Wood Slide?

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hammerdavid

New Member
Jul 10, 2009
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NE MN
First time questioner here so forgive if this has already been asked.
I bought a house with a wood stove last December and have been collecting/buying wood ever since. It's all outside stacked and drying, but I am planning on moving the majority into my basement after the first serious frost of the fall.
Looking at the sill, it's obvious that a lot of wood has gone through the window to the basement already, but I am thinking about building a slide of some kind to facilitate this. That will make it easier (maybe my wife will help) and and hopefully protect the window frame a little more.
Does anyone have such a thing? Any plans out there for building such a thing?
I was thinking it might be cool to build it out of numerous small diameter PVC pipes laid parallel (and fixed some way). It would be lighter; might facilitate a bend in the slide and hopefully some of the sawdust could fall through and not end up in the house. Also the 10' PVC that they sell in the home center would hardly be long enough and I haven't seen any longer.
Anyone have any thoughts?
 
Sounds like a good idea.

But...in my experiences. Bugs usually wake up from inside the wood after they are brought into the house(regardless of the month). Then you'll have these critters running around in your basement.

The chute/slide. Would probably have to be a steep angle for the wood to actually slide, right? The pvc surface is smooth but I guess you'll just have to go by trial and error.
 
I think you'd be better off building a small covered area outside your basement door (assuming you have a walkout?) than building a slide. Bugs and moisture from the wood can do a lot of damage in your basement. Leave the wood outside if at all possible. Worst case you could build a small covered area outside your window and build a slide. But only use the slide to toss a days worth of wood in at a time. That's what I would do....
 
I'd agree that having the wood in the house long-term is not a good idea.
 
I prefer to have any bugs / spores believing it is Winter living under bark to continue doing so outside.


Could the wear on the basement sill be from coal ?
 
My uncle takes the stairs out of the bulkhead in the winter. He then loads his wood with the tractor, drives up the house, dumps it in the bulkhead, close door. Then he goes inside and opens the door and uses the wood. He only brings in a week's worth or so at a time this way. He's been doing this for 30 years with no problems.
 
You can get 20' lengths of PVC at a plumbing or pool supply.
 
I make a slide by laying several 2x4 next to each other across the window. I only bring in a week of wood after it has been cold outside for a while. The pile builds up at the bottom of the slide but you can pull the individual 2x4 out and then stack the wood under the window.

Kevin.
 
what about a beat up old kiddie slide from one of those outdoor swing set thingies? I've seen many people use them to launch pellets down the bulkhead steps into a wagon, no reason it wouldn't work for wood as well.
 
Old truck bed liner. Frame with some 2x4's. Slicker than hot snot on a frozen brass doorknob.
Goto junk yard. Find a cracked one. They will prolly give it to you since it's of no value to them.
 
I used to help a family friend with putting wood into his basement throught a basement window. He had a oil/wood fired boiler and a small parlour stove in his upstairs kitchen. He made a slid out of wood..pretty basic. He then took a piece of heavy duty plexiglas and screwed it to the slide, the slide had 2x6" sides and was like a chute. he would also wax the wood on the inside and the plexiglass.. he had chains hanging in his basement and would attach it to the slide that had I bolts on the one end so it would hang at the right angel. We would use his 4 wheeler and atv about every 2 weeks and grab wood off the piles and bring it over. he would go downstairs and catch the splits as I slid them down..gotta be concentrating and dont let the splits go until he says "go"! ouch!

It worked really well//like I said, he ahd about 2 weeks worth of wood at a time stored in his basement. I never once heard him complain about bugs and he was a NYS Forrester as a profession!
 
PVC is a fairly soft plastic. I predict it would scratch up pretty quick. It would also score deeply when sharp, odd- shaped pieces go over it. In time, you'd see more and more friction. The PVC would end up looking as if you had taken coarse sandpaper to it. If you must use PVC, try to make the thing steep, if possible.

I like the wood, truck liner, and other examples better for a slide. I'd not attempt one myself out of PVC.

How about thin, galvanized sheet metal over wood? Maybe build a wood frame around a 3- sided length of 4x10 galvanized duct? Or wider, like 2 of the duct side by side for 20 in wide?


