stacking wood against/near your home - Northern Wisconsin

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wldm09

wldm09

New Member
Mar 16, 2009
151
Northwoods, WI
I've read the other thread here but many of the replies are in the NorthEast and may not apply to my area of the country. Everyone around here swears that we don't have termites around here...

My stacks are 75' from the house on pallets. In November my plan is to take 7 cords and put it in my oversize garage which is part of the house. Should I be concerned?
 
I stack outside on racks with a tarp over it. They are about 8-10 feet from the door. I would not take it in the garage but thats just me. Results may very :)
 
Never seen a termite around here, but we have plenty of carpenter ants and I have noticed when the wood dries out the ants leave and look for damp wet wood somewhere else. I had some Black Locust that had ants when I split it. I thought I killed them all but after stacking it next to the garage I used a tarp to cover the top and rolled it off for good weather, when I saw rain forcast one day I went out to roll down the tarp and it was full of ants! The wood got too dry for them and they found the moisture in the rolled up tarp to make a new home in. After that I set out ant traps and sprayed around the house foundation and never found any ant damage on the house or garage.
 
I've been stacking close to the house for the past several years and haven't had a problem. I also bring about 2 cords into the garage and 2 in the basement in Oct/Nov. When I need more, it comes right off the pile and into the basement window. We get about 300" of snow up here so the closer the better for me.
 
Northwind said:
We get about 300" of snow up here so the closer the better for me.
Click to expand...

We get maybe half that and I feel the same way. All of it is under a roof adjacent to the house with no snow removal required. No bugs as long as you pick up all the loose crap that holds moisture.
 
I personally would probably never bring firewood into my house in great quantities. I think there are too many potential problems. Moisture and assorted bugs.
I guess, like anything else it is a relative decision. If it is very clean and dry wood I guess, the benefits out weigh the potential problems.
I never lived in such a cold place to have to do that. Hope I never do!
I would never stack random firewood within <10' of my house. It brings with it too many things with it ie carpenter ants, general ants, cave crickets, mice, etc.
 
Moisture has to be present for termites and carpenter ants. Putting the wood on treated posts so the actual firewood is off the ground will do a lot for drying the wood and will prevent termites. If you put wood in the home be sure it is always seasoned and remember the best times is very early spring before bugs get moving or while the summer is the hottest and dryest. Dry wood is the main key to stop damaging pests. You will find spiders in all kinds of places like cracks in the bark etc. but the damaging pests will be where there is water.
 
Woodsman_WI said:
I've read the other thread here but many of the replies are in the NorthEast and may not apply to my area of the country. Everyone around here swears that we don't have termites around here...

My stacks are 75' from the house on pallets. In November my plan is to take 7 cords and put it in my oversize garage which is part of the house. Should I be concerned?
Click to expand...


i wouldnt do t here in the northeast... but where u live is different setting...if your garage is NOT heated i dont see why you couldnt but if it was me i would spray the area where you plan on putting the wood just in case ... also as you use the wood make sure you sweep up the debris and i wouldnt move it until you get a couple of frost... i wont bring wood in my house until the first big snowstorm ... i just move it from about 50 ft away fom the house to about 5 in nov then when it gets real cold snowny i bring in about 3-4 days worth.....
 
iceman said:
Woodsman_WI said:
I've read the other thread here but many of the replies are in the NorthEast and may not apply to my area of the country. Everyone around here swears that we don't have termites around here...

My stacks are 75' from the house on pallets. In November my plan is to take 7 cords and put it in my oversize garage which is part of the house. Should I be concerned?
Click to expand...


i wouldnt do t here in the northeast... but where u live is different setting...if your garage is NOT heated i dont see why you couldnt but if it was me i would spray the area where you plan on putting the wood just in case ... also as you use the wood make sure you sweep up the debris and i wouldnt move it until you get a couple of frost... i wont bring wood in my house until the first big snowstorm ... i just move it from about 50 ft away fom the house to about 5 in nov then when it gets real cold snowny i bring in about 3-4 days worth.....
Click to expand...

Iceman - I was thinking about heating and enclosing my garage but now that its been mentioned about how the bugs like warmth... I think I'll leave it cold in there. Its normally only about 10 degrees warmer in our garage than it is outside and that is still well below freezing for the entire winter. I did spray the entire garage last fall and will be doing that again this year. I think your idea of waiting until there is frost is a good one.
 
Woodsman_WI said:
I think I'll leave it cold in there. Its normally only about 10 degrees warmer in our garage than it is outside and that is still well below freezing for the entire winter.
Click to expand...

There are other benefits to enclosing the garage...cars, snowblowers, etc seem to work better when the winter buildup has a chance to melt off them. I find with the attached garage, even just insulated and unheated, it rarely gets below freezing. Makes the wife a lot happier on those bitter mornings as well. Maybe a shed roof off the garage for the wood?
 
I've stored wood in the third bay of the garage for the last three winters or so and have been thinking about storing outside for this winter.
I have to say it is very convenient in the winter to get your wood this way.
I've only had some powder post beetles, but still...
I brushed off every piece of wood last summer before I brought stacked it in the garage.
It'd be a drag to bring in a piece with ants, but it's also a drag to mess around with tarps and snow removal in the winter.
Decisions, decisions...
 
velvetfoot said:
I've stored wood in the third bay of the garage for the last three winters or so and have been thinking about storing outside for this winter.
I have to say it is very convenient in the winter to get your wood this way.
I've only had some powder post beetles, but still...
I brushed off every piece of wood last summer before I brought stacked it in the garage.
It'd be a drag to bring in a piece with ants, but it's also a drag to mess around with tarps and snow removal in the winter.
Decisions, decisions...
Click to expand...

