Drying Wood in the Basement.....Worth It???

[BurnIt13]

So my wood for this season is not the dryest. It varies between 20-26% depending on the thickness of the split. I've started numerous threads and recieved lots of helpfull advice. One bit of advice was to bring some of the wood indoors. Normally I laugh when I read threads about people cutting down wood in the summer and stacking the green wood in thier basement, then wondering why they have black mold from outer space in thier basement.

Well I decided that since it is getting colder, I would give it a shot.....

I brought about a cord of the wood into my basement. I have three fans constantly blowing air at the pile and a dehumidifier running 24/7 (it would be running anyways). The temps are in the upper 50's.

Would this be better than having it stacked covered outdoors? The place where I would stack it doesn't see much airflow but it does see full sun most of the day. The only real difference is airflow and temperature. The basement will be consistant where outdoors will vary significantly.

What do you think? I'm not trying to work miracles with the wood....just help it drop a few percentage points over the next month or so.

 

[wrxtance]

I have been drying wood in my basement for 3 weeks using a decent dehumidifier. Its set to keep the humidity down there at about 45% - temp is about 60 degrees. In the 3 weeks, the wood has gone from a bit of a pain to burn and not establishing good temps to actually burning quite well and getting good temps. The drop in outside temp is increasing my draft too so its not ALL the fact that the wood is drier but I would say...

YES, its worth drying wood in your basement if you are in a "situation".

I have a 10' long x 5' tall wood rack in the basement that is split in half (two 5x5 racks effectively). I plan to swap between a burn half and a dry half during the winter to give each new load 2-4 weeks to dry.

 

[pen]

Sure it will work but I don't recommend it. I've brought ash in the house that was split early in the spring just to find THOUSANDS of harmless but nuisance beetles come out of it. Here is a pic of one piece of wood. I was cleaning 1/4 inch of dead bugs out of each of my downstairs windows for 3 weeks straight. Did this year after year w/out a problem, then, I got bit. Other times I had what was well seasoned wood and ended up fighting ants for several weeks.

This piece of wood looks great right? Cut in January and seasoned about 8 months outdoors. Tree was perfectly healthy. Problem is, the bugs that infested this piece of wood only attack it right after it is cut, and feed on it until the layer between the outer bark and inner bark dries out

Here's the other side of that wood. Every where it looks like a shotgun bb hit it, is the exit for 1 beetle. Multiply that by the entire split, then by how many pieces you have in the stack and you can see where the problem comes from.

It's not worth it in my opinion. I'd buy envi bricks and supplement my less than ideal wood first.

However, 20-25% wood might surprise you in how well it burns.

pen

 

[Joey]

+1 what Pen says. The unknown critters that will come out when they warm up,,,may not be the best thing. But it can be done.

 

[maple1]

You should find some decent info & lots of reading from not that long ago by searching 'basement wood', or 'basement storage', or even just 'basement'.

My vote is still 'yes'.

 

[Battenkiller]

Having done this for 21 years in this place and 4 years in the last place, I have to say the only critters I've ever seen were a few ant-infested splits and the occasional yellow jacket. The ants always stayed within the pile (stacked away from all interior wooden surfaces). Even when disturbed, the ants just scurry deeper into the pile. It's damper there than anyplace else in the basement. Last year I got about a half a dozen white-spotted sawyers in the house, but it turns out they were in some old pine I brought in to practice carving with my electric saw.

It's always possible that I'll get a huge mess of ash beetles or something of the sort someday, but the odds are not in favor of it. I'm more worried about the stuff that sat in a stack outdoors a season or two than I am about wood cut in the fall or winter and then brought inside to dry. Most folks bring at least several days worth of seasoned wood inside during the coldest weather. The same accidents can occur then.

 

[BurnIt13]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I sprayed that Ortho Home Defense stuff all over the wood just in case, its supposed to kill just about every bug out there. No sightings yet. It is intended for use indoors so It shouldn't pose a problem.

We are a bit short on cash and the only 100% known to be seasoned "dealer" wood wants $350 for a cord! Yes $350! It is 100% oak and has been split for 3 years. So I'm going to get the fires good and hot with some pallet wood and then fire up the 20-25% moisture oak.

My Englander 30 doesn't like to get started from cold easily even with top-down fires or Super Cedars. Once the fire is good and hot I could throw anything on it and it would burn just fine.

 

[ikessky]

If you are in a financial pinch, then I guess I would risk it. Make sure you keep an eye on chimney deposits and that any critters in your house are harmless (no termites or powder post beetles). 20-25% isn't too bad though. I think where most people get into trouble is when they bring fresh, green wood into their homes. The first year that I burned, I had some pretty green wood that I stacked in the basement. It was in the same room as my wood furnace, so it eventually dried out, but no where near ideal. Now I am able to stay one to two years ahead and my fresh wood is all stored about 10 miles from my house (on my in-laws' land where I cut it). It is split and stacked on a hill and only moved home when I'm ready to burn. Periodically, I have sprinkled some diazanon around and between my rows. I get some bugs in the house still, but nothing too bad.

 

[Gasifier]

If you could get some stuff that is dry to mix with the wood you have you would not have to bring it in the basement. Palletts or scrap wood from a lumber yard they are not going to use. Sometimes you can find free lumber that someone is trying to get rid of on craigslist or through word of mouth. Hardwood flooring contractors are another source if they don't use the scraps themselves. Know anyone that does floors?

If you can mix a little of any type of lumber like that with the wood you have it will help. Even a 20% mix of anything that was kiln dried at one time will really help. Good luck man and keep us posted on your burning success! Have a good one.

 

[oldspark]

So my wood for this season is not the dryest. It varies between 20-26% depending on the thickness of the split. I've started numerous threads and recieved lots of helpfull advice. One bit of advice was to bring some of the wood indoors. Normally I laugh when I read threads about people cutting down wood in the summer and stacking the green wood in thier basement, then wondering why they have black mold from outer space in thier basement.

Well I decided that since it is getting colder, I would give it a shot.....

I brought about a cord of the wood into my basement. I have three fans constantly blowing air at the pile and a dehumidifier running 24/7 (it would be running anyways). The temps are in the upper 50's.

Would this be better than having it stacked covered outdoors? The place where I would stack it doesn't see much airflow but it does see full sun most of the day. The only real difference is airflow and temperature. The basement will be consistant where outdoors will vary significantly.

What do you think? I'm not trying to work miracles with the wood....just help it drop a few percentage points over the next month or so.

So how does it burn now, 20% is perfect.

 

[CTYank]

I prefer a kind of middle-ground. Keeping a week's worth or so stacked near the stove, starting with the first couple of fires of the season.
Doesn't take long to get the MC down to where it's unmeasurable. Burns really great then, much better than when "wet" at 20%. IMO.

 

[mayhem]

I put my first 3 cords right in the basement and it does a decent job of drying because the air is so incredibly dry. When I make my stacking area each year I clean all the bits of debris out from under it all and lay out a few packages worth of those bug killer traps. When I make each stack I give it a good dousing with the indoor-rated bug killer spray and then move to the next stack. To date I have not experienced any issues.

To be fair I could just be lucky or my preventative measures might be bearing fruit...no real way to know.