How close to buildings can one safely stack firewood?

[snowleopard]

I've asked this before, but never got a clear answer. In terms of protecting your buildings in an area where summer wildfire is a danger, how close to a house/garage is it safe to store wood? Anyone? Jake?

 

[TreePointer]

Wildfires really aren't a problem here, but we like to keep piles of wood, brush, etc. at least 50-100 yards from any building. This helps to keep the bugs, rodents, and other critters away. Of course, it helps to have that extra space on a farm.

 

[snowleopard]

Good point. And a tractor to move the piles, yes? I'm trying to walk that line between access and safety. Since I have large trees a dozen feet from the house, I suppose that it's a moot point. If the stacks burn, the trees could, too. Keep on paying the insurance premiums. . .

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Wildfires really aren't a problem here, but we like to keep piles of wood, brush, etc. at least 50-100 yards from any building. This helps to keep the bugs, rodents, and other critters away. Of course, it helps to have that extra space on a farm.

I'd like to keep my wood stacks 50-100 yards away, but I doubt my neighbors would go for me stacking my wood in their yards. So I keep it in my woodshed across the driveway from my back/side door, about 14 ft away from the house. I hope it never catches fire.

 

[SolarAndWood]

We got 15 feet of snow this year. I keep 8 cord right outside my door within 20 ft of the stove.

 

[BrotherBart]

Yep. After 30 years of slogging through mud and snow the new wood shed is smack up against the back of the garage. Six feet from the breezeway back entrance. With a brick walkway.

Best winter I ever had this year. Step out the door and grab wood. I just did a reload and put two years worth in it this time. Didn't step in snow or mud one time this winter fetching wood. Priceless.

If a fire gets to that shed the house will already be on fire.

 

[scojen]

I have wood stacked right out my back door. I live in the woods anyway so whats the difference...critters are everywhere

 

[wkpoor]

I think there is more questions than answers at this point. Is the wood you speak of seasoned or not. What direction is the side of the building facing. Fresh split firewood I like to let season completely out in the open on bare dirt or on pallets not near any structure or near trees. That way all sides of the pile or stack can take full advantage of sun and wind everyday. Also make sure no weeds or grass grow near the wood. I use roundup to keep this condition. Seasoned wood near the house for daily convienence should be under cover and not just stacked against an outside wall. Something like Brother bart suggested is ideal.

 

[TreePointer]

My point is that I worry more about boring/tunneling insects and mice infesting my house than wildfires. Having large stacks of wood touching a building is asking for trouble here. In addition to the critters, there is the issue of mold/mildew and rot on the house if sun and air can't get to the walls.

I'm not trying to stifle conversation here, but a place to get more information may be from your local municipality. Many municipalities have regulations as to where and how you may stack firewood. If wildfires are a concern for your area, your local govt. office may address this issue.

 

[BrotherBart]

I used to worry about termites and other bugs a lot. Then like MDfireguy I realized that I live in the middle of five acres of woods and wood debris. If they are coming for the house, they are coming for the house whether there is a wood pile or not. And on the fire angle a fire from the piles would spread anyway and the wood is more exposed to wildfire in the open away from the house.

 

[snowleopard]

Thanks, everyone, for your participation in this thread. I'm just chewing ideas over. I'm sure that the local fire dept. would love to see me stacking 100 yards away from the house, too, but with the trees around it that we have, I'm missing the point in that.

When winter comes on, I plan on having my this-year's wood seasoned and stacked smack-dab where I can grab it: I have room for two cords under the deck by the back door (southeast corner, nearest door to the stove); another couple of cords on a porch that runs the length of the north wall, and up to five cords under the overhang along the south side of the garage.

Was going to build a woodshed, but started doing the math on storage and it made no sense. (And it didn't happen, so no pictures.)

I'm not planning on stacking the stuff next to the house until after the fire season, when the burning season starts. The stuff I'm wondering about is (currently) green birch. I have a truckload coming (I hope) and have a pretty good spot about 20-30' off the side of the house. It's not in a clearing, but I don't have a lot of that here.

 

[wkpoor]

I personally know people who store firewood under a metal carport and I think there are some people on this forum who do too. May not work for everyone based on codes and whether you would want one of those on your property or near your house, but they make a pretty darn cheap long lasting way to protect your time and envestment in fuel plus have nice dry wood all winter.

 

[snowleopard]

I probably didn't make myself clear. I am thinking about where to locate the seasoning piles rather than the wood-du-jour, so I'm not worried about keeping the snow off the piles for easy grabbing during the winter. I've got some pallets they can sit on, and corrugated roofing to put on top of the piles. It will be sitting there for at least a couple of years--I'm thinking this through because I don't want to have to move the wood any more often than I must.