I have found deep snows and tarps a real hindrance to getting wood from the stack. If you don't have a snow blower to clear a path around the stack then what you brush off just adds up to a bigger pile to work around. Stuff stored in your third bay will not have snow on it and will not gather water from fall rains and it will not have ice on it from frost or a tarp that has frayed from a strong winter storm. Ants will seek out places where the bark is separated from the wood and there is moisture especially in the fall and firewood stored outside is prone to become homes for them. When I split wood in the winter and run in to a chunk with ants it goes into the fire right then. A wood shed would be nice but that would mean an investment in another structure if you have the room for it.
 
Thanks. I don't think I have room for a structure close to the house.
The thought of all that work in the snow is not appealing (I've done it enough before to know.)
 
Northwind said:
We get about 300" of snow up here so the closer the better for me.
Click to expand...
I'm guessing it doesn't build up to 25 feet deep as that would bury my house. My shed is 30 feet away from the back of the house and I walk 120 feet total with an armload. The snow doesn't get much more than 3 feet deep and a snow thrower takes care of it.

Before I built my shed, I had tarps over the stacks in the Winter. I cut long poles as purlins to hold the tarp up off the wood so I would not have to remove the tarp, just lift up the side. Here's an old pic of one of the tarp structures I had left standing after I built my shed.

index.php
 
The big problem we've noticed with carpenter ants is not so much the wet/dry thing so much as the fact that when winter comes the ants go dormant....inside of the wood. Many times we have split some wood in the winter and it is full of ants. So the problem would be once the wood starts to warm up, the ants will come out of the dormant stage.........and there is the problem with stacking wood inside a building. That is why we refrain from bring much wood at all into the house or attached garage.
 
Once the cold weather comes, i store a face cord at a time in the unheated attached garage.
I haven't had any problems.
 
Woodsman_WI said:
I've read the other thread here but many of the replies are in the NorthEast and may not apply to my area of the country. Everyone around here swears that we don't have termites around here...

My stacks are 75' from the house on pallets. In November my plan is to take 7 cords and put it in my oversize garage which is part of the house. Should I be concerned?
Click to expand...
I've never seen a termite. An abundance of carpenter ants though, the BIG black ones.

Once the wood has been cut, split, and seasoned for awhile, all the bad bugs go away. Most of them go away when they're disturbed during the cutting and splitting. You're just left with a few spiders and stuff like that. I don't think you will have much of a problem stacking it in your garage, especially if it isn't green or freshly cut.

I keep a month's worth on my porch and have never had any trouble. My cousin has an attached garage that was built over his basement, which is finished with living space. He has a trapdoor in the floor of the garage that opens into a room in the basement, just off the wood furnace/living space areas. He backs his truck into the garage and throws about a year's worth of wood down through the trapdoor. He has never had a problem with bugs.
 
LLigetfa said:
Northwind said:
We get about 300" of snow up here so the closer the better for me.
Click to expand...
I'm guessing it doesn't build up to 25 feet deep as that would bury my house. My shed is 30 feet away from the back of the house and I walk 120 feet total with an armload. The snow doesn't get much more than 3 feet deep and a snow thrower takes care of it.
Click to expand...
Northwind could be right, they get a lot of snow there. Even here, some years we get drifts up to the eaves, in a single storm. 2 or more feet of actual snowfall in single storms here isn't that uncommon, up there they get the lake effect snows.
 
quads said:
Woodsman_WI said:
I've read the other thread here but many of the replies are in the NorthEast and may not apply to my area of the country. Everyone around here swears that we don't have termites around here...

My stacks are 75' from the house on pallets. In November my plan is to take 7 cords and put it in my oversize garage which is part of the house. Should I be concerned?
Click to expand...
I've never seen a termite. An abundance of carpenter ants though, the BIG black ones.

Once the wood has been cut, split, and seasoned for awhile, all the bad bugs go away. Most of them go away when they're disturbed during the cutting and splitting. You're just left with a few spiders and stuff like that. I don't think you will have much of a problem stacking it in your garage, especially if it isn't green or freshly cut.

I keep a month's worth on my porch and have never had any trouble. My cousin has an attached garage that was built over his basement, which is finished with living space. He has a trapdoor in the floor of the garage that opens into a room in the basement, just off the wood furnace/living space areas. He backs his truck into the garage and throws about a year's worth of wood down through the trapdoor. He has never had a problem with bugs.
Click to expand...

Thanks Quads. I am in Rib Mountain, pretty close to you I think. I think I'll do the attached garage this year. The wood I'll burn has been c/s/s for at least 4 months so the bugs have left, I think.
 
Woodsman_WI said:
Thanks Quads. I am in Rib Mountain, pretty close to you I think.
Click to expand...
You're about 75 miles north of me. I'm near Castle Rock Lake.
 
I believe that most people would choose less work over more work whenever possible (all things being equal). However, when it comes to firewood, I choose to stack it at the back of my yard (far away from the house). Aside from the common reasons for keeping firewood away from structures, the I like the exercise walking to the wood pile and back. It's also an opportunity to enjoy the cold air (a brief break from the toasty indoor temps which I also enjoy). But, I also don't have deep snow conditions that other wood burners have to deal with.
 
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