Wood Storage in Town Ideas

[Locust99]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone had any tips or ideas for storing and seasoning wood living in town. I have a .30 acre lot and have about 3 cords on racks like this that I built. I probably need at least 4 cords, maybe 5 to get through a cold winter. Should I just add a couple more of these racks, or does anyone have a nicer looking better idea?

Thanks

 

[johneh]

Add more racks
To me that is just about the prettiest picture there is
You know no matter what that you will be warm next winter

 

[Locust99]

Thank you, I will add at least one more big one behind my garage and hopefully a small one on the other side of property. That rack is all ash, maple, and black locust cut and split from April till now . Hope it will be ready !

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I have .47 acre lot. I would like to have one long single row for speed of drying, but instead have to double stack to have enough wood on hand fir 1-2 yrs.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Pic of the stacks

 

[Locust99]

Those are some nice stacks. How much wood do you think is there? I need to get a tarp and cover my stacks at some point. Also is that jotul rockland an insert? If it is can you heat most of your house with it? I currently have a lopi answer insert, it is really tiny , but I'm looking to upgrade to a blaze king princess insert. Hoping it will be able to heat my 1700sf 2 story old house.

Thanks

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I have roughly 6 or 7 cords. I use about 4-5 per year. The jotul Rockland is an insert and it heats our whole house well. its on the first floor den and is a great heater for our needs. The first and second floor is about 1500 sq ft total. House us 40yrs old. I would love a free standing stove at some point, but will wait until we move. We would get cooked out with free standing stove and our current floor plan.

 

[Locust99]

Thank you for the info! My house was built in 1920, there is definitely some sort of insulation, but not much . Really hoping I'll get the princess insert and it can handle our heating needs. With the lopi answer I was only able to get 4 hours of usable heat. It's a quality stove , but not for as serious of a wood burner as I want to be. This last year was my first year with a stove. Thanks again for your input!

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I think your racks look lovely. If you have space for more, I'd say go for more. We have just shy of 1/4 acre in a suburban city, and we store wood right against our brick house. We have a lot of oak, and it helps to season it to have it baking there. Weeks ago when we had one of those early spring heat waves, I measured the temperature of the brick on the southern corner at 130*.

We also have a small deck on the side of the house under which we keep a fair amount of wood.









We tried a new homemade rack against a fence but after stacking it very carefully twice, and having it collapse almost immediately, I gave up and started a holzhausen (holzhaufen, holzmiete). Here's a picture of the start of it.








It's about six feet in diameter and now perhaps seven feet tall. It tapers up like a beehive, and I call it my organic yard art. Neighbors and friends seem to enjoy it, and it has proved sturdy so far. Sturdiness was my biggest concern, even over quick drying (I'm sure a covered single stack would be better for that), but we have small children with small friends who play in a small yard. The woodpiles are not playthings, and we are firm on that, but we wanted to protect even disobedient little people.

My eighty year old mother visited in April and saw the holzhausen. She went home and built a bigger one!

On a different note, we've heated 2,500 well-insulated feet with our Lopi Revere insert. We are planning to change to a Blaze King Princess Insert as well, primarily for our shoulder seasons down here in Virginia. It will be interesting to see what happens with our wood consumption (though it won't be a really fair comparison as we are planning to insulate the liner and install a block-off plate as well.)

Is there any work you can do on insulating and air sealing your house? That is really such an excellent investment year round and year after year.

 

[BKVP]

This is my new shed. Full on the end with maple. The next is black locust. Currently have 6 cords, will have 12 by end of summer.

We use 3 cords per year in 1895 Sears Craftsman Home.

 

[iron]

This is my new shed. Full on the end with maple. The next is black locust. Currently have 6 cords, will have 12 by end of summer.

We use 3 cords per year in 1895 Sears Craftsman Home.

BKVP: did you do anything special with the pier blocks to account for the frost depth? for your metal roof, did it come in a precut standard size? how did you secure the diagonal braces on your columns? thanks for the input. a covered storage rack is on my list for this summer.

 

[jatoxico]

A neatly stacked row can make a nice privacy screen for a patio etc for a summer or two before burning over the winter.

 

[BKVP]

BKVP: did you do anything special with the pier blocks to account for the frost depth? for your metal roof, did it come in a precut standard size? how did you secure the diagonal braces on your columns? thanks for the input. a covered storage rack is on my list for this summer.

Pier blocks are sitting on 9" of sand. Metal roof I purchased 10', trimmed 1' off each (painted cut ends) and added them to 8' pieces. Saved some money doing this. Braces secured with 2 6" deck screws for each end. Some of the lumber came from current remodel of house so some pieces are 120 years old.

 

[iron]

Pier blocks are sitting on 9" of sand. Metal roof I purchased 10', trimmed 1' off each (painted cut ends) and added them to 8' pieces. Saved some money doing this. Braces secured with 2 6" deck screws for each end. Some of the lumber came from current remodel of house so some pieces are 120 years old.

what do you do to secure the posts to the pier blocks? what resists uplift?

 

[Locust99]

Duaeguttae,

Thank you for the tips. I am going to add another rack to hold one more cord behind the garage. I don't think I have a spot my soon to be wife will approve of the holzhausen. Wood piles can be dangerous, I had one that I made out of 2x4s which broke and fell over. This design with cinder blocks and landscape timbers has been very strong. They have survived over 50mph winds so far. I am hoping my wood consumption will go down with the princess too. I burned a little over 3 cord last winter and my stove could only heat the house when it was above 30, it was supplemental heat though.