A woodshed would be a sweet amenity, but I'm on a sidehill and limited in level space near the back door. The under-deck storage was great--a few steps out the back door. I loaded a utility sled with splits, and pulled it into the sunroom to the interior wood rack, which held about three day's worth of wood. A couple of sled-loads filled that rack, and I was set.

Big difference for me will be having all this dry, split wood on hand and easy to reach. I figure that I'll have to refill that underdeck area two or three times over the course of the winter. Easy as pie.

Wkpoor, why the roundup? Are you trying to keep the weeds down so the wood will season faster? Or to keep bugs away? Also, you brought up something I've thought about regarding a wildfire. Not only could stacked wood make a fire move more easily to a house, but losing your firewood in a forest fire would be very painful indeed.

 

[woodchip]

In an ideal world, I'd keep the seasoning piles at good hundred yards from my property, and also keep them split well apart so if one goes up I don't lose all my firewood.

Just thinking about the lot going up is the stuff of nightmares...... ;-)

 

[wkpoor]

I probably didn't make myself clear. I am thinking about where to locate the seasoning piles rather than the wood-du-jour, so I'm not worried about keeping the snow off the piles for easy grabbing during the winter. I've got some pallets they can sit on, and corrugated roofing to put on top of the piles. It will be sitting there for at least a couple of years--I'm thinking this through because I don't want to have to move the wood any more often than I must.

A woodshed would be a sweet amenity, but I'm on a sidehill and limited in level space near the back door. The under-deck storage was great--a few steps out the back door. I loaded a utility sled with splits, and pulled it into the sunroom to the interior wood rack, which held about three day's worth of wood. A couple of sled-loads filled that rack, and I was set.

Big difference for me will be having all this dry, split wood on hand and easy to reach. I figure that I'll have to refill that underdeck area two or three times over the course of the winter. Easy as pie.

Wkpoor, why the roundup? Are you trying to keep the weeds down so the wood will season faster? Or to keep bugs away? Also, you brought up something I've thought about regarding a wildfire. Not only could stacked wood make a fire move more easily to a house, but losing your firewood in a forest fire would be very painful indeed.

When I first started doing firewood I was processing in the woods where I thought it was a good idea to keep the mess. Problem I was loosing wood to rot in one year. Then I got wise and move the operation out in the open. Now wood that can stay aired out will last what seems indefinitely. As time went on I learned more about it. It also applies to things we keep outside like brushhogs ect. Let weeds grow up around stuff and it will rot or rust away in a few years. Keep it away from a wooded area and keep the vegetation away and it will last 100yrs. Its all about eliminating the moisture trap. I use roundup all year around my wood pile and all my outdoor stored items to keep the vegetation away. Plus I would imagine the bare dirt theory may be another reason I see very little bugs in my wood. My neighbor stores his out in the open on pallets but has grass growing right next to the wood and the bugs eat his wood something fierce. Friend of mine bought a new brush hog and complained when the deck rotted in just a couple years. I said let me guess, it sitting in the weeds right, he said yes. My brushhog I've had for 15yrs sits outside all the time and except for a little paint fade is solid as the day I bought it. It works for wood too is my point. Some of the simplest solutions to life are just too easy.

 

[firefighterjake]

My "seasoning stacks" are maybe 20-30 feet from the house . . . my woodshed with two years worth of wood in it is maybe 20-25 feet from the house . . . my weekly wood supply is 0 feet from the house as it is on the covered porch . . . like Brother Bart said . . . if the bugs and mice want to get into my house they'll find a way and it most likely will not be due to my firewood. That said, I do see some evidence of critters in my wood supply in the shed and outside . . . but I can live with the mice, squirrels, chipmunks, etc. having a temporary home . . . it's not like they ride the wood into my home when I bring it inside in the winter.

As for bugs . . . has never been an issue . . . I split wood and get some carpenter ants from time to time . . . this wood I toss to the side . . . later when I stack it no bugs . . . and I never see them ever again . . . heck, in three years of burning I have yet to see any bugs in the winter . . . much less any bugs waking up from their sleep in the firewood when I bring it inside.

Wildfires . . . not such a big issue here . . . personally I suspect if there was a wildfire my old cedar shingles on the walls of my house and garage would go up a helluva lot faster than my firewood . . .

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I probably didn't make myself clear. I am thinking about where to locate the seasoning piles rather than the wood-du-jour, so I'm not worried about keeping the snow off the piles for easy grabbing during the winter. I've got some pallets they can sit on, and corrugated roofing to put on top of the piles. It will be sitting there for at least a couple of years--I'm thinking this through because I don't want to have to move the wood any more often than I must.

