Shed or no shed

Hey everyone, thanks for all he great info. The wife won't release the funds yet for the woodstove. So I'll show her I'll start stacking wood in yard. Just a couple questions 1. Is a wood shed a good idea( I really want to build one , but not if it's going to bad for seasoning. 2. I would prefer to move the wood as little as possible, can I put green wood in shed . Depending on what I scrounge up or prices of green cord vs season cords ( sort accordingly) , I would just like to move once and leave till its ready. Any recommendation or dos or donts for she'd? Thanks guys

I put fresh split wood into the wood shed not sure if this is right but it keeps it out of the elements but is open on both sides. I also use pallets, metal posts and small tarp to cover it. Both are the same concept but one is a lot cheaper than the other. Pallets= free, posts=$5 each at home depot, tarp = old pool tarp that my dog tried to walk on! Long story for another time. My thing is to try and keep things as cheap as possible so that the cost of the wood doesn't out weight the cost of oil.

Dont like drying wood in a shed unless it has open sides and then I dont like the wood packed tight so dry wood is the only wood I put inside, I dont like moveing wood around also but dont like slow drying wood either. Wood=work no matter what, get way ahead and then do it when you want to not when you have to.

I'll be building a shed. Season your wood for the first year or two outside of the shed, the season before you use it put it in the shed. Woodsheds are great for the final seasoning.

I would wait until the boss releases the money for the stove first. Season your wood outside for a year (more if oak) then move inside to the shed.


zap

I think the only way you would get away with moving firewood once is if you had kiln dried delivered to your garage as you needed it. To me, any more building than required to have the seasons burn stacked tight in it before the snow flies is more than you need. There are a number of reasons to not put green wood in a shed. The biggest for me is that a 10' high stack of green wood is guaranteed to topple before it is ready for the stove and only stacking single rows to 4' would require a lot of roof.

Same here. = wood is work especially the first few years until you are ahead. Wood takes alot longer packed in shed. I use my shed to store dry wood for the upcoming heating season. And yes its worth every penny I spent not having to dig my wood out from under the snow.

So even if the shed is basically like the stack I have not in the being that it is open on both sides you guys still wouldn't stack in there? Wood shed is about 6 ft high and open on both sides. stack two rows deeps with space in between rows and not very tightly

Don't mean to be taking away from the original guy asking the question!

Wind is a very large part of the seasoning process. Limit the wind and you increase the time it takes to season. For this reason, unless you are far ahead of the game - most people will season the splits outside for a year (or more), then move them to the shed for winter access.

Yes.

Also if you buy, buy green. There's no such thing as "seasoned" wood for sale.

I put 1 cord in here right after it was built, going on 3 yrs still does not burn right, wood that was stacked outside in single rows, out of same tree was burned last yr. and was great. I was trying to save work.

My "wood shed" is totally different. It is open on both sides with a roof on it.

Wow you guys are great! One + hrs and 11 replies. Thanks for the input. I don't mind working in yard so that's not the problem. I'll jus have to figure out how much I'll burn each winter and just start a rotation from stacked rows outside to wood shed. Thanks guys

Build moveable shed. Modular units. Move when necessary or needed.

Stacked green wood will shrink a lot so keeping your stack heights low may keep them from toppling. In the shed I stack over 9 feet high. I used to just heap my wood outside for the first six months and then lay it up in the shed but was having problems with the stacks getting precarious from shrinkage. I now stack my wood outside for the first year or two before moving it to the shed.

Stacking in single rows assures the fastest drying, but I stack in double rows because I stay well enough ahead that it doesn't matter. Dennis (BWS) likes to stack his outdoor rows in threes which was how I was doing it before I built my shed.

I am in the process of modifying my shed with slots for the stacks. The slots keep the stacks plumb. My shed is divided into two bays but has an open centre. I have two slots on the ends and three slots in the middle running N/S that I fill first. Later, I in-fill the spaces between the end and middle with well seasoned wood running E/W late in the Fall. I burn less than half of the shed's capacity, so the other side stays laid up a year longer.

Mine is open on 3 sides with the inside butted up against the boiler shed. I have a door on the inside that opens right into the stacks. I'm gonna put up another 20'X40' woodshed this year with all open sides like the one shown below.

Pat

Nice looking shed you have there, do you put your wood in there green or dried.

One of the reasons I built mine is because I hated the tarps that covered it, especially in the winter. I have stacks in the yard that are drying and I move them in the shed for the winter. I can store about 6 cords so I can hold about 2 years worth.

wood shed,, my perspective
I can stack it higher,
find the wood in the winter time,
wife likes it because there's a place for the wood & it looks "kept"
keeps the rain & snow off
No chasing & repairing tarps
each section is 1 years supply.
good to look at & takes nice pictures

pic #1 no wood shed: Pic # 2 wood shed (findable is nice)

PS : Title of the forum topic "Wood Shed"

Personally I don't want to move the wood anymore than I have to so I don't see a woodshed in the future.

It's only the 2nd year I've been burning but stacking on pallets and covering (rubber roof material) the stacks that I'm pulling from has been working great.

I'd start by stacking on pallets and think about a woodsheet a few years down the road.

If we got more snow here, or it lasted longer, I might build a shed. I've got a small porch and roof over the entry door to the house so I can stack a couple of weeks worth of wood right outside the door. I'll always have enough time to wait for the snow to melt and move up more wood before I use up the porch stack. The porch stack is closer than any shed would be...

Findable? Heck, you could probably see that stack of wood from outer space! :lol:

I wish I'd built my shed the first year we were here.
Actually, if I'd known then what I know now, a LOT of things would have been done differently.
The plan is to get the new stove, which will give me 2 years wood inside and wood will be loaded in after DRYING in the field out back. One side/year.
The closest I might be able to stack to the house before going into the shed is about 200' away, and it won't DRY as well there as in the field. It's work, might as well get used to it.
I take the wood from the splitter to the field and stack it.....wait 2 or more years, then bring it to the shed in late fall. Then it gets loaded onto the porch about 1/3 cord at a time.YMMV & HTH

You have the best set up & system I've ever seen for seasoning fire wood.
I copied yours as close as I could for my conditions.
To read your wanting to do things different :bug:
Why?

Ah dave, thanks, but the "system" is wanting.
Better would be if I had my stacks on movable racks or something and I could drive 'em into the shed.
"Different" would be the shed first thing so I wouldn't have to fight all the tarps and snow and ice for the first 4 years. What a MAJOR difference it's made in my efforts to simplify my life. That, and DRY wood. :lol:
Or, perhaps a new stove would have been first. I had NO clue. Never burned anything other than a campfire.
Knowing what I know now, the stove and flue system would have been changed out before I even began burning. But, I learn best by doing, and didn't find this place for over a year after we got here, so that's what happened.
I continue to do that almost every day (do, and learn).
Sorry to the OP for the hijack.
bogy started it. :cheese:

For most of our years burning wood we have not had a wood shed and got along just fine. We would each fall move a bunch of wood to the back porch so we had wood for the stove real close. As needed, we'd just keep piling more wood. Last year we put up another barn and now we are stacking about 3 cord of wood in there. I move it in sometime in October and then as we need it I can get it without having to mess with the snow.

I have never liked stacking wood inside a shed until it has had at least one summer to dry. In a shed, even if said shed is partially open, it still does not have good air circulation.



Wood stacked outdoor and covered with old galvanized roofing.



Moving some wood into the barn.



Wood on porch. Notice how close to the stove it is.