Suburban woodshed, AKA 'The Wood Library'

[Jon1270]

Thought I'd post some pictures of my suburban wood storage solution. Here's a picture of my woodshed:



No, really! To clarify...





The four racks hold just over 3 face-cords apiece with the one space left open to avoid blocking the view from a basement window. 3/4 of this wood was scrounged, and much of it was bucked before I got to it so the lengths vary, but there's easily over 4 full cords here. The racks are eight feet tall, though; loading the top 2 feet isn't much fun.

In approximate order by amount, this is black locust, white oak, cherry, red oak, some junk slab wood left over from a delivery by a dishonest wood seller, mulberry, white elm, red elm, juniper, silver maple and a few bits I can't quite identify.

 

[Trilifter7]

That is very impressive looking! I like how organized and clean it is. Great use of space Jon!

 

[lumbering on]

genius!

 

[WellSeasoned]

Great idea, looks sweet. Just need one of those ladders on a rail.

 

[red oak]

Not only are you storing your wood, but adding support to the deck also!

 

[Trilifter7]

Do you have any cover under the deck above the wood to keep it from getting wet?

 

[Jon1270]

Do you have any cover under the deck above the wood to keep it from getting wet?

No, and I'm on the fence about adding some. Even with the spaces between the boards, the deck seems to keep the wood surprisingly dry. In a light/brief rain, 85% of the water just stays on top of the deck until it evaporates. Even in a heavy rain, the water doesn't penetrate very far into the stacks, and in the winter I can shovel most of the snow off the deck before it ever melts and runs through. We got hit by those storms that blew across the state over the last couple of days, but the wood surfaces are already dry. Our street is parallel to a more-or-less east-west valley, so the stacks are lined up with the prevailing winds. It's surprisingly breezy down there, considering all the potential obstructions.

 

[Trilifter7]

I would think you would be ok too. Eventually I think I would add cover just to ensure 100% dry wood but its prolly not necessary.

 

[Jon1270]

Forgot to mention -- with the window behind the stacks open, half the basement smells like firewood. It's giant air freshener.

 

[bogydave]

I'd cover the tops.
But I have birch, it is similar to maple & will get punky if it it get wet frequently.

Working well & looks great.
Very good use of space

 

[NortheastAl]

Brilliant! What a great use of space. It's nice to look at too.

 

[ScotO]

I "second" covering the tops. I'd look into using some of that cheap metal roofing stuff from lowes......you could add an outward slope to the "roof" so the rain runs away instead of laying on it. Either way, I love the use of the space, you done a good job my friend!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That is making do with what you have! My only fear is who much drying you'll get if the wood was put in there right after splitting.

To add to Scotty's post, he likes the rubber roofing and I'd think that would also work well in this application.

 

[Jon1270]

My only fear is who much drying you'll get if the wood was put in there right after splitting

Yep, I'm wondering about that too but it's the best I can do on my lot. Mostly shaded, obviously, but it is surprisingly breezy. Will be interesting.

 

[fishingpol]

Wow, that's different. It looks like it is in Norway or Sweden. Well done.

 

[wingsfan]

Nice.

 

[Ashful]

Necessity is the mother of invention!

 

[Blue2ndaries]

Very nice!

 

[Jon1270]

I like it too. Anyhow, this is why I keep saying, in various threads, that I don't have space for any more wood. Besides what you can see in these photos, there's almost a face cord of black locust up on top of the deck, speed-drying in a very sunny spot that's even kept warmer at night by heat radiating from the brick. At the other end of the deck is a row of unstackably short and ugly bits to be consumed ASAP when the weather cools. There's roughly half a face cord of white oak drying experimentally in the rafters of my detached garage. And finally I've got dibs on about a cord and a half of silver maple that I CSS on someone else's property; I invited that homeowner to give it to someone else, since I couldn't hope to take it until Fall, but he wants me to have it because I did so much work on it. Now that I have an idea of how much wood I'll actually go through each year (probably a little under 2 cords) I hope that I can maintain a usable supply just by keeping the racks full with a blend that doesn't include too much oak.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Wow, I am impressed at how well built and the beauty of it. Great job.
I have a concern, my father in law says not to store my wood under my deck, he says it will attract termites and cause potential problems for the house. Do you or anyone else think the same thing? Or have any opinions on this.

 

[Jon1270]

I have a concern, my father in law says not to store my wood under my deck, he says it will attract termites and cause potential problems for the house. Do you or anyone else think the same thing? Or have any opinions on this.

Recent thread on that topic

 

[PA. Woodsman]

That is AWESOME!! Looks great

And "Let's go Pens"

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yep, I'm wondering about that too but it's the best I can do on my lot. Mostly shaded, obviously, but it is surprisingly breezy. Will be interesting.

We've stacked in total shade before and had no problem drying the wood. You have wind and that is the biggest key to drying wood.

 

[Jon1270]

We've stacked in total shade before and had no problem drying the wood.

I hope that the reason you had no problem drying it in such conditions wasn't that you had 7 years to do it in...

 

[Backwoods Savage]

No, the wood is ready long before the 7 years.