Large firewood drawer

[byQ]

I once lived in an apartment that was built in the 1930's or 40's. Inside, there was no bed visible. On further inspection there was a large pull-out bed built into a wall - you grabbed a handle and it rolled out. It was clever. And I didn't have to make the bed. And there was a closet built above it. It all looked like a dresser but was a bed and closet - very clever carpentry.

I'm building a small house with a cathedral ceiling, no basement or garage. And I'm thinking of building a raised dining area - say 2 feet higher than the rest of the floor - it's a cathedral ceiling so there's plenty of head room. I would like to build in a large pull-out drawer (hidden under the dining area) or two that could hold .5 to 1 cords of wood - (2' x 8' x 4') x 2. Why do this?

1) Laziness. The wood is hidden but is right there.
2) The drawer could be loaded with dry clean wood in the fall - so a person not having to open doors to go get wood outside and letting cold air in - so heat saver.

Any concerns? I'm in a desert-ee environment so bugs aren't a real problem. Anybody built something large like this or can picture something like this that has wheels or ball bearings? Maybe like a parts from a garage door put horizontally?

It would be nice to pull it out with a gentle tug - so I'm thinking bearings. I can't think of where I might find the bits for a large pull-out drawers. Any ideas? Maybe morgue supplies?

 

[ScotO]

I thought about doing a similar hideaway wood locker in my living room rebuild when I was drawing it up several years ago, but bugs in our area can be problematic, so I opted not to do it.....

Your idea sounds interesting, and if you do it I'd like to see pics of it.....you know how we love pics on here, don't you?

 

[swagler85]

Bugs would concern me with that. Nice dark hiding place in there for them, but a really cool idea.

 

[bmblank]

I would suggest pneumatic or maybe those solid rubber wheels. Anything else will mar the floor up pretty good. And i can imagine a cord of wood isn't light, so do your math and put in enough of them.

 

[Jon1270]

The weight could be a significant issue. You'd have to be extra-super certain that the mechanism was perfectly level (and would stay that way) since you don't want to be hauling several hundred pounds up even a small incline every time you want to load the stove.

Other potential issues would be that it would limit the floor coverings in front of the drawers to surfaces that wheels can roll over easily (no carpet), and you wouldn't be able to put any furniture in that area either.

 

[paul bunion]

I agoing to try to talk you out of it. I think you would lose a lot of space between the framing needed under the floor and the casters/drawer. Your two foot high deck is going to be more like one foot of useable storage space. Clearance for the drawer opening is going to eat up a lot of floor space, no carpet or furniture in the area whereas it probably would have been a natural place for a couch. You are also going to need some steps, more loss of useable floor. The space needed for walking around the table will need to be on the upper deck instead of being 'borrowed' from the LR space, again wasted space. Also building a railing will increase your cost. All in all, It will just make your house 'smaller'.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Perhaps building a shed right into the outside wall (right by the stove) where you can fill it from the outside but take it out from the inside might work better?

 

[rideau]

And another problem with a drawer...if a piece of wood ever gets knocked up a bit, you might never get those drawers open. Sounds like a bad idea to me, for all the reasons people have given above. You need a lot of space for a half cord of wood, which would way maybe 1000 pounds....Why don't you just build a covered walkway to your woodpile? Be a lot easier....

 

[byQ]

Thanks for all of the good advice. I think I'll take the easiest route and just build an overhang onto an outside shed where I can store a couple of cords. It means a 20 foot walk to get wood but I can live with this. 2 cords will get me through the heating season.

 

[Mr A]

I once lived in an apartment that was built in the 1930's or 40's. Inside, there was no bed visible. On further inspection there was a large pull-out bed built into a wall - you grabbed a handle and it rolled out. It was clever. And I didn't have to make the bed. And there was a closet built above it. It all looked like a dresser but was a bed and closet - very clever carpentry.

I'm building a small house with a cathedral ceiling, no basement or garage. And I'm thinking of building a raised dining area - say 2 feet higher than the rest of the floor - it's a cathedral ceiling so there's plenty of head room. I would like to build in a large pull-out drawer (hidden under the dining area) or two that could hold .5 to 1 cords of wood - (2' x 8' x 4') x 2. Why do this?

1) Laziness. The wood is hidden but is right there.
2) The drawer could be loaded with dry clean wood in the fall - so a person not having to open doors to go get wood outside and letting cold air in - so heat saver.

