My Woodshed

[Simonkenton]

I am up here in the North Carolina mountains. Very humid. Even worse, every other night the fog comes up from the French Broad River and surrounds the house. This immerses your firewood stack in 100 percent humidity.

So I went for zero ventilation here. Don't want that fog running over my wood at night.
No windows no vents.
The little woodshed sets out in the sunlight all day. Water vapor goes through the wooden walls and floor. The massive roof overhangs keep the rain off of the walls and the sun shines on the walls throughout the day.

I am drying firewood to 17 percent moisture content in 6 months in the little woodshed.
It is just 8 feet by 12 feet but by God it holds a lot of wood. Got it stacked 7 feet high in there.

 

[armanidog]

I like it. It will be a good place to hide your gold coins behind some firewood. : ).

 

[Simonkenton]

Wait a minute! How did you know about the gold coins?

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

View attachment 220440

I am up here in the North Carolina mountains. Very humid. Even worse, every other night the fog comes up from the French Broad River and surrounds the house. This immerses your firewood stack in 100 percent humidity.

So I went for zero ventilation here. Don't want that fog running over my wood at night.
No windows no vents.
The little woodshed sets out in the sunlight all day. Water vapor goes through the wooden walls and floor. The massive roof overhangs keep the rain off of the walls and the sun shines on the walls throughout the day.

I am drying firewood to 17 percent moisture content in 6 months in the little woodshed.
It is just 8 feet by 12 feet but by God it holds a lot of wood. Got it stacked 7 feet high in there.

Nice job. This is a good example of knowing and understanding the general rules that work best in most circumstances, and going in a different direction based on your own specific circumstances. Smart, Simon, and a good example for the rest of us.

Did you source all your materials from the local lumber yard, home center, or other?

 

[Simonkenton]

The siding is white pine 1x12 from the local sawmill. Everything else is from Lowes. The key thing is to not paint or stain the walls, that way water vapor will pass through the wood.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

The siding is white pine 1x12 from the local sawmill. Everything else is from Lowes. The key thing is to not paint or stain the walls, that way water vapor will pass through the wood.

Interesting. Wish I had a lumber mill around.

What about the posts? They look massive. How are you keeping them from rotting?

 

[Simonkenton]

The little shed is standard house construction, except, it is way way overbuilt.

We dug holes 26 inch square and put 12 inches of concrete in each hole.
The columns are made of 2, 8x16 inch concrete blocks side by side. Then filled with concrete.
I painted 'em brown because they are ugly when new, you paint them brown and they just kind of go away.
As the concrete was setting I set galvanized 1/2 inch bolts into the concrete, so that the floor system is bolted to the foundation.
In the front, the floor system is 16 inches above the ground, in the back five feet.

The joists are yellow pine, 8 feet long and 16 inch on center. According to the code you could use 2x8s, I used 2x12s.
The floor, rather than 1/2 inch plywood, is pressure treated yellow pine 2x6.

It is generally believed that the key to drying wood is air circulation. I went the other way and went for heat, solar heat.
Lots of time I don't want air circulation, today is a good example it is raining all day but my wood is closed up in a nice, dry woodshed.

 

[cptoneleg]

Holds 5.25 cords nice

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

The little shed is standard house construction, except, it is way way overbuilt.

We dug holes 26 inch square and put 12 inches of concrete in each hole.
The columns are made of 2, 8x16 inch concrete blocks side by side. Then filled with concrete.
I painted 'em brown because they are ugly when new, you paint them brown and they just kind of go away.
As the concrete was setting I set galvanized 1/2 inch bolts into the concrete, so that the floor system is bolted to the foundation.
In the front, the floor system is 16 inches above the ground, in the back five feet.

The joists are yellow pine, 8 feet long and 16 inch on center. According to the code you could use 2x8s, I used 2x12s.
The floor, rather than 1/2 inch plywood, is pressure treated yellow pine 2x6.

It is generally believed that the key to drying wood is air circulation. I went the other way and went for heat, solar heat.
Lots of time I don't want air circulation, today is a good example it is raining all day but my wood is closed up in a nice, dry woodshed.

I enjoyed all the details, thanks. Excellent idea regarding the concrete block posts. Between those and that big roof, that she'd will last you a lifetime.

One last question- is there any way for the moisture to escape through the top?

 

[Simonkenton]

No way for moisture to get out the top. Gotta go through the walls or floor.