Do you store wood inside or outside the house

[fabsroman]

While not a newbie to cutting, splitting, and stacking wood, I am a newbie to heating a home with wood. Did plenty of cutting, splitting, and stacking in my younger years as my parents used plenty of wood in the fireplace and my dad cut trees to make cash every so often. Thing is, my dad isn't one for doing a lot of research on things like stacking and seasoning, or even wood burning inserts or furnaces for that matter.

So, after only 2 months of heating oil bills in the new house, I am getting ready to buy a bunch of stuff for burning (Yukon Eagle II Polar furnace), cutting (Stihl MS 250), splitting (Huskee 22 ton), and hauling (16'x7' trailer) wood. Problem is, I am stuck trying to figure out how to store it. Dad always stored it outside for the most part, but he never had more than a cord or two on hand. On top of that, it wasn't really stored in an open area with a lot of sunlight.

From what I have read on here and elsewhere, it looks like I need to make some racks to season wood for a year or more. Shouldn't be a problem since I get plenty of sunlight and wind here and have plenty of space to set up some south facing racks with a roof and covered north side. Thing is, once the wood is seasoned, can I bring it into the house prior to the really cold weather getting here, or am I better off leaving it stacked outside the house under the deck right next to the walkout basement door?

 

[Woody Stover]

Welcome, fabsroman!
As you may have read here, for fast drying you want to stack your split wood single-row with the prevailing wind broad-siding your stacks. Once you have dry wood, it sounds like you have an ideal setup. You've got a convenient covered area to store wood right outside the door (I'm assuming the furnace will be close to that door.) When you get a break in the Winter weather you can re-stock your staging area under the deck. You might want to bring in a day or two's supply of wood to get it up to room temp, but that's the only wood I'd have inside.

 

[weatherguy]

Leave it under the deck, I store about a weeks worth inside once winter hits in a big plastic bin I have.

 

[snowleopard]

Same here. Even in Fairbanks, AK, I only bring in enough wood so that it's room temp rather than outside temp. Putting -40 wood in a hot fire can shock a stove and do lasting damage.

You're going to love heating with wood. Welcome to the forum.

 

[fabsroman]

Thanks guys. So, single stack with the prevailing wind broadsiding it is the best way to go. That is going to be a lot of stacks to build to season a couple cords worth of wood. I guess once it is seasoned I can put it under the deck and then move it inside as I need it. The walkout door is right in the middle of the rear wall of the house and the furnace is going to be in the middle of the house, so it will be 15 feet away.

Doing things right is never easy, but in the long run it is better to do them right.

 

[Woody Stover]

single stack with the prevailing wind broadsiding it is the best way to go. That is going to be a lot of stacks to build to season a couple cords worth of wood.

With a 4-1/2' stack (to allow for shrinkage to 4') of 16" splits, a cord is ~25' long.
How did you arrive at two cords as the amount you need for a heating season?

 

[fabsroman]

single stack with the prevailing wind broadsiding it is the best way to go. That is going to be a lot of stacks to build to season a couple cords worth of wood.

With a 4-1/2' stack (to allow for shrinkage to 4') of 16" splits, a cord is 25' long.
How did you arrive at two cords as the amount you need for a heating season?

I didn't "arrive" at 2 cords. What I believe I need is 4 cords or more. When I wrote that, I just used couple, instead of being specific. Probably because I can only imagine a "couple" of these rows in the backyard. My house is 58' wide, so if I went the entire length of the house with 2 rows, I should be fine. Or, four 25' rows. Either way, I think my wife would kill me and the kids would get a lot less use out of the backyard. Might just go with the holz hausen method that I just read about. Seems like two 7' circles would be more palatable versus long lines of wood running through the backyard. Granted, I have 2 acres, but putting that much wood out there to dry might cause a revolt in my household and the neighborhood.

 

[snowleopard]

I get that. "Honey, I'm going to have a couple of cords of wood out in the back yard for awhile, right?" sounds a little less likely to raise hackles than, "Remember that thing we used to have out behind the house? The yard?"

If there's an adequate spot on the two acres for spreading it out to season, you could put the wood there, and then stack it closer when it's ready to burn--even put it in a shed at that point. Or an HH might be work better, too, but they take a little longer to season. If you're going that route, you may as well stack 3-4 rows tightly together and take up less room.

Sounds like you're trying to keep wife, kids, neighbors, and in-laws happy while trying to do the right thing. Life in West Friendship isn't always easy, eh?

I'm going through something similar, only my problem is not having a lot of flat land around my house, and I have wood that was cut at different times, and from different enough species that their characteristics in drying and burning will be different--thus will get stacked separately. Some of it I know won't be ready this year, some of it I'm hoping will. Some woodpiles look great, and others not so much. I'm also utilizing overhangs and under-deck storage for my winter stash.

