First winter heating with wood.In need of advice

[BillGrieve]

So I cut 20 cords of wood not face cords in the spring and stacked it in my back yard for the summer. Around 2 weeks ago I moved it all into my basement. I bought a dehumidifier to control some of the moisture but now I’m seeing these little flys flying around my basement.. I was wondering what I should use or buy to kill these little buggers. Something that will keep them from coming back..I was thinking of some kind of bug bomb but don’t want to kill my family or pest that live upstairs in the house..thanks for any help

 

[Dataman]

Flypaper? Amazon product ASIN B07X9VXMKH

 

[bholler]

You put 20 full cords of about 6 month old wood in your basement? I hope you have lots of dehumidifiers.

 

[maple1]

As far as the flies go, I would get lots of fly paper as suggested above. Cheap. Just make sure you don't walk into one. Kind of curious what they are, haven't experienced that here.

I put my whole winters wood in my basement this time every year. But it's nowhere near 20 cords. Was 8 for a while, at max. Now more like 3-4. That's a lot of wood, yikes. You must have a huge house with not much insulation? You usually burn that much in a winter? That would be up there even for an old inefficient OWB.

I am not sure I would do that, with only a summer of drying on it. Chances are it's still fairly damp. But I do have friends who do that, and keep doing it every year. That's only with a few cords though.

 

[kyguylal]

How did you stuff 20 cords into your basement? I really need to see a picture of that. I can't even imagine. I guess you canadians take burning wood way more seriously than we do down here in New Hampshire.

Summer cut wood is going to be very wet.

 

[Bad LP]

You did what?? With sopping wet wood?? You can't be serious.

Flying insects are least of your problems.

 

[maple1]

I don't think we know it is sopping wet, that's a bit of a big assumption in calling someone out. If done right, it should be well below the sopping point - just maybe wouldn't be optimum yet. We also don't know species - some can get quite dry in a summer. Oak or hard maple, yes it should have another year of drying.

 

[peakbagger]

Its his first year burning and therefore he may not be aware of what he could improve on.

Wood cut this year is going to be wet. if he has an older style stove, it might burn but its going to go through a lot of wood as most of the energy in the wood is going to be used evaporating the water in it and sending it up the chimney. The large amount of water in the wood will also lower combustion temperatures so the wood will not burn efficiently and that is going to generate lots of creosote in the chimney and a very dirty exhaust. Since he is new at it that means checking the chimney frequently to see if it needs sweeping. It may come down to monthly sweeping. If he is paying someone, the cost to sweep may offset any savings for burning wood. A dehumidifier is going to help get rid of surface moisture but you need to remove tons of water not pounds. The cost to run multiple dehumidifiers is going to be steep and the reality is it really will not dry out the wood. The wet wood will also mean you need a lot more of it to get heat compared to dry wood.

Its likely unless he has an old house that is very drafty that mold is going to start to form deep in the piles and could form on cold surfaces. It could make people in the house sick. Insects are going to be ongoing battle as they tend to live in wet wood, once dry they pretty well clear out. Make sure you have smoke and CO detectors as chimneys sometimes plug up at night and gas out homeowners or more likely there is chimney fire and it takes the house with it.

The only real solution is move most of the wood out of the basement, get it stacked and covered well and find another source of heat for the winter. In theory the wood stacked should be ready for next winter The hassle and extra costs associated with burning wet wood is going to offset any possible savings this winter and if someone gets sick or there is a chimney fire its even worse. If there is desire to burn wood out of general principle, resplit a couple of cords very small (2" by 2"), leave the pieces with bark outdoors and re-pile the small mostly bark free wood in open stacks with plenty of air flow in the basement and find a nearby source of compressed sawdust blocks. My guess is he is looking at 10 tons of bricks if he truly thinks he needs 20 cord. The smaller splits will dry out far faster than the big stuff and it should cut way down on insects. Burning wood tends to suck cold dry air into the basement so moisture shouldn't be a major issue once the heating season cranks up. The goal is to use the compressed wood blocks for primary stove operation for a few months and then start supplementing the blocks with the somewhat dried small splits. As long as the stove is hot with a good bed of coals it can handle damp wood. The key is watch the stack temps and never put wood on the fire when the air damper is going to be closed down (no loading it full of splits at night).

The reality of it, is this winter will be a b**ch, if he can make through to spring he has a good start for the next winter which should be much better. Some folks just need to learn the hard way and others will take advise, we don't know what type of person the OP is but wish him the best of luck at the beginning of steep learning curve.

 

[maple1]

I didn't read it was year 1?

OK, well crap, there it is, right in the title - I guess I read right over that. I did see forum member since 2015, so was thinking not the first rodeo.