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Some plywood scrap pieces, some 2-by, glue, drywall screws...

html won't let me 'draw it' right with type, but you get the idea...
 
Hi Pyro and welcome ...if your determined to load the cellar up with wood I suppose a slide would be the most efficient way. I'd keep on the lookout for a piece of corrugated metal roofing...if you got a piece long enough you could fashion a dumping shelf to fit right over the window sill. If you do something that works out well snap some pics and post 'em OK? Good luck.
 
Welcome to the forum Pyro.

On the pvc idea, it might work but you also would probably have to store it indoors. My thinking is that when it is cold, below freezing, outdoors that stuff breaks pretty easy. To get heavier stuff you would have to buy bigger and a window is only so big.

I used to help a fellow who stored his wood in his basement. He had a wooden slide that worked quite well. It was one he originally had for coal and the wood was worn down until it was very smooth which allowed the wood to slide. We'd load a hay wagon, pull it up beside the house, put the chute in place and then unload. As the wood built up to where no more would go, one of us would go into the basement to move it away from the end of the chute while the other continued to unload the rest. It worked very well. He then would spend a little time every night stacking the wood in the basement and then we'd get another load the following weekend. Amazingly he had very little or no insect problems.
 
I won't pass judgment on storing wood inside as that topic has been well covered already. As for using PVC, IMHO it is too soft and won't slide well. I would just make a frame out of a couple of 2x6 and nail some open stovepipe to the top of it. Lee's suggestion of using an old bed liner is good too. Spray a bit of Armorall on it and the wood will reach terminal velocity.
 
Good thread, I've been thinking of this for awhile. I need to build one so I can stop busting my ash with a full wheel barrow down my walkout basement slope. I was thinking of building a frame out of 2x6's and a slide with a 2' wide piece of metal roofing, and then put a box to catch the wood below my retaining wall.
 

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I have tried metal roofing and flashing before and it doesn't work well unless the slope is 50 degrees or more.
I have some heavy plastic counter top out of a butcher shop that is slick as snot also and have some on a chute from processor to conveyor.Works good.
I'll bet those blue plastic juice/soap barrels cut in half the long way, overlapped and rivetted or carriage bolted together wood work good too.
 
PyroWannabe said:
First time questioner here so forgive if this has already been asked.
I bought a house with a wood stove last December and have been collecting/buying wood ever since. It's all outside stacked and drying, but I am planning on moving the majority into my basement after the first serious frost of the fall.
Looking at the sill, it's obvious that a lot of wood has gone through the window to the basement already, but I am thinking about building a slide of some kind to facilitate this. That will make it easier (maybe my wife will help) and and hopefully protect the window frame a little more.
Does anyone have such a thing? Any plans out there for building such a thing?
I was thinking it might be cool to build it out of numerous small diameter PVC pipes laid parallel (and fixed some way). It would be lighter; might facilitate a bend in the slide and hopefully some of the sawdust could fall through and not end up in the house. Also the 10' PVC that they sell in the home center would hardly be long enough and I haven't seen any longer.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Click to expand...
I built exactly what you describe 30 years ago when i built my house
nailed 2x6 lumber on a slope from window sill hight sloped down to basement floor ( bottom ended up about 8 ft from wall)
covered with 2 overlapping sheets of steel roofing approx 30in wide
nailed up plywood sides to keep wood from falling off & hitting washing machine
when wood is snow & ice covered they fly down the slide store all my wood in basement for the winter
bob
 
Black poly culverts make great chutes, too. Little expensive to buy one just for this single purpose, but if you happen to have one lying around...
 
Putting nice dry wood anywhere near or worst, inside your home increases the fire load dramatically. While house fires are not as common as in past years thanks to code enforcement just read the paper as cold weather approaches and find that they happen. We have log homes in town with cellars loaded with fire wood. So far so good but... if the sh.. hits the fan we will save another cellar hole. Hopefully they have a working smoke detector. Maybe one of our forum insurance members could explain their views on payment though I'm more concerned with life safety. One firefighter's opinion. Be safe.
Ed
 
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