Your set-up sounds very similar to mine--the door is under the deck, where I can stick about 2 cords, and it's about 15-20 feet from the door to the stove, through my sunroom. I built a rack using Stack-It Brackets for my sunroom, about 3'-4' long and 3' high, and I refill that usually twice a week. I just load up my cargo sled, pull it right through the door and across the floor. Two or three sled-loads fills the rack, and then the wood can come up to temp and get just a little drier before I burn it. Works for me.

 

[fabsroman]

I get that. "Honey, I'm going to have a couple of cords of wood out in the back yard for awhile, right?" sounds a little less likely to raise hackles than, "Remember that thing we used to have out behind the house? The yard?"

If there's an adequate spot on the two acres for spreading it out to season, you could put the wood there, and then stack it closer when it's ready to burn--even put it in a shed at that point. Or an HH might be work better, too, but they take a little longer to season. If you're going that route, you may as well stack 3-4 rows tightly together and take up less room.

Sounds like you're trying to keep wife, kids, neighbors, and in-laws happy while trying to do the right thing. Life in West Friendship isn't always easy, eh?

I'm going through something similar, only my problem is not having a lot of flat land around my house, and I have wood that was cut at different times, and from different enough species that their characteristics in drying and burning will be different--thus will get stacked separately. Some of it I know won't be ready this year, some of it I'm hoping will. Some woodpiles look great, and others not so much. I'm also utilizing overhangs and under-deck storage for my winter stash.

Your set-up sounds very similar to mine--the door is under the deck, where I can stick about 2 cords, and it's about 15-20 feet from the door to the stove, through my sunroom. I built a rack using Stack-It Brackets for my sunroom, about 3'-4' long and 3' high, and I refill that usually twice a week. I just load up my cargo sled, pull it right through the door and across the floor. Two or three sled-loads fills the rack, and then the wood can come up to temp and get just a little drier before I burn it. Works for me.

You know what they say, you can't make all the people happy all the time. The backyard, which is probably 1.75 acres, is pretty flat with hardly any trees on it. I might just stack all the wood at the back of the lot and then bring it up when I need it. It will be right next to the neighbor's split rail fence and it is the garage side of his house so it will not bother his view. I'll attach a pic of my backyard that was taken from the deck right after we bought the place in February. The dead willow is now down and the only thing that remains is a stump.

Yep, life in West Friendship isn't always easy. Mentioned the necessary wood stacks to my wife, and she rolled her eyes and didn't look too happy. Said natural gas was always an optin if this gets too complicated. Once we buy the tractor I want, this might be an easier issue since it will not be as hard to lug the wood from the back of the yard to the patio under the deck. If I drive my F350 over the yard it leaves pretty deep ruts. Hoping the tractor with turf tires or R4s will be a little gentler on the yard.

 

[CTYank]

After finding out experimentally that there was no such thing as "too dry" wood (and I mean down to the core), I started stacking enough for a week+ near the stove, in open racks. One of them a foot or so away. (Temps peak from 150-180 deg F. depending on dryness.)

Keeps house interior from drying out totally, and makes for excellent fuel. And efficient operation.

First priority was fire-safety- took some experimentation to make sure temps stayed within safe limits with this sort of "kiln." A bit more work, moving pieces from stack to stack, showing different "faces" to stove. Any fuel is a valuable resource.

 

[NordicSplitter]

I am fortunate enough to have a 2 &1/2 car attached garage. My entire back wall & one side wall is loaded with fully seasoned wood. Roughly 4 face cords worth. I also have old style 4' New England eaves over my front door were I have another fully seasoned face cord. This will be my first year burning as well so I plan on placing another face cord just outside the back door on a nice 8'x8' pad. I will just tarp it until I need it. I have a mix of maple, oak and ash in the garage and outside my front door while I plan on putting some nice cherry and apple outside the back door. I have some more ash and maple that I can grab if needed, while newer oak and black locust will sit through this coming winter. As you can see....everyones set u is a little unique and different. A friend of mine at work has his stove is his basement. He puts around 2-3 face cords on the opposite side so as the stove is buring his wood is seasoning even more.

 

[SolarAndWood]

That is a whole lot of lawn to have to traverse loaded on foot if it is too wet to get a wheeled vehicle back there. That is fine for your long term drying space, but you will want a good safety stock near the house during the heating season.

