Storing Firewood
Properly storing your firewood is crucial to keeping your investment and hard work protected. By storing your wood properly, you can keep your wood safe and build a nice reserve for when the cold season hits. If you store the wood outside, you need to choose somewhere that is close enough to your home to make it convenient, while keeping it off the soil. For those who want to store the wood inside, opt for a shed or a trunk inside of your home. The key is to keep the wood protected from moisture to maximize burning when you are ready to make a fire.
Keeping Your Firewood Dry
Storing firewood isn’t just about the here and now. It is about planning ahead for the future. You should choose an area that is out of the way and un-intrusive, while still keeping the wood close to the house or firepit.
Having to try and carry large amounts of wood to your home every day is not only labor intensive, but it is also time-consuming. Because the majority of firewood logs are both bulky and heavy, you often end up having to make multiple trips. That’s why it is so important to store the firewood somewhere close to your heating device.
Wood carts are also an ideal way to transport your wood. This allows you to bring multiple pieces of wood to the source with one trip. It also prevents snow, bark and other debris from making a mess all over your flooring.
Regardless of how you stack your wood, you need to give it about 6-months to dry before you use it. You might not realize it, but freshly cut wood can have 100% moisture, which means that half of the weight is composed of water. Ideally, you should aim for about 20% moisture.
Knowing When the Lumber is Ready
Seasoned wood tends to turn a grayish color. It will also develop small cracks along the edge. If you knock the wood together, it makes a higher-pitched sound. It also tends to weigh less. Unseasoned wood makes a thud when banged together. The best thing you can do is to keep your lumber away from the precipitation, while exposing it to airflow and sunlight. Tree bark holds in moisture naturally, so you want to arrange your pile to help maximize evaporation. If you expect a lot of rain, put the firewood so the bark is facing up. If you have a lot of moisture on the ground from snow or standing water, you would put the bark side down.
Now that you know how to store your firewood, you can start your fire!
If you need to replace your old fireplace or get a new fireplace in Colorado, Hi-Tech Appliance is the place to go. Contact us here, or you can visit our amazing showroom in Louisville.
