Do you store a stack of wood inside your home?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.

CeeDee

New Member
Dec 4, 2018
34
Northern California
Someone told me recently he only ever keeps a spare log or two inside his home, and it's meant to be burned in his stove on that same day. He's worried about creepy crawlies chewing into the walls and floor boards.

We've always kept a small stack near our wood stove. Our hearth had a shelf that extended along the wall on one side and we'd stack our wood up against the wall. I removed the hearth and the new one won't have a shelf. Instead we're going to get a large tub.

I know wood can have termites, but I also know tons of people keep wood inside and even stack it up against the house just outside a door. What do you do with your wood? Do you only bring in what you'll need for the day?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Todd67
I keep a few days worth in my mud room and a few loads near the stove. The rest is outside in sheds or covered racks.
 
I have a connected shop on the back of my attached garage, I keep about one third to half a cord of assorted seasoned wood in there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Todd67
Mine stays in a cold garage until ready to burn, I've had creepy crawlies wake up in a matter of minutes in a warm house. Spider, hornets, flies, etc.
 
We live where it rarely freezes so I leave all my wood in the shed and only bring in what I need for a load in the stove. Luckily I have it set up so it's not very far to get to the shed in bad weather.
 
And bugs don't fly, lol.

Wood is stored in garage.
In the house, I use this:

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200362039_200362039
172916_2000x2000.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
not every bug in the world is dangerous. we're just a society of wimps now-a-days :p

a trick is to have a basket or box you keep your wood in. line the inside edge with sticky bug traps (home depot). most bugs that try to crawl out will get stuck.

Not me, my wife..doesn't like the wolf spiders and yellow jackets. I prefer they wake up in the stove. To each his own.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Todd67
yes very true. i didnt think of the bees. may not bee best to store wood in the main area of the home. see what i did there?

Caught that, clever!!
 
Termites and black widows are the main concern. I was bitten by a black widow years ago. It made me violently ill for a week. Horrible experience.

I smack each log hard against the wood stack outside before bringing it in. Not sure if I'm knocking off all the crawlies, but hopefully some.
 
I keep 1-2 days worth in the house. Most of it is in a large Rubbermaid tote with a few more pieces on the hearth. Splits get smacked together to knock spiders off when pulling from the shed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Todd67
Lawn tractor trailerload in the garage. My truck is down, so I've been bringing in a load or two of wet freshly split stuff from the woods, stacking it on a woodpile, then filling the trailer up with dry wood from a different stack. If I find some really dry standing or leaning dead stuff, sometimes I just burn it directly.

By the time my next day off rolls around, the trailer is low on dry wood, and I go do it again.

Spiders are welcome. :) There don't seem to be any brown recluses or black widows around here.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dix and Todd67
My dad has always kept 2-3 pickup truck loads in his basement in the furnace room. Usually we try to knock the frozen dust/bugs/ whatever off the wood if it's present before tossing it through the window.

Most bugs move out after the wood has dried and if they haven't done so by the time it freezes they usually knock right off the pieces with a gentle knock together.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Todd67
I've got four 4x8 racks of wood inside the basement. It's enough for most of the winter. It's all bark-free with no bug holes. All the buggy-looking stuff stays outside and goes directly into the stove, usually at the beginning of the season.

I wait until we have a week of really dry weather in August/September and bring in the top of the stacks to limit the amount of moisture I'm bringing in. It's all well-seasoned.
 
I try to keep a few loads in the house, then about 2 face cords in the garage, and the rest stacked and covered next to the garage man door. I do notice some spiders if we start burning early like October. But not so much once it gets cold out. i do need yet to make a bin for the wood, it can get a little more messy this way.
DSC_0209.JPG
 
Im keeping 1 to 2 days worth in the house near the stove. I keep a rack out back but not next to or leaning on the house.. the rack is inder a covered portion of the patio.. im not a risk taker when it comes to termites, powder post beetles, and carpenter ants...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Todd67 and SpaceBus
I keep a couple days' supply in a built-in wood bin in the house and two hoops in the garage for staging, so it's usually outdoors stacks --> hoops and hoops --> indoors. I wear gloves and use a hand brush to clean off the splits for at least one of those steps, especially if it looks like the splits are dirty or have cobwebs on them. When they're outdoors I can usually find spiders or beetles mixed in but once they've been in the garage for a while the critters seem to lose interest. If I find carpenter ants when I'm bucking a tree I'll leave the rounds far from the house for a few months to be safe but the ants seem to move on within a day or so once their tunnels have been exposed and start drying out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Todd67
We keep a full 5 cord in the basement to feed the wood
furnace . Have done so for 40 years never a bug problem
or anything else. That way no matter what the winter is like I always
have very dry wood to keep the house warm .
 
When I had my wood furnace in the basement I stored 4 or 5 chord of non split wood in the basement for the season. My stove recommended not to split the wood confirm. Stive took 2' logs. Did that for five or six years and never had a bug problem
 
  • Like
Reactions: Slocum and Todd67
I keep two tupperware containers of wood in my living room by the stove. Only bugs in my neck of the woods to be concerned about are ants, but I haven't had an issue yet. If i have any splits that have active ants in them when i process the wood, they go far away from my shed and rest of stacks until the ants have moved on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Slocum and Todd67
I try to keep a few loads in the house, then about 2 face cords in the garage, and the rest stacked and covered next to the garage man door. I do notice some spiders if we start burning early like October. But not so much once it gets cold out. i do need yet to make a bin for the wood, it can get a little more messy this way.
View attachment 236285

Is that a telephone plugged into the wood pile on the right side of the picture?[emoji38]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Im keeping 1 to 2 days worth in the house near the stove. I keep a rack out back but not next to or leaning on the house.. the rack is inder a covered portion of the patio.. im not a risk taker when it comes to termites, powder post beetles, and carpenter ants...

Not to mention a fire.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Todd67