 

[Wood Duck]

I stack mine in Holz Hausens which look nice and don't take up too much space. Keep in mind you'll want at least two years' wood out there, so it is eight cords not four you need to stack. Three years ahead is even better, so the wood will be really well seasoned and if you have a busy year and don't get around to cutting much, you'll still be ahead. Racks seem like a lot of work, so either stacking in round holz hausens or square stacks with the ends cross stacked (backwoods savage has posted a bunch of pictures of his stacks) seems like the way to go. I think neatly stacked firewood looks OK to most people as long as you keep the unstacked pieces, axes, splitting blocks, sticks, old shredded tarps, gas cans, etc. cleaned up. One reason not to cover the stacks is that covers that don't look junky can be expensive.

I would not plan to move the wood any more than necessary. Mine goes from the outside stacks to the back porch a wheel barrow at a time, then in to the stove from the porch.

In my opinion a splitter is not an essential piece of equipment for a beginner in decent health. Splitting by hand at first will save a bunch of money on the splitter and you might like it. i do. I think if you can run a chainsaw you are more than strong enough to split wood by hand.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I do not like storing wood in the house! (I'll be making a new thread about this.) Bringing wood to the deck after it has dried is a good way of doing things.


Question? Do these wood stacks (just a tad under 9 cord) look all that terrible that the lady of the house would object?

Notice there are no pallets and much prefer landscape timbers or, as we do, just cut some young saplings in the woods. I do not like pallets (just do not look good) and that is one thing that some folks would not like is the unsightly look of the pallets once you remove the wood. Sorry, I do not intend to put anyone down who uses them. It is just us and a few others we know who think they do not look very nice. But they do what is important and that is to get the wood off the ground.

Granted, these are not in single rows but rows of 3. We have no problems drying wood this way and it makes the stacks stronger and less likely to fall over. The only time I stack in single rows is for oak and we have some of that this year. I usually stack so that 3 rows together make somewhere around a cord of wood. I also am a firm believer that I can stack this way and take up less room than a holz hausen and it takes a whole lot less work to stack. Which looks better? That depends upon the looker and also might depend upon how it looks as wood is being taken from the stacks.

Stacking as we do, a cord of wood takes up a 4' x 8' area, or 32 sq. ft. So you can figure how much space you would take from your back yard using those figures.

 

[fabsroman]

I do not like storing wood in the house! (I'll be making a new thread about this.) Bringing wood to the deck after it has dried is a good way of doing things.


Question? Do these wood stacks (just a tad under 9 cord) look all that terrible that the lady of the house would object?

Notice there are no pallets and much prefer landscape timbers or, as we do, just cut some young saplings in the woods. I do not like pallets (just do not look good) and that is one thing that some folks would not like is the unsightly look of the pallets once you remove the wood. Sorry, I do not intend to put anyone down who uses them. It is just us and a few others we know who think they do not look very nice. But they do what is important and that is to get the wood off the ground.

Granted, these are not in single rows but rows of 3. We have no problems drying wood this way and it makes the stacks stronger and less likely to fall over. The only time I stack in single rows is for oak and we have some of that this year. I usually stack so that 3 rows together make somewhere around a cord of wood. I also am a firm believer that I can stack this way and take up less room than a holz hausen and it takes a whole lot less work to stack. Which looks better? That depends upon the looker and also might depend upon how it looks as wood is being taken from the stacks.

Stacking as we do, a cord of wood takes up a 4' x 8' area, or 32 sq. ft. So you can figure how much space you would take from your back yard using those figures.

I might actually be able to get away with something like that on the left side of the backyard, or maybe even right behind the house if I run them east to west (i.e., front to back of yard). I am thinking about building some stacks out of treated lumber. Now, I am debating whether to put a cover on them like plywood with asphalt shingles, Thinking something like 4 deep, by 5 tall, by 16 long, so I can essentially put 2 cords of wood in it. Then again, maybe I'll go 4 deep, by 5 tall, by 8 long and just put two end to end and another two right beside them. Once the wood is seasoned, I can move all of it under the deck that I am going to burn that winter.

Might have to start another thread of "covered versus uncovered woodstacks". Looks like I have the inside versus outside issue figured out, and outside it is.

 

[Kenster]

So, after only 2 months of heating oil bills in the new house, I am getting ready to buy a bunch of stuff for burning (Yukon Eagle II Polar furnace), cutting (Stihl MS 250), splitting (Huskee 22 ton), and hauling (16’x7’ trailer) wood. Problem is, I am stuck trying to figure out how to store it. Dad always stored it outside for the most part, but he never had more than a cord or two on hand. On top of that, it wasn’t really stored in an open area with a lot of sunlight.

Seems like you're willing to spend a ton of money to cut down on your heating bill. How many years you figure it will take to amortize all that new equipment vs the oil bill? Just curious.

