During the warm months of spring and summer, firewood is probably the last thing on your mind. However, how your store your firewood during the “off season” can have a big impact on whether or not it will be ready to burn in the fall.
Tips for storing firewood in the spring and summer
The following five storage tips will make sure all of your firewood is ready for the fall.
- Store it outside: Small amounts of firewood should only be brought inside immediately before use. This means that during the spring and summer all wood should be kept outside. Keeping wood outside during warm weather helps any residual moisture in the wood evaporate, leaving you with highly seasoned firewood in the fall. Likewise, storing wood inside can give dormant insects in the wood access to your home.
- Find the right location: To avoid moving your woodpile twice a year, place wood in an area that is both out of the way for the summer and convenient for the winter. The ideal wood storage location is close enough to the house to walk to during cold weather, but not so close that the wood presents a fire hazard to the home.
- Elevate the wood: Even during the summer, wood should never be stacked directly on the ground. Stacking wood on the ground can allow groundwater from rain to soak up and into the wood. Likewise, on the ground a woodpile is more likely to become home to vermin such as snakes, mice, and insects; when elevated, these unwelcome guests are less likely to get into the wood stack.
- Cover the pile: April showers can also affect your woodpile. Keep the top of the pile covered to prevent water from over saturating or soaking into the wood. However, the sides of the wood stack should always be left open. Doing this allows air to freely flow through the pile, furthering the seasoning process and helping any rain water in the pile to evaporate.
- Stack wood for airflow: Wood should be uniformly stacked in order to maximize airflow through the pile. Likewise, the woodpile should be placed in an area where it will have access to air circulation; garages, sheds, and other enclosed spaces block this type of air circulation.
Buying the right firewood
How you store your wood is important, but the kind of wood you buy can have an equally big impact on the quality of your fires this winter. While many homeowners prefer to buy wood that has already been seasoned, buying firewood in the spring allows it to season – or have the moisture removed by an exposure to sunlight, wind, and air – during the spring and summer and be ready to burn by fall.
You may not use your fireplace during the spring and summer, but how you store your firewood during these months can have an impact on the quality of your wood in the fall. If you have questions about the right way to store your firewood so it’s ready for the fall, contact Pristine Sweeps today.