Storing wood in doors?

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Missouri Frontier

Missouri Frontier

Feeling the Heat
Feb 5, 2013
310
NW Missouri BFE north of KC
This winter I'd like to keep a week or two worth of wood in the house, for the wife's convince. It would be stored on a concrete floor in an unfinished part of the house. Is this a strict no no? Will we be bugged to death? Anyone with experience trying this?
 
Do a search on the topic on this site. Several recent threads explaining why it can be a bad idea. In a nutshell, bugs and extra humidity. Just depends on your particular circumstances, as you'll see when you read. A day or two is usually no problem, but the bigger the quantity, the more likely you'll have issues.
 
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DanCorcoran said:
Do a search on the topic on this site. Several recent threads explaining why it can be a bad idea. In a nutshell, bugs and extra humidity. Just depends on your particular circumstances, as you'll see when you read. A day or two is usually no problem, but the bigger the quantity, the more likely you'll have issues.
Click to expand...
Thanks Dan. Short and sweet.
 
No problem with bugs, if the wood is dry with no moisture there will be no bugs, I put about a half cord in my garage every fall and have never seen any bugs, but my wood is dry, only time I see bugs is when I bring wood home and split it. Bugs prefer moisture so after the wood is stacked and starts to dry out the bugs look for a new home, I have been doing this for over 30 years with no problem. This is in NW Iowa.
 
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I'd highly recommend hollow core doors and splitting really, really small. You might have to cut an access point into the door to put the wood in. It won't dry very well I imagine, but I commend thinking out of the box for wood storage. It might be better to just put the wood on a pallet outside.

Oh, wait, indoors? Nevermind...
 
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Shane N said:
I'd highly recommend hollow core doors and splitting really, really small. You might have to cut an access point into the door to put the wood in. It won't dry very well I imagine, but I commend thinking out of the box for wood storage. It might be better to just put the wood on a pallet outside.

Oh, wait, indoors? Nevermind...
Click to expand...


Took a second reading, but: heh, heh.
 
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lol, i store a weeks worth in my unfinished basement and never have had any bug or humidity problems.
 
I used to stack wood in my mechanical room in the winter when the coal boiler was running. It was always about 80 degrees in there and dry as a desert. The wood would season really fast in there and would split apart and snap.
 
Bugs like to hang out under the bark. If the bark is gone and the wood is dry, there shouldn't be any problems. I keep maybe a couple weeks' worth stacked outside the door on the porch with a cover on the top in case rain or snow blows in. Then you can just bring enough inside for the next load. I use a canvas log tote, which makes it easy for the wife to handle if she needs to (not very often.)
 
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Make sure the wood has been seasoned. If it's dry this should be no problem at all - important that it will have been kept off the ground to avoid the bugs in it. I bring in a week's worth at a time and store it in my basement right by the stove. It dries a bit more in there and I don't have to go outside for wood all week. I also keep about a month's worth outside my basement door under my deck, this is in case it rains or snows and I need dry wood, also in case something comes up and I can't haul in from the main pile. Never had any problems with bugs.
 
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I keep it on a covered patio, right outside the basement door. It's a little work to bring in 6 big loads per day, and carry them upstairs to two stoves, but I don't need one more thing to keep me up worrying at night. I keep a large copper tub next to each stove, and load it up with that day's worth of wood, if I'm going to be leaving my wife home alone.
 
Seems like storing wood inside is pretty chic and in-vogue these days...Pottery Barn does it _g

PBphoto.jpg
 
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I still do not like it. Many say no bugs but there definitely can be bugs and millers too. Do it if you wish but it won't be done in our house. But then we also have a handy situation where there is a sliding glass door beside the stove and just outside the door is a wood rack that we keep filled in the winter.
 
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DanCorcoran said:
These folks definitely need to buy some books!
Click to expand...

No doubt! They'll need a step stool just to reach the top splits and to kill the penthouse bug dwellers up there ;lol
 
Shane N said:
I'd highly recommend hollow core doors and splitting really, really small. You might have to cut an access point into the door to put the wood in. It won't dry very well I imagine, but I commend thinking out of the box for wood storage. It might be better to just put the wood on a pallet outside.

Oh, wait, indoors? Nevermind...
Click to expand...
D@mn Typo/grammar police!
 
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Mixed bag of opinions. I'm going to give it a shot and I'll report back. Thanks for the responses everyone but, Shane. Lol
 
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Dry wood keeps carpenter ants and termites away, but spiders love wood piles. I would wait until the outside temps dip below freezing a few times. That usually kills most bugs in the wood pile. We have stored as much as a weeks worth indoors. We definitely see an increase in spiders because of the firewood. We kept it in covered Rubbermade bins in what used to be a spare room. That room is now the baby's room so this year I guess we'll come up with a different method. We also keep a day or two worth of wood in a copper bin near the stove.
 
Blue2ndaries said:
Seems like storing wood inside is pretty chic and in-vogue these days...Pottery Barn does it _g

View attachment 106816
Click to expand...
That is the beauty of kiln dried wood. If that were my firewood in that pic, it would have taken a long time to sweep and shop vac all the dirt, bugs (living and dead), dried bark, and occasional dead rodent or bird.
 
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There're also powder post beetles. Can't beat the convenience of going out to the garage all winter though, in stockinged feet, if desired.
 
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I like to have about a weeks worth in the house but I don't bring any inside until the weather is consistently cold, I have a rack not far from the door with a cover for the early season.
 
I've had trouble with unseen frozen spiders and moths on or in the wood re-animating after a day indoors. No thanks! Firewood belongs outdoors, until used.

It only takes one hungry moth in your closet to cost you several thousand dollars damage. DAMHIKT.
 
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