For only four cords a year, you could save yourself $1500 or so and forgo the trailer since you already have a big pickup truck. It'll take a few extra trips versus a trailer. With an F-350, weight won't ever be a problem so you could build yourself some stake walls for the pick up and save a ton of money while you tote at least half a cord each trip. With the money saved on the trailer I suggest bumping up your saw to a MS 390/391... 361/362. At least a 290. Lot more saw than the 250. But yes, stick with Stihl! Someone tight on money might have to only dream about a splitter and either do it by hand or rent one once a year. If you have the bucks, owning your own splitter is great and the Huskee 22 should be perfect for your needs.

I store everything outside. I stack on pallets back in the edge of my woods. Not real sunny back there though it gets pretty good sun in mid to late afternoon. But it's nearly always windy back there, catching winds from the south and west, which are our prevailing winds. I never, ever cover it but I don't worry too much about snow here. I can't foresee ever building, or needing, a woodshed. It gets pretty cold here for a relatively short period. We may see several nights in the teens. Lots of nights in the 20s. I usually burn only when the overnight low is below 40. Rarely have the need to maintain the fire during the day time. We kind of like the house on the cooler side after our brutal summers.

In burning season I keep about a quarter cord under the eaves of the detached garage and I bring up three or four nights worth of splits and stack them on our big covered front porch. If the wood out in the stacks gets wet from a winter rain, it will easily dry after a day or so on the porch. I only bring into the house enough to fill the stove twice. When I fill the stove for the overnight burn, I bring in another armload or two in case I get up in the middle of the night and want to top off the stove.

Good luck and Welcome to the board. Stay in touch and keep us updated on what your buying, how your cutting and stacking is going, etc.

 

[weatherguy]

Might have to start another thread of “covered versus uncovered woodstacksâ€. Looks like I have the inside versus outside issue figured out, and outside it is.

Put that into the search bar and you'll find numerous threads where thats been debated. I personally keep them uncovered until the first snow, then I cover so I dont have to deal with ice and snow, depends on your climate too.

 

[HJsimpson]

I keep abot 5 days worth in the basement at a time. I also keep about a weeks worth in a trailer parked in the barn for emergency because my wood shed can be kinda hard to get to when the snow drifts up. So far no problem with bugs except spiders which i think would be there with or without wood.

 

[fabsroman]

So, after only 2 months of heating oil bills in the new house, I am getting ready to buy a bunch of stuff for burning (Yukon Eagle II Polar furnace), cutting (Stihl MS 250), splitting (Huskee 22 ton), and hauling (16’x7’ trailer) wood. Problem is, I am stuck trying to figure out how to store it. Dad always stored it outside for the most part, but he never had more than a cord or two on hand. On top of that, it wasn’t really stored in an open area with a lot of sunlight.

Seems like you're willing to spend a ton of money to cut down on your heating bill. How many years you figure it will take to amortize all that new equipment vs the oil bill? Just curious.

For only four cords a year, you could save yourself $1500 or so and forgo the trailer since you already have a big pickup truck. It'll take a few extra trips versus a trailer. With an F-350, weight won't ever be a problem so you could build yourself some stake walls for the pick up and save a ton of money while you tote at least half a cord each trip. With the money saved on the trailer I suggest bumping up your saw to a MS 390/391... 361/362. At least a 290. Lot more saw than the 250. But yes, stick with Stihl! Someone tight on money might have to only dream about a splitter and either do it by hand or rent one once a year. If you have the bucks, owning your own splitter is great and the Huskee 22 should be perfect for your needs.

I store everything outside. I stack on pallets back in the edge of my woods. Not real sunny back there though it gets pretty good sun in mid to late afternoon. But it's nearly always windy back there, catching winds from the south and west, which are our prevailing winds. I never, ever cover it but I don't worry too much about snow here. I can't foresee ever building, or needing, a woodshed. It gets pretty cold here for a relatively short period. We may see several nights in the teens. Lots of nights in the 20s. I usually burn only when the overnight low is below 40. Rarely have the need to maintain the fire during the day time. We kind of like the house on the cooler side after our brutal summers.

In burning season I keep about a quarter cord under the eaves of the detached garage and I bring up three or four nights worth of splits and stack them on our big covered front porch. If the wood out in the stacks gets wet from a winter rain, it will easily dry after a day or so on the porch. I only bring into the house enough to fill the stove twice. When I fill the stove for the overnight burn, I bring in another armload or two in case I get up in the middle of the night and want to top off the stove.

