Indoor Wood Rack

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benking

Member
Oct 19, 2007
24
Portland, Maine
I've been looking for an indoor wood rack thats roughly two feed wide and four feet tall but I've so far been unable to find anything. Anyone seen anything like this out there? This will be in my living room next to the mantel (stove is in fireplace) so it needs to look "clean". Anything that is under 24" wide and 48" tall will work. Most are just far too small. Any sugestions?

Thanks,

-Ben
 
"I’ve been looking for an indoor wood rack"

That would creep me out, not from a fire hazard standpoint but from a bug standpoint. I'd be afraid of waking up sleeping bugs in the bark...do you always keep wood inside???.
 
I keep about a 2.5ft by 3.5 ft rack full in the house. No problems. Nice to load up before a snow storm and then burn for a few days. I tend to bring in just the best oak, hickory etc so bugs not an issue. The misc weird stuff stays outside where I have 3 racks holding about a cord and a half. I usually have to refill the 3 racks once durring the winter.
 
nshif said:

You can buy an identical item at Home Cheapo for like $60 or so...tools, double rack...the same thing.

I've always stored wood indoors. Even as a kid we did this, never had any problems with it. Right now I'm still getting a feel for how and where to store wood at my house (new stove this year), but basically I've got a small rack with a removable sling setup on the lower level of my hearthpad in the living room. Stores enough wood to fill the stove 1.5-2 times. Down in the basement I've got 3 full pallets laid out ina row and the wood is stacked up about 4 feet or so with plenty of overhead room, so I might be able to get about 2 cords in there if I get it toght enough and stack it higher. The rest is/will be outside on the patio right outside the basement doors, which is under my front deck, so it gets some decent shelter and the patio is gravel so it never sits wet.

Indoors is also a nice place to toss some green wood so idiots like myself who didn't start cutting early enough can accelerate the seasosing a bit.
 
If you want a kick-ass firewood rack for inside the house, check this out:


Code:
http://www.gratewalloffire.com/firewoodracks/firewoodracks.htm


I just received it and let me tell you, it's 40+ pounds of 3/4" welded steel bar. VERY STRONG!!!


Compared to the sleazy steel tube/sheet metal screw racks that you can buy for $60-$80 at a fireplace store or LL Bean, this baby is a deal at $105.

(I am not affiliated with the seller of this item, BTW)
 
I like the wood box concept for inside the house. The rack is too messy for my situation. I have a rack in the garage, and a rack in the enclosed porch. I use these to stage wood and let the snow and ice melt off for a week or 2 before bringing into the house. Also a good place to stage wood for those really stormy days when a trip to the main woodpiles is more difficult.
 
Here is what I had my local welder make for me. Cost me total $150 in 2004, they are about four feet high, by 28" deep by 18" wide, heavy as hell, but with both full of hardwood, I can go two weeks

Brent Eamer
Brackley Beach
Prince Edward Island, Canada
 

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Thanks, guys.

I got tired of dragging wood in every two days, and the bug problem is not so bad, they fall out of the wood and tend to dehydrate next to the stove <LOL>. I load hardwood on one side and softwood on the other starting early december, all hardwood in Jan/Feb and all softwood Oct, Nov, Mar and Apr.

When I have both hardwood and softwood, I burn softwood during day and early mornings/evenings and hardwood before work and overnight. Also, the stove, a mid-box Regency, is zero clearance, so proximity is not an issue. I figure they hold close to a face cord for both of them. That was a pic I took near spring, with the title:

"One of the top ten things you won't see in Brackley Beach"

That being an empty wood holder
 
Brackley said:
Here is what I had my local welder make for me. Cost me total $150 in 2004, they are about four feet high, by 28" deep by 18" wide, heavy as hell, but with both full of hardwood, I can go two weeks

Brent Eamer
Brackley Beach
Prince Edward Island, Canada

thats pretty sweet, i'd love one out on my deck....no room inside for me.
but lets see what this pic reveals......
1) you clean alot but never put the supplies away.
2) either drink a lot of coffee, or really like the house humid. (3 kettles?... and 1 on the floor?)
3) based off the big pots next to it, plan on making pasta and sauce later on the stove,
4) got a pretty hip artist living with you,
5) your totally out of wood! fill those racks!

love the wood walls too!
 