A woodshed would be a sweet amenity, but I'm on a sidehill and limited in level space near the back door. The under-deck storage was great--a few steps out the back door. I loaded a utility sled with splits, and pulled it into the sunroom to the interior wood rack, which held about three day's worth of wood. A couple of sled-loads filled that rack, and I was set.

Big difference for me will be having all this dry, split wood on hand and easy to reach. I figure that I'll have to refill that underdeck area two or three times over the course of the winter. Easy as pie.

Wkpoor, why the roundup? Are you trying to keep the weeds down so the wood will season faster? Or to keep bugs away? Also, you brought up something I've thought about regarding a wildfire. Not only could stacked wood make a fire move more easily to a house, but losing your firewood in a forest fire would be very painful indeed.

Snowleopard it sounds like you might be doing something that we've done many years. When the heating season began I'd then move wood from the stacks and stack it on the porch which was under the carport. I'd then hang a tarp from the side of the carport to the ground to keep the snow from blowing on it (east side because when it snows it usually is along with an east wind). I'd then replace the wood every week or two and sometimes would go longer. I'd simply wait for a nice day and then move more wood. It really was not all that much work and it made things handy as we could just step out the door and there was the wood.

Good luck.

 

[DiscoInferno]

I stack on three sides of the house, but the only termites we've had in the house came in the 4th side (the front). It's a walkout, so that's the side that's at ground level. Treated with termidor and so far so good. But they are everywhere in the ground here, my wood isn't going to change that. I do find small grass nests of some sort from time to time and had some sort of wasps once, but nothing major. Hornets in the hot tub access panel were way worse, and the paper wasps prefer the gas grill. The damn carpenter bees won't touch my firewood, they're too busy boring into my sawhorses and treated deck! This year for the first time there are some rats roaming around, but no sign that they're in the stacks; looks like they are burrowing under the slab. Basically, you live next to woods, you get critters one way or the other.

 

[xman23]

My covered seasoned wood is about 50 ft from the house. Because I am many years ahead with the wood, I keep it covered. The wood stays very dry so it doesn't attract bugs. I am a nut about keeping the bugs out. We are in the in the woods, it's carpenter ant country. Any wet wood is a problem. The first year of burning, not knowing any better I fed the stove from this pile, down one level and 50 ft. That year we had 3ft of snow on the ground all winter. Since then I've have a much better procedure. In the Fall I move a years worth of wood to a stack under the side covered deck. The years worth of wood is on pallets, on the ground, 2 rows, 7ft high 20 ft long. I keep a tarp in front so no snow blows in. During the burn season I move wood up one level to the covered side deck. So i don't have to much weight on the deck, I have a single row 3 ft high 8 ft long. It's just outside the living room door. No wood in the house. My thought about the bugs is to keep the wood dry, move it near the house when they are dormant. I move any left over wood back away from the house at the end of the season.

 

[snowleopard]

Lots of wisdom and experience here, and I thank you. Life, as I am wont to say, is too short to make all the mistakes myself, so I"m happy to listen to advice. I've spent an enjoyable day out splitting and stacking today, working out my Philosophy of Stacking. Since some of the poplar I was splitting, which was dropped in November, was trying to run sap, I decided against double rows of that. Tried the end-stack technique, came in and looked at pix here, and looked at my stacks, and finally noticed that some of you had squared-off wood! No wonder I'm having such poor luck. I went with a between-the-trees stack with some of it, and could just about see the moisture starting to move in the sunshine and wind. Great seasoning day. (Yes, I'm headed back out there later.) Some of it had been tossed under a spruce tree, and nothing much had been happening. Wrestling my way through green poplar today, and it's resisting the process. Have a huge poplar that was dropped last winter laying a little ways from where I was stacking, and I think it'll be a good one to use on which to get to know my new saw.

I got through last winter because PO (or someone) had left wood cut to length and stacked between trees. It was stacked on smaller wood crosswise, but not enough to keep the rot out of the bottom lift. So I'm not going the sapling route--doesn't seem to work here. I put down a few old pallets, and was happy to have them, but read up here about the PTW ladders and other such systems, and will be looking for alternatives like these. There's a lot more wood on the property that was dropped and cut, some even in rounds, but not stacked, and it is rotting away to nothing. Good reminder that this is time well spent.

Man, it felt so good to be on a task like this. So much of what I do is time-driven, and I never seem to have enough time to get everything I need finished. Something about the nature of this work just feels so different, and for the first time since I can recall, it felt fine to just pause and listen to the birdsong for awhile, then get back to work, or sit under the spruce trees where I had gone to toss out the splits from under there. I'm feeling the ache, and taking breaks, but happy to be getting this underway. When the poplar is done, I'm attacking the birch.

Then there's the wind-dropped trees on the lower part of the property, and the cabin that the friend has offered to be dissembled . . . better hit it again.