Thanks for the info. I should probably try to find an "Introduce Yourself" thread on here and give you guys some background about me. Essentially, I'm a 40 year old attorney/CPA that has hardly ever allowed anybody to wrench on my cars, truck, bicycles, guns, rods, reels, or boat, and I do almost all my own home improvements. My wife is a 34 year old pharmacist and we have a 4 year old and 2 year old. I love the outdoors and am hoping to buy a farm within the next 5 years.

We just bought this place on two acres in February and dropped some serious coin on a washer drier combo (i.e., it didn't have them in the house) and a John Deere zero turn Z445 based upon suggestions from the guys at a tractor forum. My wife loves the washer and drier and I love the mower. The mower should pay for itself over the next 3 years based upon what I have been quoted to have our grass cut. The current furnace and AC system is 24 years old. We were hoping we could make it through the summer with the AC and then replace the entire system in September, but the AC does not work at all. No sense spending $500+ just to get it to work for a single season. I had already started doing the research for replacing the current system with a wood/natural gas furnace and a 5 ton AC versus an oil furnace and 3 ton AC. Got a quote from an oil company for the oil furnace and 3 ton AC for $9,800. So far, it looks like the wood/natural gas Yukon furnace, a 5 ton heat pump, and the cost to put the natural gas line in is going to run us $15,000. We were going to do the natural gas line regardless. So, the wood furnace is costing us an extra $3,000 versus going with the oil system, and we will make up that $3,000 in a year or two in savings.

My dad has a 12 ton splitter, an F150 that barely runs, and a Craftsman chainsaw. My brother has a 5'x10' trailer. The plan is to buy a MS250 and use my dad's stuff and my brother's trailer until after next tax season. Figure I might be able to get 2 cords, maybe a little more, per trip. After next tax season, I'll be getting the trailer, splitter and either a MS460 or 660. Probably the 660 since it is only about $50 more. Also plan on buying a John Deere 3720 because we have a lot of digging to do around here (e.g., french drains, drywells, retaining walls, the asphalt driveway to replace it with pavers). Figure I can use the trailer to haul the tractor around too since my brothers and my dad are already setting up chores for it once I get it. I also want to trailer cars when they break down. The alternator in my Taurus went up in January and my wife ran the battery down to nothing trying to get home from work at night. It would have been nice to have a trailer that can haul a car and a winch to hook up to the trailer to pull the car up. Heck, in the condition it was in, we could have just driven it up on the trailer. Instead, we did it the hard way. Used a couple fully charged batteries the following morning to get it home. A year before that, the back flush T cracked. Luckily, I was on the phone with my wife and I mentioned doing an oil change on the truck and she said "This morning when I got to work, there was white smoke coming out from the hood." I asked her where the temp gauge was. "Oh, by the H." I asked how close to the H. "Oh, past it." I remained calm and said "Where are you?" She answered. I replied with, "Take the next exit ramp, park in the shopping center, and shut the car down immediately." I had no idea what the problem was, so I took 30 gallons of water with me in the truck. When I got there, I figured out the problem and we got home the hard way.

 

[fabsroman]

So, after only 2 months of heating oil bills in the new house, I am getting ready to buy a bunch of stuff for burning (Yukon Eagle II Polar furnace), cutting (Stihl MS 250), splitting (Huskee 22 ton), and hauling (16’x7’ trailer) wood. Problem is, I am stuck trying to figure out how to store it. Dad always stored it outside for the most part, but he never had more than a cord or two on hand. On top of that, it wasn’t really stored in an open area with a lot of sunlight.

Seems like you're willing to spend a ton of money to cut down on your heating bill. How many years you figure it will take to amortize all that new equipment vs the oil bill? Just curious.
For only four cords a year, you could save yourself $1500 or so and forgo the trailer since you already have a big pickup truck. It'll take a few extra trips versus a trailer. With an F-350, weight won't ever be a problem so you could build yourself some stake walls for the pick up and save a ton of money while you tote at least half a cord each trip. With the money saved on the trailer I suggest bumping up your saw to a MS 390/391... 361/362. At least a 290. Lot more saw than the 250. But yes, stick with Stihl! Someone tight on money might have to only dream about a splitter and either do it by hand or rent one once a year. If you have the bucks, owning your own splitter is great and the Huskee 22 should be perfect for your needs.

I store everything outside. I stack on pallets back in the edge of my woods. Not real sunny back there though it gets pretty good sun in mid to late afternoon. But it's nearly always windy back there, catching winds from the south and west, which are our prevailing winds. I never, ever cover it but I don't worry too much about snow here. I can't foresee ever building, or needing, a woodshed. It gets pretty cold here for a relatively short period. We may see several nights in the teens. Lots of nights in the 20s. I usually burn only when the overnight low is below 40. Rarely have the need to maintain the fire during the day time. We kind of like the house on the cooler side after our brutal summers.

