There is no denying the fact that putting wood into a warm / dry environment will speed up its drying time.
However, here is an example of why I do not suggest doing this in one's home or basement.
This was a perfect ash tree that I dropped Jan of 2010 to widen a roadway at a buddies cabin. This tree was completely healthy w/ no rot. The tree was cut into rounds, and stacked where it sat until Aug when I split, then stacked it again. I just moved the wood pile (yes, stacked again) it was in the other day and decided to take a picture of one of the splits.
Bark borers (these were not the emerald ash kind but bark borers none the less) attack this species of wood as soon as it is cut and begin feasting. Later on these little buggers emerge and there are a lot of them. Since this wood was outside no-harm-no-foul. However, if this wood were in the basement you'd have 100,000's of these covering every window sill and light bulb in the house (don't ask me how I know :shut: ).
These are common with ash in my area and do not hurt the live tree nor will they feast upon any dried wood on your home. All in all they are a nuisance, and a damn good one at that. There are so many that came out of just this one split that it would almost appear that I shot it w/ a shot gun. Now, multiply that by a facecord or cord or whatever huge amount that is stored in a basement and I hope you have a good shop vac that you enjoy using.
Point is, unseasoned firewood = food source to many things. Let the drying happen outside and you greatly reduce your risk of having an infestation of any kind in your home as a result of the firewood.
pen
However, here is an example of why I do not suggest doing this in one's home or basement.
This was a perfect ash tree that I dropped Jan of 2010 to widen a roadway at a buddies cabin. This tree was completely healthy w/ no rot. The tree was cut into rounds, and stacked where it sat until Aug when I split, then stacked it again. I just moved the wood pile (yes, stacked again) it was in the other day and decided to take a picture of one of the splits.
Bark borers (these were not the emerald ash kind but bark borers none the less) attack this species of wood as soon as it is cut and begin feasting. Later on these little buggers emerge and there are a lot of them. Since this wood was outside no-harm-no-foul. However, if this wood were in the basement you'd have 100,000's of these covering every window sill and light bulb in the house (don't ask me how I know :shut: ).
These are common with ash in my area and do not hurt the live tree nor will they feast upon any dried wood on your home. All in all they are a nuisance, and a damn good one at that. There are so many that came out of just this one split that it would almost appear that I shot it w/ a shot gun. Now, multiply that by a facecord or cord or whatever huge amount that is stored in a basement and I hope you have a good shop vac that you enjoy using.
Point is, unseasoned firewood = food source to many things. Let the drying happen outside and you greatly reduce your risk of having an infestation of any kind in your home as a result of the firewood.
pen