does wood dry and season in a gaurage
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Not as well as in a well-ventilated shed.
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Drying wood in the garage
I tried something out this summer with great success and thought I'd post the results in case anyone else has a similar setup they can take advantage of. We have a very large attached 2 car garage that is completely un-insulated/unfinished. It gets hot as hell in there in the summer. Not an...
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hickoryhoarder
Minister of Fire
XmasTreefarmer
Feeling the Heat
I'm going to say, No, not much. If my response seems a bit hesitant it is, because I still don't feel like I fully understand why this did not work. 
But I am so sure that my attempt to season wood in the garage was a failure, that I never tried it again.
Several years ago I had some "almost" dry wood that I put in the garage in Spring to finish seasoning. Wow, I thought that I was being so smart - I would be ahead of the game - ready to start to draw off of that pile as soon as I started to burn in Fall and it freed up some of my stacking area. I also thought that I'd have some really fine wood: covered all Summer - no rain getting on it, and it gets hot in my garage. The sun hits the roof for several hours each day and it is often 90 - 100 degrees in there. It does have ventilated soffits and a ridge vent, so there is good air flow in there. Sounds just perfect doesn't it?
Well, that wood seemed the same in October as when I put it in in May.
This was before I was using a moisture meter - I wish I had one at that time and had taken some readings in May and then again in October. It would have been nice to quantify how much it did or did not dry. My lesson here was that some sun, but maybe more importantly wind, going through the wood is the key to drying. I thought the heat, not getting rained on, and the good ventilation was going to really work, but it didn't.
Now I season all of my wood up on timbers, in an open area with sun and wind, and covered. Covered from Day 1. I know some guys like to leave it uncovered for the first year, but I've gotten great results with a good drying location and having it covered.
But I am so sure that my attempt to season wood in the garage was a failure, that I never tried it again.Several years ago I had some "almost" dry wood that I put in the garage in Spring to finish seasoning. Wow, I thought that I was being so smart - I would be ahead of the game - ready to start to draw off of that pile as soon as I started to burn in Fall and it freed up some of my stacking area. I also thought that I'd have some really fine wood: covered all Summer - no rain getting on it, and it gets hot in my garage. The sun hits the roof for several hours each day and it is often 90 - 100 degrees in there. It does have ventilated soffits and a ridge vent, so there is good air flow in there. Sounds just perfect doesn't it?
Well, that wood seemed the same in October as when I put it in in May.
This was before I was using a moisture meter - I wish I had one at that time and had taken some readings in May and then again in October. It would have been nice to quantify how much it did or did not dry. My lesson here was that some sun, but maybe more importantly wind, going through the wood is the key to drying. I thought the heat, not getting rained on, and the good ventilation was going to really work, but it didn't.Now I season all of my wood up on timbers, in an open area with sun and wind, and covered. Covered from Day 1. I know some guys like to leave it uncovered for the first year, but I've gotten great results with a good drying location and having it covered.
It sure does in mine! I have a detached double car garage out back and it gets like a freaking kiln in there in the Summer, hot and very DRY, I always say that it'll suck the moisture out of me if I stay in there long enough! I open the big door and little door and sometimes the windows just so airflow goes through it but it is the dry heat that does it for me.
You'll just have to try it and find out for yourself, these others didn't have good luck with it but for some lucky reason I surely do
You'll just have to try it and find out for yourself, these others didn't have good luck with it but for some lucky reason I surely do
XmasTreefarmer
Feeling the Heat
Woodsman,
Good advice to have the OP just give it a try. I kept the overhead door and the windows shut ... that's the only difference that I see between your success and my failure. You had a lot more air flow than I did. Hmmmm, dry, hot, and air flow ... sure sounds like a good combination!!
Good advice to have the OP just give it a try. I kept the overhead door and the windows shut ... that's the only difference that I see between your success and my failure. You had a lot more air flow than I did. Hmmmm, dry, hot, and air flow ... sure sounds like a good combination!!