In burning season I keep about a quarter cord under the eaves of the detached garage and I bring up three or four nights worth of splits and stack them on our big covered front porch. If the wood out in the stacks gets wet from a winter rain, it will easily dry after a day or so on the porch. I only bring into the house enough to fill the stove twice. When I fill the stove for the overnight burn, I bring in another armload or two in case I get up in the middle of the night and want to top off the stove.

Good luck and Welcome to the board. Stay in touch and keep us updated on what your buying, how your cutting and stacking is going, etc.

I wanted to address that question of yours, but ran out of characters. LOL

Anyway, I prefer to buy good equipment that will last a long time. I also prefer to go a little bigger than what I think I will need because I have found myself buying what I thought I needed before and then it fell short. An example is a 33 gallon compressor that I bought when I was 18. Great deal, but it couldn't keep up to the cut off wheel that I bought later on. Gave the old compressor to my dad 7 years ago and bought a 2stage, 7hp, 60 gallon oiless compressor and it has yet to run out of air on me. Bought my truck when I first met my wife and she asked me "Are you sure you know what you are doing?" She hardly knew me back then. Well, she was really happy we had the truck in February 2010 when we got 4 feet of snow and she had to get to work. I was the only one in the development that made it out. Used it a lot to remodel the townhouse we we had bought, with the biggest load probably being 3 pallets of hardwood with one in the bed and two in my brother's trailer. Probably could have gone with an F250, but the F350 was only a grand more.

Anyway, to answer your question.

Stihl MS250 C/B/E - $349
22 Ton Huskee - $2,000
Wood burning furnace - $3,000 (Taking into account the difference between what we would have to pay to replace the current system with a similar oil burning system)
Stihl MS660 - $1,044
16' x 7' Trailer - $3,000 (but some of the cost will be recouped in not needing a tow truck, trailering the tractor, and just plain making life easier)
Lumber for stacks - $1,000

So, that totals $10,400, rounding up to the nearest hundred.
We used 100 gallons of heating oil in 3 weeks from February 14th this year. That cost around $400 and initially we set the thermostat at 68, and then for the third week at 62 after I measured what was left in the tank. It wasn't even that cold out. In talking to my clients that use oil heat, their bills were around $3,000 for the year. Let's assume that I save $2,500 a year in heating costs. That should take a little over 4 heating seasons to recoup my money.

We are hoping to be here another 30 years and the furnace has a 30 year warranty. Assuming heating oil, electricity, and natural gas remain steady in price, I think we should make out pretty good in the long run.

A couple other things that I forgot in the calculation was diesel to go to the farms, gas for the saws and spliiter, an electric chain sharpener for around $100, new chains, oil, etc. I still think we will make out alright.

Plus, if I get the farm I want, I'll probably need this stuff anyway. One thing my wife has learned, and my in-laws are learning, is that when I decide to buy tools, I already know that they are going to pay for themselves and allow me to do the job right. Now, my wife thinks the truck purchase was a wise one. She balked a little at the suggestion of buying a $25,000 tractor and even volunteered to help shovel the driveway. It only took 5 inches of snow to change that decision. We had been out shoveling for an hour and got to the last 15 feet. My neighbor came over with his tractor with a rear blade and front end loader. Said he would have done the entire driveway if we had waited. Had to get her to work, so we couldn't have waited. He offered to clear the last 15 feet and I accepted. It took him 10 seconds, maybe a little more. My wife turned to me and said "You can buy any size tractor you want." After getting the estimate to install exterior french drains around the house, she is even more agreeable about the tractor.

 

[Kenster]

I salute you for you research and well thought out long term plan. Looks like you have it figured out and have the checkbook to cover it.
By the way. No Huskee 22 ton is going to cost you $2000. Maybe $1200 at most, though they are often on sale for a grand. Like right now.
My $3000 1952 Ford 8N tractor could easily back blade snow off the driveway... if we ever had snow in this part of the world. It has plowed up my land, dug holes and leveled driveways. Does a great job of pulling logs out of the woods, and of course pulls a bush hog over our seven acre meadow, and a finish mower over the two acres around the house. Love that thing! It was born the same year I was.
My wife drove Tauruses for years. I think she had four of them. Never had any problems with them. Good car.
MS 660 is a monster saw. Stay away from the giant Sequoias. I have a MS 390 with a muffler mod and a wee 16 inch bar that zips through all the oak and hickory I can feed it. Just did an oak that was 27 inch diameter. No problem at all. Not likely to find any tree around here bigger than a 16 inch bar can handle.
I'd love to have a splitter and the Huskee 22 is at the top of my list. Just can't justify buying one right now.

