live on a plateau basically in a heavy forest. It's damp all year round except when its freezing. The exterminator said there are not termites in my area but will inspect for free yearly if it makes me feel better. We get snow more often and MORE OF IT than any other area within 70 miles. So I've adopted a conveyor belt method. I keep a 3'x5' rack full IN MY HOUSE 5 ft from my stove. That way the wood gets any possible dampness warmed out of it from the heat of the stove nearby (but not too close). I have my teenage boys carry from the property wood pile 1 CORD early in the winter and put it up on the deck where I've made a wood "tent" right outside the sliding glass doors which are next to the 3'x5' wood rack thats inside. That way they dont complain & moan about fetching wood in deep snow and bitter cold or in the dark. We can re-up the reserve tent on a sunny mild weekend day when we get em. This way if we get socked in by a deep snow for days (and it happens here alot) all I have to do is shovel a few square ft of deck space to get to a reserve of wood. And NO I dont worry about fire. If a fire happens there is plenty of other things the fire would find suitable as fodder. Its 6 of one or half a dozen of another, if you know what I mean. I am careful with my stove and temperature. I do not allow smoking in my house and do not burn candles. These are more often the source of house fires. I do NOT use newspaper AT ALL and keep only metal things within 4' of the stove, do not burn over 550, and do not walk out of the house when my fire is on the upswing....only when it's embering down and shut tight. And that- my friends- is how I can sleep at night and not worry !

WHERE IS YOUR DRYER MACHINE VENTED TO ?

leaf4952 said:

WHERE IS YOUR DRYER MACHINE VENTED TO ?

Click to expand...

OUTSIDE! WHY!?

Good ! I do not know how long you've been in your house....one doesnt always kow what surprises the prior owner has left such a loose or leaky dryer venting line or even worse...a dryer vented to the basement or crawl space and not to the outside ! That can cause alot of dampness. Also dryer lines should be made of metal because mice can qiuckly eat holes in a plastic one...besides the fire saeftly reasons.