Forgive the ignorance, but...just moved to a house with a Defiant stove, bought my first cord of wood, plan was to stack in the basement (or maybe the garage), just spent 2 days and $200 building the frame/shelves to hold the wood in the basement, now I read your forums about all the little terrors you can bring into your house (spiders, centipedes, termites, etc). Don't know why I didn't think of that before, but like I said, I'm a newby. Anyway, I know from reading here I stand a chance at destroying my life by introducing an infestation, but I'm wondering if not storing wood in the basement (or perhaps garage) is really a hard and fast rule, or is it one of life's risks that you take anyway and folks usually do OK. there's no great place for me to store outside. I don't see any obvious bugs running around the wood pile (ok, one log had some ants, we squashed them, that's all I see). There must be a lot of folks out there who store inside and do just fine, right? I figure the folks who post here are a self-selected group, the huge majority of people in the world have no problems so we don't hear about them. Or maybe I'm wrong and catastrophe inevitable?
newby asking advice on inside storage
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Uper
Member
Given the choice I would choose the garage. I think you might have better air movement out there so the wood could dry better. Also you might be adding moisture to your basement by bringing in less than dry wood. All this aside from the insect potential which I would not minimize. We extended the roofline on our garage to provide an area to store wood outside, but out of the rain and snow.
wood-fan-atic
Minister of Fire
I would have to say that IF I had a basement(which I dont) I definitely would NOT put any less-than-dry wood down there. Even if it were seasoned, most often insect activity occurs INSIDE the bark of the wood and is not visible upon outside inspection. Also,as Uper has mentioned, there is the potential to introduce moisture problems into your living environment. Generally speaking- outside storage with the top covered would be much safer - IMHO. 
Wood Duck
Minister of Fire
I think there are people who store wood indoors, at least for the winter. I think you'll have far fewer bug and moisture problems if you can season the wood outdoors for a year, then move it into the basement. Is the stove on the same level as the basement? If the stove is near the wood pile, that will help season the wood during the winter, but you may still have summer moisture problems if you bring green wood indoors.
smokinj
Minister of Fire
Thanks for your replies. To answer your Q's: the wood is seasoned (1 year), the basement is already pretty damp (thinking of buying a dehumidifier), the stove is one floor above the basement. I could do the garage instead of the basement, that way the termites would have to eat their way laterally through the house, rather than just straight up. Maybe that would dissuade them...
Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
Some do store wood in their homes. I do not nor do I intend to.
If your basement is already damp, that is one more reason to not store it there. Also I wonder why you would feel you would need to build $200 worth of frames/shelves. Why would you even need any?
If you want to store some wood indoors, how about a day's supply. Put it inside a rubber Tote which would seal out, or in, the critters. Still, one could have moths that would fly out of the container.
We store the wood out in the cold. My wife brings in wood at night for me to fill the stove at night and also have wood for putting in during the morning. That is even more than I like in the house at one time.
If your basement is already damp, that is one more reason to not store it there. Also I wonder why you would feel you would need to build $200 worth of frames/shelves. Why would you even need any?
If you want to store some wood indoors, how about a day's supply. Put it inside a rubber Tote which would seal out, or in, the critters. Still, one could have moths that would fly out of the container.
We store the wood out in the cold. My wife brings in wood at night for me to fill the stove at night and also have wood for putting in during the morning. That is even more than I like in the house at one time.
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
Random thoughts . . .
Bugs: I don't worry too much about bugs . . . to a point. I mean I don't go around spraying my stacks of wood and I don't insist on a 150-yard No Fly Zone between my woodshed and house . . . but on the flip side if I find some wood with a carpenter ant infestation while splitting that split gets tossed to the side (to be retrieved at a later date) vs. stacking right then and there . . . and while I stack a week's worth of wood on my covered porch and bring in a day's worth of wood beside the stove every day I don't start stacking the wood this close/inside until the temps are pretty cool to minimize the chances of any bugs hatching or coming out of the not-so-proverbial woodwork. I have very few if any problems with bugs . . . then again my buddy who stacks wood in his basement doesn't have many problems with bugs -- although he did say he saw a lot of eggs of some sort in his woodpile last year.