Thanks for the intro. I hope you survive the summer with A/C. We haven't turned on our heaters in three years, thanks to our wood stove, but we could not live in South Central Texas without A/C.
Cheers!

 

[fabsroman]

I salute you for you research and well thought out long term plan. Looks like you have it figured out and have the checkbook to cover it.
By the way. No Huskee 22 ton is going to cost you $2000. Maybe $1200 at most, though they are often on sale for a grand. Like right now.
My $3000 1952 Ford 8N tractor could easily back blade snow off the driveway... if we ever had snow in this part of the world. It has plowed up my land, dug holes and leveled driveways. Does a great job of pulling logs out of the woods, and of course pulls a bush hog over our seven acre meadow, and a finish mower over the two acres around the house. Love that thing! It was born the same year I was.
My wife drove Tauruses for years. I think she had four of them. Never had any problems with them. Good car.
MS 660 is a monster saw. Stay away from the giant Sequoias. I have a MS 390 with a muffler mod and a wee 16 inch bar that zips through all the oak and hickory I can feed it. Just did an oak that was 27 inch diameter. No problem at all. Not likely to find any tree around here bigger than a 16 inch bar can handle.
I'd love to have a splitter and the Huskee 22 is at the top of my list. Just can't justify buying one right now.

Thanks for the intro. I hope you survive the summer with A/C. We haven't turned on our heaters in three years, thanks to our wood stove, but we could not live in South Central Texas without A/C.
Cheers!

LOL - I thought I had seen it for $999 in the local Tractor Supply add. I even used $1,000 at first when I did the calc, and then thought my dad paid $1,000 for his 12 ton 14 years ago so the 22 ton must cost $2,000. Maybe my dad paid $600. Anyway, I went back and changed the amount to $2,000 just to be on the safe side.

It is supposed to hit the mid 90's here this week. We are probably going to buy a $300 portable AC unit until we get this furnace/AC fixed. We can e-bay it or Craigslist it next summer and recover some of the cost, or crank up the thermostat for the house next summer and use the portable AC to cool the room we use the most. See, I am CHEAP.

I wish Ford was still making tractors. Every vehicle I have ever owned is a Ford and I am still driving all of them. 1989 Mustang GT, 1998 Ford Taurus, 2003 Ford F350, and 2010 Ford Focus. I'm never getting rid of the Mustang and the truck should last me another 20 years. Went to a dealer about a month ago. It is a long story. Looked at the sticker price on a new F350 Lariat diesel crew cab like mine and it was $62,000. I almost had a heart attack. I'm getting ready to wash and wax mine because it HAS to last another 20 years. When I started looking at tractors, I looked at New Holland, which is what Ford is now. Just cannot get my head around their tractors. Probably going to buy a used John Deere 3720 open station if I can get a deal on it. Otherwise, I'll get a new one. I'm getting the backhoe with it too and hope to be using it to dig some pit blinds on the farms I hunt. Just another reason for a trailer. LOL

I have my doubts about the 660. Got to handle a 460 at the dealership, and it seemed like plenty of saw with the 25" bar on it. It should be able to handle almost anything around here. Just checked the price quotes sitting in front of me for the two saws and the difference is $117. I'll probably go with the 460 so when I screw up it will only cut 3/4's of a leg off instead of both legs. I'm going to get the protective head gear and jeans just in case, but treat all tools with the respect they deserve. As my dad has always said, tools and machines do not forgive. One of the farm owners I know just cut down an oak that was 48" at the trunk. What a nightmare, but that is a lot of wood. Still, the 460 should be able to handle that no problem.

I learned early on in life that good equipment has a ton of benefits. For instance, my dad had 2 McCulloch saws while I was growing up. I swear we spent more time trying to get those saws started than we did cutting wood. However, my dad is also notoriously hard on equipment and vehicles. Anyway, the larger of the 2 saws was struggling to fell a tree and some guys were across the street with a Stihl. They came over, started the saw right up and dropped the tree in no time. I was impressed.

