Going Backwards

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Gark

Minister of Fire
Jan 27, 2007
808
SW Michigan
With the short warm winter, the wood stored for burning didn't get all used. The dried splits are kept in an under-garage area surrounded by concrete. It gets damp there in summer, so the wood is being moved back out to the stacks for further drying. Moved 2 pickup truckfuls so far and at least one more yet to do. Does anyone else move their unused (already seasoned) wood back out for further drying? The pic is what has been put back outdoors.
 

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Gark, I'm just south of you and i'm still burning. Are you all finished up for the winter? I have about a weeks worth still left on the porch and then I'm done. I just got my gas bill for the month and they dropped my budget price to $14 a month so if it gets chilly after that i'll use the forced air.
 
We're still burning here, but not 24 X 7. When the nights only get down to mid-forties, I get lazy and add blankets. There's still a couple weeks' wood in the dungeon if needed. Some of the fattest splits of BL and oak did feel heavy.
 
No, but only because my 'local' storage still has a fair amount of sun. If it didn't, I don't think I'd sweat it - maybe throw a fan in there on occasion to keep moisture (specifically mold) down.
 
The first year I was a bit over zealous and had a big storage bin still filled in April so I took it back outside and put it in the racks for further drying. Now when it gets towards the end I just bring a few days in at a time, right now I just bring in two days worth.
 
Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I keep all my wood stacked away from the house in the off season. Never liked having all the bugs and potential wood borers so close to the house. I only store a few weeks worth on the covered porch, refilling it a few times during the winter, so I can usually time running out of wood to coincide with the end of the season. The rest of the wood is stored near the splitting area, 300 feet from the house.
 
Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I keep all my wood stacked away from the house in the off season. Never liked having all the bugs and potential wood borers so close to the house. I only store a few weeks worth on the covered porch, refilling it a few times during the winter, so I can usually time running out of wood to coincide with the end of the season. The rest of the wood is stored near the splitting area, 300 feet from the house.
If I stacked my wood 300 feet from the house, it would be across the street in the neighbor's back yard ;lol
 
With the short warm winter, the wood stored for burning didn't get all used. The dried splits are kept in an under-garage area surrounded by concrete. It gets damp there in summer, so the wood is being moved back out to the stacks for further drying. Moved 2 pickup truckfuls so far and at least one more yet to do. Does anyone else move their unused (already seasoned) wood back out for further drying? The pic is what has been put back outdoors.

No
 
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Mine goes right into the shed after it is split in early spring. I usually have about a cord left over from the previous year and that gets moved to the opposite end of the shed closest to the house to be burnt first for the upcoming season. The rounds that I split in April don't see the stove until late December so they get about 8 mos. in the shed to dry. The seasonal leftovers are in the shed for up to 18 mos.

I think an ideal setup would be 2 sheds each holding a full year or 1 big shed to hold 2 full years supply. You would not have to move anything twice or be under the gun to get wood split for the upcoming season if you fall behind a little.
 
If I stacked my wood 300 feet from the house, it would be across the street in the neighbor's back yard ;lol
I wish I was your neighbor. ()
 
I am in Mid-Michigan and still burned a couple days this week. I have a fire going now because it was 55 in hre this moring :) I find it works better if I have a morning fir to take the chill off, let the southern exposure of my house warm the place all day and forget about it at night. If I am going to work at home for the day I will start a fire in the morning. I have been burning odds from the fire pit pile lately just to get through. I just bring an arm load or two in while outside with my dog every day because I don't want to be overstocked and moving it back out later.

Can you seal off the area and put a dehumidifier in there? Just a thought?
 
Mine goes right into the shed after it is split in early spring. I usually have about a cord left over from the previous year and that gets moved to the opposite end of the shed closest to the house to be burnt first for the upcoming season. The rounds that I split in April don't see the stove until late December so they get about 8 mos. in the shed to dry. The seasonal leftovers are in the shed for up to 18 mos.

I think an ideal setup would be 2 sheds each holding a full year or 1 big shed to hold 2 full years supply. You would not have to move anything twice or be under the gun to get wood split for the upcoming season if you fall behind a little.

That's what I have . . . one shed big enough to hold two year's worth of wood. My wood is bucked and split and it stays outside for 6-8 months or so . . . and then it's moved into the woodshed where it sits for another year. I keep track of what wood was put in when by using a Sharpie to write the year that I put the wood into the shed. Any left-over wood is just kept for that much longer . . . I'm pretty excited for this coming Fall as I have a row of wood that was stacked in the shed in 2009.
 
Jake, I do something similar except my markings are on the actual drying stacks as I only bring into the shed 1+ yrs worth at a time, don't think I would have enough room for 2 years worth. I take the tops of dog food cans, etc. and mark them with date split/stacked, type of wood and apprx. volume of wood on the pallet. I have various sized pallets so the volume marking was helpful at first but now I have a more seasoned(pun intended) eye and can tell w/o vol. marking.
Attach to north side of stack(to min. sun exposure to the sharpie ink) with a roofing nail.

Nice thing about having a shed with good air flow and stacked wood with open southern exposure is you can leave it in there as long as you want to. I would not want to handle the wood in "reverse" mode, but you gotta do what you gotta do!
 
I have a cord left over in the barn - no plan to move it back to the stacks. A little worried about pests (borers, etc.), but I think I'll chance it. The wood was 3 years in the stack when it came in the barn last October, and has been dry all winter - hopefully most insects won't find it suitable, or will stay in the outside stacks. Cheers!
 
In October I moved 3 cord of wood into one corner of the barn. Thee is still about a cord left there. It will stay put. Of course, we'll still burn some more yet this spring but not a lot.
 
I usually keep 2-2.5 weeks worth in the garage. I restocked about six weeks ago. I still have a week plus in there, and I've been 'burning 24/7' for about three weeks. Posta be almost 80 Sunday, so we'll probably let the fire go out tomorrow.
 
I keep just over one week's worth on my front porch so I also try to time it so that I don't have to haul any wood back to the stack in the back yard. This year, the last time a loaded the front porch was in mid February. I have brought up a couple wheel barrow loads since then is all.
 
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