Storage: Given my druthers I would rather stack my wood outside if at all possible. You say there's no "great space" for you to stack the wood -- is it a matter of too small a lot, uneven terrain, too close to the property line, etc? If you offer further explanation we might be able to come up with possible solutions -- i.e. holz mietes are pretty good for stacking lots of wood in a relatively small footprint, folks with uneven terrain have built terraced floors or woodsheds, etc.
If you are deadset against stacking outdoors and are adamant about stacking in the basement or garage I would favor the garage . . . for two reasons . . . 1) I assume it's dryer than the basement which you said gets damp and 2) I assume the garage is unheated vs. the basement which even unheated often gets some heat from the ground to keep things above freezing. When it comes to bugs and homes . . . dry and cool is always better than wet and warm.
Bugs: I don't worry too much about bugs . . . to a point. I mean I don't go around spraying my stacks of wood and I don't insist on a 150-yard No Fly Zone between my woodshed and house . . . but on the flip side if I find some wood with a carpenter ant infestation while splitting that split gets tossed to the side (to be retrieved at a later date) vs. stacking right then and there . . . and while I stack a week's worth of wood on my covered porch and bring in a day's worth of wood beside the stove every day I don't start stacking the wood this close/inside until the temps are pretty cool to minimize the chances of any bugs hatching or coming out of the not-so-proverbial woodwork. I have very few if any problems with bugs . . . then again my buddy who stacks wood in his basement doesn't have many problems with bugs -- although he did say he saw a lot of eggs of some sort in his woodpile last year.
Storage: Given my druthers I would rather stack my wood outside if at all possible. You say there's no "great space" for you to stack the wood -- is it a matter of too small a lot, uneven terrain, too close to the property line, etc? If you offer further explanation we might be able to come up with possible solutions -- i.e. holz mietes are pretty good for stacking lots of wood in a relatively small footprint, folks with uneven terrain have built terraced floors or woodsheds, etc.
If you are deadset against stacking outdoors and are adamant about stacking in the basement or garage I would favor the garage . . . for two reasons . . . 1) I assume it's dryer than the basement which you said gets damp and 2) I assume the garage is unheated vs. the basement which even unheated often gets some heat from the ground to keep things above freezing. When it comes to bugs and homes . . . dry and cool is always better than wet and warm.
Cowboy Billy
Minister of Fire
I keep about two face cords in the basement. And other than the occasional yellow jacket that comes in with the wood I don't have any problems. But my wood burner is in the basement and dries it up come burning season. I will not keep any wood down there through the summer as it gets really damp. Last year I knew I was going to run out of dry wood so I threw a bunch of 3 month old maple that was still wet down there and put a fan on it and it helped bring the house up to a comfortable moisture level and it was dry enough to burn at the end of winter. I have friends up north that only have wood heat and stack up 10 cords in the basement in the fall.
I won't say you will not have any problems but me and my friends her in michigan to keep wood in the basement haven't had problems. But like Jake if I have any with ants it gets thrown off to the side until they disappear or I use it for bonfires.
Billy
I won't say you will not have any problems but me and my friends her in michigan to keep wood in the basement haven't had problems. But like Jake if I have any with ants it gets thrown off to the side until they disappear or I use it for bonfires.
Billy
The stove is in the basement. During the burning season the basement (and the rest of the house) is quite dry. Having wood with a little extra moisture to donate is welcome. We usually have between half a cord and just over a cord stacked near the stove on three face cord racks. When one rack is empty it gets filled and the driest rack starts getting used. Less than fully seasoned wood typically gets dry in about 3 weeks. Oak took longer but it did dry sufficiently that burning season. I wouldn't knowingly bring in a colony of carpenter ants in a log but don't otherwise police the wood. Because the stove has a metal shroud built around it (with ducts that go to registers in the floor above), the basement never gets warm except near the stove. Maybe we are being negligent but haven't found any insect problems caused by our wood storage practices. My thinking is that the warmest and safest place for the critters is in the logs that will soon be burned. The original owners lived there for 26 years and did the same thing. The ceiling in the basement is not finished so I can see the floor joists. I haven't seen any saw dust from them yet.
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