I am planning on installing an insulated block plate with roxul prior to the princess insert installation. As far as insulating the house I don't think it would be worth it for us as we won't be here probably more than 6 years, but I will do some serious air sealing this summer.

BKVP,

That is some serious wood storage! Maybe eventually I can have something like that if I build off of my garage. What BK stove/insert are you heating with. Do you think the princess insert would be able to get me burning 24/7 and be able to solely heat my house? My current stove like I said gives heat for 4 hours tops, and would barely hold coals for a kindling restart in the morning. Wasn't possible to keep it going unless I was home on the weekend.

Thanks for the tips and help guys, I'm glad I joined the forum!

 

[Locust99]

what do you do to secure the posts to the pier blocks? what resists uplift?

It looks like he has post anchors that are anchored into the concrete piers and then nailed into the post.

 

[BKVP]

what do you do to secure the posts to the pier blocks? what resists uplift?

They have metal flanges cast in the blocks and they are screwed into the 4 x 4's.

 

[BKVP]

Duaeguttae,

Thank you for the tips. I am going to add another rack to hold one more cord behind the garage. I don't think I have a spot my soon to be wife will approve of the holzhausen. Wood piles can be dangerous, I had one that I made out of 2x4s which broke and fell over. This design with cinder blocks and landscape timbers has been very strong. They have survived over 50mph winds so far. I am hoping my wood consumption will go down with the princess too. I burned a little over 3 cord last winter and my stove could only heat the house when it was above 30, it was supplemental heat though.

I am planning on installing an insulated block plate with roxul prior to the princess insert installation. As far as insulating the house I don't think it would be worth it for us as we won't be here probably more than 6 years, but I will do some serious air sealing this summer.

BKVP,

That is some serious wood storage! Maybe eventually I can have something like that if I build off of my garage. What BK stove/insert are you heating with. Do you think the princess insert would be able to get me burning 24/7 and be able to solely heat my house? My current stove like I said gives heat for 4 hours tops, and would barely hold coals for a kindling restart in the morning. Wasn't possible to keep it going unless I was home on the weekend.

Thanks for the tips and help guys, I'm glad I joined the forum!

My stove is King model 1107, it was a first run unit many years ago. I've not been to your home so as to whether or not it will heat your entire home I cannot say. I will say you will be pleased with burns times and let you post your experience here for others to read. Thank you by the way for the purchase.

BKVP

 

[weatherguy]

Duaeguttae,

Thank you for the tips. I am going to add another rack to hold one more cord behind the garage. I don't think I have a spot my soon to be wife will approve of the holzhausen. Wood piles can be dangerous, I had one that I made out of 2x4s which broke and fell over. This design with cinder blocks and landscape timbers has been very strong. They have survived over 50mph winds so far. I am hoping my wood consumption will go down with the princess too. I burned a little over 3 cord last winter and my stove could only heat the house when it was above 30, it was supplemental heat though.

I am planning on installing an insulated block plate with roxul prior to the princess insert installation. As far as insulating the house I don't think it would be worth it for us as we won't be here probably more than 6 years, but I will do some serious air sealing this summer.

BKVP,

That is some serious wood storage! Maybe eventually I can have something like that if I build off of my garage. What BK stove/insert are you heating with. Do you think the princess insert would be able to get me burning 24/7 and be able to solely heat my house? My current stove like I said gives heat for 4 hours tops, and would barely hold coals for a kindling restart in the morning. Wasn't possible to keep it going unless I was home on the weekend.

Thanks for the tips and help guys, I'm glad I joined the forum!

The princess did most of the heating in my 2800sf home. Needed help when it got below 15 or so.

 

[blades]

Just watch out for local codes- they have very funny ideas of what you can and can't have and where it ca be placed. Only takes one busy body to cause a problem.

 

[tigeroak]

I/we have just over .40 acre and we have right now 19+ cord stacked and split. We have 5 that are 4x51/2x16 and one 20 long and one 8 foot long and 2 for short stuff that are 4x4x5and all full.

 

[Ashful]

I think your racks look lovely.

People have been hauled in to HR for saying less, to a random group of faceless individuals.

 

[Tegbert]

This is my new shed. Full on the end with maple. The next is black locust. Currently have 6 cords, will have 12 by end of summer.

We use 3 cords per year in 1895 Sears Craftsman Home.

Do you season and store in that shed or just store it there?


Lopi Rockport

 

[BKVP]

Do you season and store in that shed or just store it there?


Lopi Rockport

I have full length trees delivered to my back yard by a local arborist. Then, I cut them to 17" length and split them. Sorted by species, then stacked. Since this whole rack system is new, I may put removable doors on the back and front to limit direct moisture contact in the winter. I have some fiberglass, 5/8" x 4 x 8 panels in mind...then paint them camo just to remind me where I should be!

 

[Dobish]

i built the holzemiete so i didn't have to look at the neighbors trash can

i also built a fence out back, have a few piles in the driveway, and stacked some under the awning.... I am working on getting it all out back slowly, so i can have a place to park [more wood] the tenants car

We are .49 acre lot, and right now I have 8 cord split and stacked, roughly 2 more to split and stack, and some other to cut down to size and figure out where to put it... This past year we went through 2.5 cord....