Well it was closed I'd say 95% of the time but it certainly isn't airtight! I don't know when it was built but we've been in the house 30 years so it's older than that. Its BIG too, has a second "floor" and one of those pull down ladders to get up there, and man if you think the garage part gets hot just go upstairs during the afternoon on a hot Summer day, you'd pass out it's like an oven! Wood would season in weeks if I could put it up there for sure! But the garage part is big, I think it is a 22' garage door, I fit my Bronco and the wife's Rav 4 in there and there is room to spare, so it might be larger than what you have? But it works like a charm, there are times in the Summer when I'll walk down the 3 steps in there and try to do something, look at the temperature on the wall and end up not staying very long, it gets really hot in there and works quite well!!
XmasTreefarmer
Feeling the Heat
Well now you have my curiosity up! I've been meaning to do a test and now I have a really good reason. This Spring, I'll take a few small rounds - maybe 8" in diameter. I'll split those in half and label them, something like 1a and 1b, 2a and 2 b, and so on. I'll take a moisture reading on all of them and record that. The halves of the same round should match at the start Then I'll set all of the "a's" in the garage for the Summer and stack the "b's" outside in one of my drying areas - they will be under cover. Then come Fall I'll test 'em all again and we'll see how they compare.
I think I'll do all Red Oak, but might throw some Poplar or Pine into the mix.
I think I'll do all Red Oak, but might throw some Poplar or Pine into the mix.
To make it real world do 100 splits for inside and 100 splits for outside
If I were a betting man I would go with the inside splits to be dryer
If I were a betting man I would go with the inside splits to be dryer
XmasTreefarmer
Feeling the Heat
You are really putting me to work!
I might compromise with doing 10. And having tried this in my garage before, I'm going to bet on the outside splits.
My wood dries right out but my garage is an attached uninsulated 28 x 34, not sure if being uninsulated makes a difference.
XmasTreefarmer
Feeling the Heat
Johneh - This will be fun. Around the first of May I'll let you know that I've got my test going and then we can compare notes around October.
Woody5506
Minister of Fire
Normally I'd say no, it doesn't season in a garage but after this past summer I'm not so sure now. I had 10-15 large splits of ash leftover from last year that weren't all that ready to be burned at that point anyway. Fast forward to this fall, after it sat in my garage all summer the moisture reading was 14-16% on a fresh split. If those were accurate readings then that stuff in the garage dried out better than everything else outside.
Wood1Dennis
Burning Hunk
Have you folks ever thought about putting a dehumidifier in the garage to see it that helps?
I don't keep fire wood in the garage, but I do stack my entire season's requirement in the basement. It is well seasoned when I put it in, seasoned on double stacks that are top covered for at lease a couple of months. But it is always a little damp where the rain gets at the ends, or maybe just due to general damp weather like we had this fall. For the first couple of months in the fall after I bring it in I run a dehumidifier and it pulls a lot of that moisture out. By the time I am am really into the heating season, and the furnace is going full time I don't need to dehumidify any more, in a garage you might want to run it longer.
I don't keep fire wood in the garage, but I do stack my entire season's requirement in the basement. It is well seasoned when I put it in, seasoned on double stacks that are top covered for at lease a couple of months. But it is always a little damp where the rain gets at the ends, or maybe just due to general damp weather like we had this fall. For the first couple of months in the fall after I bring it in I run a dehumidifier and it pulls a lot of that moisture out. By the time I am am really into the heating season, and the furnace is going full time I don't need to dehumidify any more, in a garage you might want to run it longer.
What kind of garage ?
A modern recent built air sealed, insulated and drywalled garage ? Could take a while.
Grizzerbear
Minister of Fire
Unless you dont have room in the yard or you are storing wood that is already seasoned and on the mound to be burned.....i cant see cluttering a garage with wood that seasons really well outdoors just stacked off the ground and top covered....probably better.