1) you clean alot but never put the supplies away.
>>>Kinda..

2) either drink a lot of coffee, or really like the house humid. (3 kettles?… and 1 on the floor?)
>>>I always keep water boiling for dishes, or as you say tea, coffee, and humidity, multi-purpose pots. Never know when you need hot water. I have an on demand propane hot water heater for the summer months and showering

3) based off the big pots next to it, plan on making pasta and sauce later on the stove,
>>>See above

4) got a pretty hip artist living with you,
Nope, Im too messy for roomates

5) your totally out of wood! fill those racks!
They were filled shortly thereafter

I live in a 24x50 eastern log home, one floor. I have four acres of land with spruce on it, some over 40' tall, some windfall every year to clean up.

Would love to have some oak like you guys in MA, alas, not to be.

I am heading down with a friend this Friday and going to stay a few days in Foxboro and go the PATS/BRONCOS game Monday night, so I will be taking pics of woodpiles <ROFL>. Then saying in Norfolk MA, with a friend and his wife for a day, he owns a cottage next to mine.
 
I am fortunate enough to have about 6 feet of brick hearth adjacent to where my insert is located in the fireplace. What a great idea that was to do it - whomever built the house. I was thinking about doing a similar thing upstairs if/when I upgrade the hearth for the woodstove. I am just going to make the hearth large enough to include a built in area to store wood.

PS - I have not had any bug issues in split and seasoned wood!
 
I built a rack in my garage w/ PT lumber & carriage bolts with a design I stole from some catalog like LLBean. It's attractive and very functional. Its off the ground so easy to sweep/vacuum underneath which I do weekly just for cleanliness and to discourage pests. So far no issues w/ bugs or the like warming up and coming out of hibernation.
 
I've been looking at building some racks from black iron pipe and elbows/tees for my porch. Just had a plumber install a boiler for me to replace my 1955 oil waster, and he used iron pipe because it was cheaper than copper.

Anybody done this? How did it hold up?

I have some long sections of 1 1/4" that I'd have to get threaded, but should be easy to build a rig double 16" deep x 4ft x 7 high. Planning on placing it in my enclosed porch. My wife doesn't appreciate the esthetics of the salvaged 2x4s I used for the frame I have now, and who can blame her.

That said, I haven't priced it out yet.
 
A lot of the box store racks use an iron bar loop and some 2x4's with some brackets. I dont find them terribly attractive. Here is my rack if you want to plagiarize, including a link to the design that I stole:



rack_scale_1024.jpg


rack_brace_1024.jpg


rack_full1024.jpg


Cost about $70 which includes all hardware & PT lumber. Easily could knock $30 off if you used non-PT lumber and sealed it yourself.

Here is the design I stole from.....

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Build/firewoodRack.html
 
Nice rack!!!

I had one of those plastic "sheds" - you know, the small ones that you have to assemble and hold rakes and brooms? - lying around so I took the doors off and put it in my garage for about 1 week's worth of wood. So far it works pretty well. the sides hold the wood up nicely and it allows me to keep some in the garage so I don't have to go outside during a snowstorm or rain. being all plastic it is easier to clean out in the spring.

Here is what I mean:

http://www.mysheds.com/thumbnails/plastic garden tool shorage shed_jpg.jpg
 
My rotation goes something like this. From the pile to a covered "rack" outside the garage that holds 3/4 of a cord. From there, one trailer load (small John Deere lawn trailer) at a time into the garage. Finally into wood bins by Rubbermade into the basement and then into the stove.

This system seems to work pretty well and keeps things in rotation so I don't find myself with no wood close by and ready in case of a bad stretch of weather. I like the plastic bins for bringing wood into the house because they help contain the dirt, bits of bark and whatever else falls off the wood.
 
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