So yes, if year 1, and not experienced with getting wood as dry as you can as fast as you can - well, this is really going to be a trial by fire thing with some trouble potential. Hopefully things turn out OK.

 

[Bad LP]

I don't think we know it is sopping wet, that's a bit of a big assumption in calling someone out. If done right, it should be well below the sopping point - just maybe wouldn't be optimum yet. We also don't know species - some can get quite dry in a summer. Oak or hard maple, yes it should have another year of drying.

Agreed. I assumed it because of it being cut this past spring and it's his first year with a wood stove. 5-6 months is not a lot of time. 20 cords is a lot of wood.

If it is wet then condensation will be forming on his windows and mold spores could be soon following.

 

[maple1]

The first thing I would do right now is open all my basement windows, and keep them open until it gets too cold down there. Assuming and hoping there are windows to open, that is.

There was a time or two that I got hung out by the weather, and ended up putting in wood that had some surface wetness. A dehumidifier was essential, until it cooled off down there to the point it wasn't doing much anymore (unheated basement). I also set up a box fan on low to try to pull air thru the pile - box van in a window right now might be a good thing too. Along with a couple more just circulating around down there. If you can keep air moving around & thru the wood, some potential problems might be mitigated.

But holy moley, 20 cords. That's almost picture worthy.

 

[Bad LP]

The first thing I would do right now is open all my basement windows, and keep them open until it gets too cold down there. Assuming and hoping there are windows to open, that is.

There was a time or two that I got hung out by the weather, and ended up putting in wood that had some surface wetness. A dehumidifier was essential, until it cooled off down there to the point it wasn't doing much anymore (unheated basement). I also set up a box fan on low to try to pull air thru the pile - box van in a window right now might be a good thing too. Along with a couple more just circulating around down there. If you can keep air moving around & thru the wood, some potential problems might be mitigated.

But holy moley, 20 cords. That's almost picture worthy.

It's most definitely worth a picture. 2560 cubic feet of wood is a lot of wood by any home owners standards.

 

[ColdNH]

This cant be for real? 20 cords of wood in the basement? going to have a mold issue, a bug issue, a mouse issue and one hell of a fire hazard.

 

[spudman99]

Somehow I suspect you all scared off the OP .......

 

[MAD MARK]

Either that or in hospital with Emphysema already.

 

[xman23]

Get it out now!

 

[BillGrieve]

Thanks for all the replies..Yes this is the first winter burning wood I have a pellet furnace and a oil furnace in my house but I figure while I am only young I might as well cut my own wood for heat .. The trees were cut down two years ago and stacked in log form then begin in the summer I blocked it and split it and had it stacked outside drying now I have it in the basement it burns really hot not much moisture in it at all..I’m going to give the fly traps a try and yes it’s close to 20 cords but a cord I’m talking about is 8 feet long 4 feet high I have it stacked 7 feet high 16 feet long and I have 8 stacks in my basement..

 

[maple1]

If each stack is one split wide and your splits are 18" long, that is only around 10 full cords and not 20.

Which is just a bit more than what I did for a few years.

 

[BillGrieve]

 

[Sodbuster]

Looks great Bill, although I'd try to keep it outside as long as possible, the wind and sun, work miracles. I had an old garage that I converted to a woodshed. Being a noob, I filled it with fairly green hickory and closed the garage door. I had tons of mold problems, and now keep it outside, top covered, sides open with some tar-paper, it's cheap it works. Hold it down with bricks and saplings, the right size. If the edges of your wood get a little wet, it's not a problem, It'll dry quickly. Also try to avoid putting the bottom row, direct on the ground, saplings work nice for that too. Finally try arranging it so your wind goes through your logs.

For my wood shed I bought a 20x20 outdoor steel garage , that was erected in about 3 hrs. Iined the bottom with heavy duty landscape and crushed granite. That way I only have to move my wood twice, once to season it, and other to put the and keeps the wood clean and dry.

Oh and one more thing that people forget, make sure your wood is the optimal length for you stove, Noting like re sawing hundreds of pieces of wood, will help you to remember that.

 

[Mrpelletburner]

Will the tape on the stove pipe melt when you fire the stove up?

 

[Sodbuster]

Will the tape on the stove pipe melt when you fire the stove up?

I don't think you should leave that on their, it's generally only rated to 350 degrees, it will burn and smell. Try peeling it off and try some goof off.

 

[bholler]

It's foil tape it will just loose it's adhesion but it won't hurt anything

 

[Zack R]

Wow! I would have kept some of the logs and used them for a wood shed.

 

[Sodbuster]

It's foil tape it will just loose it's adhesion but it won't hurt anything

Only rated to 350 deg, it's not rated for that application.