Here is why I Do Not Recommend seasoning wood indoors.

[pen]

There is no denying the fact that putting wood into a warm / dry environment will speed up its drying time.

However, here is an example of why I do not suggest doing this in one's home or basement.

This was a perfect ash tree that I dropped Jan of 2010 to widen a roadway at a buddies cabin. This tree was completely healthy w/ no rot. The tree was cut into rounds, and stacked where it sat until Aug when I split, then stacked it again. I just moved the wood pile (yes, stacked again) it was in the other day and decided to take a picture of one of the splits.

Bark borers (these were not the emerald ash kind but bark borers none the less) attack this species of wood as soon as it is cut and begin feasting. Later on these little buggers emerge and there are a lot of them. Since this wood was outside no-harm-no-foul. However, if this wood were in the basement you'd have 100,000's of these covering every window sill and light bulb in the house (don't ask me how I know :shut: ).

These are common with ash in my area and do not hurt the live tree nor will they feast upon any dried wood on your home. All in all they are a nuisance, and a damn good one at that. There are so many that came out of just this one split that it would almost appear that I shot it w/ a shot gun. Now, multiply that by a facecord or cord or whatever huge amount that is stored in a basement and I hope you have a good shop vac that you enjoy using.

Point is, unseasoned firewood = food source to many things. Let the drying happen outside and you greatly reduce your risk of having an infestation of any kind in your home as a result of the firewood.

pen

 

[skyline]

Part of the fun of this forum is learning what "seasoned" folks do in other parts of the country, some techniques work well most everywhere and some not so much. I'm hoping to build the warmer, drier greenhouse type of wood shed since our NW climate really slows drying for more than half the year and I think the green house will speed up drying significantly plus I can get farther ahead if I'm not having to move my wood from seasoning stack to storage stack. I'm with you about not wanting extra critters in my house, I don't have room inside anyway, and besides the occasional yellow jack we don't have too much problem in the way of pests around here.

As a side note, my father-in-law has a dedicated wood room in his house where he can store 8 cords next to his wood burning furnace. Every piece of wood I measured that had been in there for 2 months measured 0% on the moisture meter. That doesn't mean it was 0% throughout the split but plenty dry enough to burn. And once he splits his wood and throws it in his room, he only has to stack it once. That's what I'm shooting for.

 

[billb3]

Those buggers are supposedly why the joists in my basement are all tarred.

 

[NH_Wood]

Wonder if you have powder post beetle larvae Pen - I had 4 cord of white ash or so for this current season that was simply LOADED with the holes and powder - quite a mess - your holes seem a little larger though. Cheers!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Ya, I do not think that is from the PPB as you say, the holes are too big and there is not the typical sawdust pile by the holes.


Thanks for posting that Pen and I could not agree with you more. It also is the reason I don't want wood stored in my house. If the wood comes in the house, it should go right into the stove.

 

[pen]

remember, I carried this in from outside. There was very fine saw dust all over but not once it was ready to pose after being thrown around.

I had the beetle identified a few years back and it wasn't the powder post, damn if i can remember the name now for sure but I think they were called "shot hole borers"

But really, the species is only a problem after the fact when you are investigating to see if it will be eating your home and furniture. This particular one wouldn't eat anything in the house.

pen

 

[remkel]

I still have a row in my basement (mostly oak) from this winter. Guess I will be lugging it back outside where it will have to wait out it's execution date.

 

[billb3]

If you had bugs to worry about in the wood, you'd likely find hundreds of dead ones on the cellar windows from trying to get out.
The termites seem to send the winged army out ( next generation fly away to new nests) aroundabout May here. Sometimes I'll see the stream pour out of the ground from a old pine tree root. They can attract hungry birds. Must be tasty.

 

[ruserious2008]

As a real estate agent I hear home inspectors rant about this if they see wood inside or even close to a building. I remember one home where the owner had this huge basement with 12 ft ceilings-walk out style- and he had a wood boiler in that basement. He stored 4-5 cords of wood in there and when I listed the house told him a home inspector might red flag that but being the old timer that he was he said pfft been doing this all my life
Well long story/short buyers moved in before closing on a rental agreement, tore up the floor above where the wood was stored to install hardwood floors and ta da! Termites! Big time. They were not visible from the basement so the home inspector did not find them but they had eaten sub flooring and most of an 16 ft section of 2x6 wall and the sills below it. Many dollars later........is the moral of the story.

 

[tfdchief]

I find that these borers, and I am sure there are several different species doing it, love hickory and locust. Unfortunately, I have both right now and they really make a mess. They haven't touched the ash in the stack, so what I have must be different. One year I thought about spraying my stacks to try to stop them, and then decided that was a bad idea, since eventually I would burn the insecticide and send it up the chimney.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

As a real estate agent I hear home inspectors rant about this if they see wood inside or even close to a building. I remember one home where the owner had this huge basement with 12 ft ceilings-walk out style- and he had a wood boiler in that basement. He stored 4-5 cords of wood in there and when I listed the house told him a home inspector might red flag that but being the old timer that he was he said pfft been doing this all my life
Well long story/short buyers moved in before closing on a rental agreement, tore up the floor above where the wood was stored to install hardwood floors and ta da! Termites! Big time. They were not visible from the basement so the home inspector did not find them but they had eaten sub flooring and most of an 16 ft section of 2x6 wall and the sills below it. Many dollars later........is the moral of the story.

Thanks for posting this. I really feel there are not enough folks that are concerned with such things. I just don't like seeing wood stored inside the house.

 

[CTburning]

I have something similiar in my Red and White Oaks. The weather was warm for a weekend and I started stacking firewood that sat split on the ground all winter. Those little buggers eat through the bark and inner bark and edge of the sapwood but leave the heartwood alone. They make a lot of dust but so far, no damage to the house. I store a couple of days of firewood next to the stove and last fall you could see them coming out of the bark. I swear you could also hear them making a shreaking noise as well.