Firewood Storage Tips

Proper firewood storage is an essential part of getting the most out of your wood stove or fireplace. Remembering a few basic tips for wood storage will keep your home safe, your firewood dry, and your fire hot and toasty.

Firewood thicker than 8 inches should be split to insure the best burn and to make certain the wood dries out properly. Split the firewood when it is freshly cut. Dry firewood is lighter in weight but harder to split, so before stacking freshly cut firewood for storage, spit it into chunks less than 8 inches thick and make the firewood short enough to fit easily into your stove.

One of the most important firewood storage tips is to keep the wood at least 20 feet from your home and at least several inches off the ground. Firewood attracts a number of insects, including termites and carpenter ants, and you don’t want these bugs making a home in your walls.

Don’t throw firewood into a lose pile, as this makes a good home for rodents and various small varmints such opossums and raccoons and even the occasional wolverine (if you live far enough north). Raccoons are cute in children’s storybooks but in real life they have sharp teeth and claws, carry rabies, and can wreak havoc on a garage or roof, so you don’t want to do anything that attracts them and makes them want to hang around your yard.

At least 50% of the weight of most firewood comes from the moisture inside it, so stack your firewood on a frame and keep it in the open where the air can blow through it and the moisture can evaporate. Soft firewood like pine needs to season this way for a year. Hard woods like oak can take even longer. Proper wood storage involves curing your new wood uncovered this way (and not burning it until it is properly dried), and storing the wood you have already cured in a similar way with a cover over it so it will burn quickly and easily when you need it.

Covering freshly cut firewood can cause it to mold, so make sure air can circulate around it until it is cured. Seasoned firewood is lighter in weight, darker on the outside, and has cracks and openings in the wood. If you look at seasoned an unseasoned wood side by side you can quickly see and feel the difference.

Be careful about picking up ‘free firewood’. Often, the reason the wood is free is because the tree was diseased and has been culled. While it is perfectly safe to burn wood from a diseased tree, you will want to store that kind of firewood far away from any living trees on your property. Be wary of burning pallet lumber or any other kind of wood used for a commercial purpose, since it may well be saturated with chemicals that release toxins when burned.

Proper firewood storage racks can be purchased at almost any home building or hardware store, but you can also build a wood storage rack yourself fairly easily out of pressure treated wood or even metal parts if your prefer. Many people stack firewood between two living trees, but this kind of firewood storage can be very stressful for the live trees, and it can also spread disease or wood boring insects from the firewood, which is not something you really want to have happen.

Finally, think carefully about the ergonomics of your firewood storage area. While you want it well clear of your home and any living trees you care about, keep in mind that you will be making regular trips to your firewood storage area in cold, inclement weather. If you don’t have a clear dry path to the firewood storage rack, you may want to create one while the weather is still warm and pleasant.