I understand that you really should not keep wood in the house because of termites. Our house was built in the 1950s and has a unfinished basement with a coal shoot room (5'x12'x7') isolated from the rest of the basement. It seem like a good place to have a store of wood so to not have to go outside in the dead of winter. The basement is dry and I have a dehumidifier to put in the room. Does this sound like a good idea, or is it a bad idea due to the possibility of bringing termites and other bugs into the house? The walls are all cinder block.
Store wood in the house?
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red oak
Minister of Fire
Termites need access to the ground in order to survive. If the floor is concrete and the walls are cinder block I would guess you would be okay. I bring a week's worth of wood into the basement at a time, and I know people who bring more than that. To be really sure though, store your wood off the ground while it's outside. Termites will build a connection between the wood and the ground that you should look out for. I'm sure you can find some images on google. If I saw any of those on my wood I would not bring it into the house, just to be safe. Since I never have, I'm guessing it's okay to.
My current source of wood is a dead tree that was about 30 feet outside of the house. Even if the tree was chopped, split and stored, could they still know were their colony was if one existed outside my house and make the trek to get to it? I will have to check the wood for termites
red oak
Minister of Fire
My general experience with bugs is that they leave the wood after it is split and stacked, as long as it is stacked off the ground. I'm not quite sure if that applies to termites, but I do know they need access to the ground to survive.
osagebow
Minister of Fire
I doubt it. They only really travel in a reproductive adult stage to start new colonies. http://www.orkin.com/termites/termite-life-cycle/
Watch for black widows if they are in your area, though. If they are, they will LOVE your stacks, but are usually easy to spot. I brought 2 in last year during my first season burning. This year no wood with sketchy cavities / knotholes is allowed in unless it's going straight in the stove. Wife isn't buying the "Frost will kill them " Line anymore.
Heres a black widow that made a gnarly web in a drum of ceramic media in my warehouse. Notice the hourglass on her belly.
BoilerMan
Minister of Fire
I still spray all my wood with insectacide as it's stacked inside. I bring the whole winter's supply into my boiler room (inside house) in the fall. Actually it's all in now. Every 3rd or 4th wheelbarrow full I spray the mixture on, it's just some ant/termite stuff I mix with water and apply with the garden sprayer. Smells like terpentine in there for about a day after, I also run a bug zapper for a few nights after bringing wood in, any flying things get what we call in my line of work "froze on circuit" 
TS
TS
Fiziksgeek
Burning Hunk
If not the wood as metioned above, I would at least spray the room with something like Talstar before loading it.
I dont bring any wood in until its been seasoned in my pallet racks and then I wait til we've had several hard frosts, dont know if that even matters but no bugs yet so Ill continue with my plan. I just like to have a week or so in the house at a time in case it snows. If I see we're going to get a storm Ill stock up before it hits.
I bring wood into the basement. A week to 10 days worth.
So far a few spiders maybe but none are poisonous & squish easy.
So far a few spiders maybe but none are poisonous & squish easy.
I bring a few days worth at a time, but that's just because my stove is in teh living room and I don't have a basement.
Growing up, we would put the winter's wood in the basement, usually around now. Always thought the couple odd spiders came from the wood but my folks heat with coal now and they still get spiders coming in.
Growing up, we would put the winter's wood in the basement, usually around now. Always thought the couple odd spiders came from the wood but my folks heat with coal now and they still get spiders coming in.
Our only problem with wood in the house is the occasional wasps and hornets, even though, we get so much wet weather here in winter we have to keep a decent supply indoors..
You only want one hornet to appear out of the indoor woodpile just after the wine has been opened and you'd be surprised at how quickly a nice romantic dinner by the fire descends into chaos.........
You only want one hornet to appear out of the indoor woodpile just after the wine has been opened and you'd be surprised at how quickly a nice romantic dinner by the fire descends into chaos.........
CageMaster
Feeling the Heat
only bring a few days worth in at a time, the only time to be really concerned is in fall as once we have a few very cold days there is no problem.
Im going to track this thread as I have a "half garage" bay under the house that is kinda useless as it will not fit a car in it, well maybe a golf cart or a smart car. So i was thinking I could probably fit close to a cord of wood in the space which could come in handy on rainy or bitterly cold days. I have the same worries about the bugs tho. So far i have brought in about a face cord of seasoned cherry and maple. It is stacked on concrete and I left a good 6" of space between the wood and the wall. I used that ortho foundation bug spray stuff and sprayed it around the perimeter of where the wood is stacked. Not sure if that will be fully effective but figured it was better then nothing. The wood did not seem to be infested with bugs but you never know.
I don't bring any wood into the house until the bugs go dormant. My basement isn't heated so after the weather gets good and cold, I'll start bringing it in. Until then, I'll stack a cord right off of the back porch.....
new_wood
Member
We bring in about a week and a half worth of wood into our unfinished basement at a time the past couple of winters and haven't noticed any problem yet.
Heres a black widow that made a gnarly web in a drum of ceramic media in my warehouse. Notice the hourglass on her belly.
Funny you bring black widows up because I used to never see them, but I've whacked two this year, a male and a female, thankfully before my wifey seen them because she would have quit splitting and stacking wood and would have to put the caption n coke down......it was a close one guys.
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I've seen too many store wood in the basement only to have bug problems. As for the bugs leaving when the wood is dry, I do not believe that at all. We've stacked wood for a few years now and no matter how long that wood is in the stack we still find some bugs. Nope. The wood and the bugs will stay outdoors. One exception is that many times in mid-winter we'll bring in enough wood at night to be able to load the stove in the morning. That is all we'll bring inside to store.
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