How far from the house do you store your wood and why?

[Wisco Shepherd]

Heard lots of opinions on this, some folks like to keep it far away for fear of rodents, bugs, snakes and mess. Personally, my main stacks are on a south facing hill about 150 yards from the house. I haul about 10 days worth to the porch with my 4 wheeler and a wagon so I like the peace of mind of keeping stuff a ways from the house.

 

[Eman85]

My closest stack I can see from my back porch so it's 100 ft. or so away my other stacks are much further away. Plenty of bugs and snakes and other critters much closer to the house during the warm months. Wood doesn't come up to house until burning season and a wagon load at a time.

 

[bigealta]

Here in NJ the general suggestion is 10 ft or more from the house.

 

[johneh]

My wood is dried in the loft of my drive ahead and has been for 45 years with no bug damage
In October 4 to 5 cord is moved to my basement this year is year 46 no bugs or damage may be just dumb luck
Or maybe things and bugs are different in Eastern Ontario

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

My wood is dried in the loft of my drive ahead and has been for 45 years with no bug damage
In October 4 to 5 cord is moved to my basement this year is year 46 no bugs or damage may be just dumb luck
Or maybe things and bugs are different in Eastern Ontario

I have heard enough people with your story to think the risk is not excessive and that the only really risky thing is lots of uncovered wet wood leaning right against the house. If I had to I would do it your way and just keep an eye on things but we are lucky to have some acreage.

 

[BigJ273]

All the way out back. Away from any structure. Termites are real.

 

[johneh]

Termites are real.

Yes they are but here we don't have them frost goes way too deep for them to survive

 

[stoveliker]

As far as needed to make you not worry about bugs and sleep well ...

 

[Ctwoodtick]

My guess and observations over 10 or so yrs of burning is that the true risk from bugs is minimal. Not zero but less than one would figure. That said, best to keep the wood outdoors (under cover) until needed.

 

[bigealta]

The real problem is stacking next to wood siding. It will speed rotting the siding and sill plates by keeping them damp all the time.

 

[stoveliker]

both rotting the wall and the firewood (b/c less airflow)!

 

[JakeTheYounger]

My house and garage are concrete block construction from the 1970s. I stack wood on concrete blocks and old 2x4s on the south wall of the garage, and on pallets about 100’ from the house. My solar kiln is right off the back porch, but that spot will be the garden next summer after the wood gets used. The previous owner used to load a couple of cords though a coal chute into the basement each fall and never had a bug issue.

My parents keep wood 200 yards from the house in trailers made from old truck beds with caps on them. They pull them up to the porch in the winter.

I’m of the opinion that bug risk isn’t that great, especially with wood that’s only a few years old and is dry. I discard bug filled wood away from the house as I’m splitting,

 

[Piney]

Heard lots of opinions on this, some folks like to keep it far away for fear of rodents, bugs, snakes and mess. Personally, my main stacks are on a south facing hill about 150 yards from the house. I haul about 10 days worth to the porch with my 4 wheeler and a wagon so I like the peace of mind of keeping stuff a ways from the house.
View attachment 328392

10 cord 40ft from the back door (stacked next to 5 ton of pellets).
It’s cold here.
I have cats

 

[ScottLewis]

My woodshed is 50 feet from the house. Yesterday it was 90 degrees in the shade, and 102 degrees in the woodshed. There are no bugs in my woodshed.

 

[patrickk222]

I got like 4 different stacks 1 in my mudroom with open windows 1 on my concrete front porch those 2 are my closest 2 1 in a seperate rpom in my garage and the other in my garage about 65 ft away at most and the reason why i do it that way is cause 1 im a lil lazy and dont feel like walkin that far in the winter to get wood 2 imma bit broke off in my spine which kinda makes me revert back to my first reason and lastly kinda just makes sense to me to do things this way

 

[hickoryhoarder]

Not real far, though it's actually about as far as I can get from the house and still be in my yard.

Ours is stacked on the driveway, about 20 feet from the garage. It's on four x fours, pressure treated. I've never had any problems. Used to have a few in the bottom layer when it rested on the driveway, but never in the stacks. It's in the sun and wind.

My termite guy says no problem. It's all hardwood. Other bugs and carpenter ants I can watch for. If we get a piece of hickory that has some carpenter ants in the middle, I set it out by itself on the driveway in the sun. The birds eat the ants.

 

[Toasty-Yote]

Inside my garage. I may end up paying for it but I don't really have any other choices unless I make a giant eyesore for my neighbors. So far no issues but I am only in year 3.

 

[begreen]

Our shed is about 75 ft away from the house.

 

[bigealta]

Inside my garage. I may end up paying for it but I don't really have any other choices unless I make a giant eyesore for my neighbors. So far no issues but I am only in year 3.

I opted for multiple giant eyesores .

 

[Max W]

Our woodshed is close to 75 feet away as well but we have a half cord racked in our enclosed porch. At our last house we stored a third of cord on an open covered porch with the rest in a nearby, 40 feet away, woodshed. In those 24 years and before that we never had an insect problem until last year. Last year and this two different kinds of bark beetles invaded the woodshed. Fortunately neither pose a threat to the house or other structures. The aggravation is all of the fine dust from one species under the loosened bark.

 

[ctreitzell]

My covered wood store is a lean-to at the back of the house.
The walls are stone, 9 meters high. I already have a lot of woodworm damage to some areas of the oak framing.

Frankly, the bigger threat to my "house" is the rotten roof hip to my ruin; tie beams started falling in 2022 and last year I started demoing the roof. I hired a house building project manager (Maitre D'Ouvre in France) and she told me to stop work as my local gov't had changed law to say "no roof? = no building" which she thinks is completely unethical. I have another meeting with her next week.

I plan on building more covered storage in Oct 2024 which will be further away from the buildings

 

[Beer Belly]

We keep our main stacks approximately 60 feet from the house in a sunny corner of the property, we do keep roughly half a cord stocked in the garage at all times, replenish as needed. The reason for the main stacks so far away is due to critters nesting, when bringing into the garage, each piece is checked and cleaned off with a desk brush, or wire brush if needed.

 

[stoveliker]

I just bang them together when putting them in the wheelbarrow to get the dust off.

 

[johneh]

All my firewood is dried in the loft of my drive shed. It gets so hot
up there during the summer that sugar maple will be at 16 % by
September 1. In the middle of September 5 cord will be brought
down thrown into my basement and stacked. anything that comes
off it, sawdust, bark or chips is swept up but in bins and used in the
fire-starting process Never in 45 years have we ever had a bug problem.
This old Fam house was built in 1860 and has had a wood furnace its whole life
So anyone who tells me they have bugs is using green wet firewood
Just my nickel's worth.

 

[stoveliker]

Except for the occasional spider or beetle I find between the splits.
That's what the banging is for when I take it out of my shed. Sawdust and and some no problem insects.