Any concerns? I'm in a desert-ee environment so bugs aren't a real problem. Anybody built something large like this or can picture something like this that has wheels or ball bearings? Maybe like a parts from a garage door put horizontally?

It would be nice to pull it out with a gentle tug - so I'm thinking bearings. I can't think of where I might find the bits for a large pull-out drawers. Any ideas? Maybe morgue supplies?

I bet that was functional back in the '30's. Large families living in small apartments, they could tuck the bed away during the day and use the space for whatever

 

[Backwoods Savage]

And another problem with a drawer...if a piece of wood ever gets knocked up a bit, you might never get those drawers open. Sounds like a bad idea to me, for all the reasons people have given above. You need a lot of space for a half cord of wood, which would way maybe 1000 pounds....Why don't you just build a covered walkway to your woodpile? Be a lot easier....

That could get nasty if you couldn't get your drawers opened....

 

[BobUrban]

I like a mix of your idea and BS's - the pass through would be really nice on cold windy days and a hidden drawer in your pedestal would be a great place to stash blankets and such. Go with the drawer but don't fill it with 1000lbs of wood. Great space saver and cool. Line it with cedar

 

[BoilerMan]

You say no basement so I assume you'll be on a concrete slab. Can you make a "woodshed" inside the heated space? I put all my wood inside in the fall and NEVER would think of going outside and getting wood through snow and cold. Having it in the heated space dries it out even more, I've had splits in the 12-14% range by the end of winter.

TS

 

[byQ]

You say no basement so I assume you'll be on a concrete slab. Can you make a "woodshed" inside the heated space? I put all my wood inside in the fall and NEVER would think of going outside and getting wood through snow and cold. Having it in the heated space dries it out even more, I've had splits in the 12-14% range by the end of winter.

TS


TS,
Do you mean you have a wood shed inside of your house? I'm building a small house (I just added a loft so it's now 1550 sq ft). I guess I could store firewood under the stairs (that I am now adding to this house). How much wood can you store on the inside and how exactly do you do it? I might be able to tightly pack 1/2 cord under some stairs but not sure yet. Sounds like you have a good set up.

 

[byQ]

Perhaps building a shed right into the outside wall (right by the stove) where you can fill it from the outside but take it out from the inside might work better?

You mean build like a big funnel, fill it with wood, and than have a little trap door that you open to get your wood? or maybe I could build a shed right into the outside wall of the house by the back door (there's about 15 feet of windowless wall). And even if I had to go outside it would only be a few feet.

 

[rideau]

I would not build a funnel. Wood doesn't slide like marbles....you could end up with problems.

 

[Butcher]

A Murphy bed? Actually you can still buy them. I have framed up walls for them several times when I was in the carpenter biz. Your drawer idea sounds nice but I'm thinkin a no go on it. A well made bookcase type of affair with large raised panel doors would be a much easier option IMHO.

 

[lukem]

My in-laws had a wood box that you loaded from the outside (outdoors) and had a small access door from the inside located right next to the stove. It was pretty slick.

You are going to have to have some pretty stout rollers to hold the weight of any kind of firewood, and that is going to eat up valuable space unless you recess them similar to a pickup truck bed's wheel wells.

I think a sweet-looking built-in cabinet with doors right next to the hearth would be more ergonomic than every piece of wood basically being at ground level.

I like the drawer idea, but wood use it for general storage and not firewood.

 

[byQ]

My in-laws had a wood box that you loaded from the outside (outdoors) and had a small access door from the inside located right next to the stove. It was pretty slick.

I'm liking this idea and am leaning more in this direction than building a drawer. Might as well leave the firewood outside. Build a shed that shares a common wall with the house. And have some sort of access door between shed and inside of house. And build an insulated box within the shed that has a sloped bottom so gravity pulls the wood towards the access door. Or better yet have it sloped with rollers. Insulate the access door and the box in the shed (have a lid on the box) and you shouldn't "leak" too much heat away.

 

[lukem]

Rollers will clog up with wood debris/dirt/bark in short order (and clogged up rollers are worse than no rollers at all). If you put enough pitch on it a smooth bottom will be your best bet.

 

[DanCorcoran]

A Murphy bed? Actually you can still buy them.

So named for the poor Irish immigrants who lived in cramped quarters in NE cities in the 1800s...