I wanted to tell you the vehicle lift story in the last response, but ran out of characters in that one too. LOL Anyway, I mentioned getting a vehicle lift for $3,000 in my father in-laws presence. That was about a year ago and he was shocked at the price. When we went down there last month, I did a repair to his Sonata that his shop qouted him $700, give or take $200. Essentially, any gas pump he went to shut off after putting .1 gallon in the tank. Turned out to be the evap canister leaking the charcoal into the pipe for the gas tank vent. The part was a dealer only part for $200. I did the repair in 30 minutes, but had to crawl under the car on a crappy blanket with crappy tools. He mentioned that having a lift would have made it a lot easier. Had to crawl under my truck to deal with the water separator too while we were down there. That was the reason for the trip to the Ford dealer to get a $20 part and the near heart attack upon seeing the sticker on the F350. What a PITA that was, but the shop my in-laws recommended was run by a bunch of morons that I didn't trust with my truck. After saving my in-laws $500 to $700, I have received a lot of thank yous. I've also done a couple of rotor/brake jobs for them. Do I need a lift. Not for most repairs. However, it makes them a lot easier on me and some repairs are almost impossible without one. My wife didn't bat an eye on the suggestion of putting a lift in for $3,000. She knows how much I have saved us on auto maintenance and repairs. My in-laws think it is a good idea now too. As I get older, crouching down gets older and older too.

Thanks for the advice and the replies. One thing I love about chatboards is finding people to talk to about the things I really enjoy.

 

[weatherguy]

Plus, if I get the farm I want, I’ll probably need this stuff anyway. One thing my wife has learned, and my in-laws are learning, is that when I decide to buy tools, I already know that they are going to pay for themselves and allow me to do the job right. Now, my wife thinks the truck purchase was a wise one. She balked a little at the suggestion of buying a $25,000 tractor and even volunteered to help shovel the driveway. It only took 5 inches of snow to change that decision. We had been out shoveling for an hour and got to the last 15 feet. My neighbor came over with his tractor with a rear blade and front end loader. Said he would have done the entire driveway if we had waited. Had to get her to work, so we couldn’t have waited. He offered to clear the last 15 feet and I accepted. It took him 10 seconds, maybe a little more. My wife turned to me and said “You can buy any size tractor you want.†After getting the estimate to install exterior french drains around the house, she is even more agreeable about the tractor.

That made me laugh, my wife was giving me a hard time about wanting to purchase a snowblower until she helped me shovel 6 inches of heavy wet cement, I had the snowblower a week later.

 

[fabsroman]

Plus, if I get the farm I want, I’ll probably need this stuff anyway. One thing my wife has learned, and my in-laws are learning, is that when I decide to buy tools, I already know that they are going to pay for themselves and allow me to do the job right. Now, my wife thinks the truck purchase was a wise one. She balked a little at the suggestion of buying a $25,000 tractor and even volunteered to help shovel the driveway. It only took 5 inches of snow to change that decision. We had been out shoveling for an hour and got to the last 15 feet. My neighbor came over with his tractor with a rear blade and front end loader. Said he would have done the entire driveway if we had waited. Had to get her to work, so we couldn’t have waited. He offered to clear the last 15 feet and I accepted. It took him 10 seconds, maybe a little more. My wife turned to me and said “You can buy any size tractor you want.†After getting the estimate to install exterior french drains around the house, she is even more agreeable about the tractor.

That made me laugh, my wife was giving me a hard time about wanting to purchase a snowblower until she helped me shovel 6 inches of heavy wet cement, I had the snowblower a week later.

Yeah, a couple days before we were supposed to settle , I came out here and shoveled the driveway so we could put the u-haul trucks in it the night before settlement. Sold the townhouse and bought this place the same day, so we emptied out the townhouse the night before and drove the u-hauls over here. It took me 90 minutes to shovel it and get all the ice up that day prior to closing. My wife couldn't believe it took 90 minutes, and she was still willing to help shovel. I was hoping that we wouldn't get any more snow for the year, but we got one last bit. The day before the snow storm, I was at Home Depot and saw a snow blower for $500. She responded that she would rather save that $500 for a tractor if we were going to go that route. After shoveling the snow the next morning, she thoroughly believed the 90 minute job a week or two before and I am willing to bet she wished we had a snow blower that morning.

I think she and I have learned some pretty good lessons in the 8 years we have been together. I don't ask why she needs kitchen appliances and other household stuff and she doesn't ask why I need certain tools.

 

[firefighterjake]

Inside and outside . . . here's what I do . . . it may or may not work for you.

Inside: I bring a day's worth of firewood inside and it goes into my woodbox beside the woodstove. It means my wife never has to go outside in the freezing cold or snow to get wood to reload the stove. Plus the woodbox gives me a convenient place to hang my tools, gloves, etc.

I also store a little more than a week's worth of wood on my covered porch . . . I guess technically it is outside, but the porch is covered and I put up plastic to keep snow off the wood. I find loading up the porch every week takes a bit of time, but it is easier for me to get the wood off the porch than to make the trek out to the woodshed every day . . .

Outside: Wood is stored in a woodshed which technically holds two years worth of firewood. I burn the older wood first . . . so it has in effect been under cover for at least a year prior . . . and this doesn't count the 8-12 months spent seasoning outside in a stack.