How early is too early to start putting wood in for winter?

[case245]

you put it in now i sell fire you only need to let completly green wood drie six month then u can burn it im been working fire wood for 27 yrs now

 

[forgeblast]

Just remember if its green and in the house all the moisture will be in the house.

 

[smithpond]

I agree completely with jstpssng and forgeblast regarding their concern with the extra moisture being introduced into the house from unseasoned wood. I think you would be amazed at the amount of moisture that a cord of green wood contains. I can't speak to the bug issue because I've not had that problem as I bring my wood in every couple days as I need it during the heating season. I have been burning wood as my sole source of heat for 36 years and have shed space to hold 3 years worth of wood @3 cds/yr however I only keep about 2 yrs worth because I believe that is the point at which the btu's start diminishing.

 

[Lloyd_E]

For me it is on-going. I just finished 12 cords of softwood and will be starting on the hardwood in a few days. Meaning... I will be dropping, chunking, splitting and stacking for next year and the year beyond. I try to keep at least a year ahead - sometimes this has worked... sometimes not. I stack the green split wood in the shed(holds 7-8 cords) and stack on pallets around the wood shed. We have a back entrance area to the house that holds about a weeks worth of burning. We wheel barrow the wood from the shed to the house. The shed has a roof and ends but the long sides are open to the morning sun and the setting sun. I get to 20-25% moisture content within 6-8 months. I think it would take a long time to dry wood in a house environment unless you have a venting system of some kind.

We burn between 4-6 cord a year depending on the weather. This year was a 4 cord year.

PS: We just completed our 100th cord on the splitter we made. Other than an oil change and a few plugs it has worked flawlessly. One tank will run us 3+hours. We can split about a cord an hour.

 

[1GB]

you put it in now i sell fire you only need to let completly green wood drie six month then u can burn it im been working fire wood for 27 yrs now

You definitely have experience, but I have to disagree that any green wood would be sufficiently dry in this time. Some wood species just take longer to dry out, longer than 6 months. Also, the newer, high efficiency stoves/furnaces need drier wood to perform optimally and in those cases the seasoning time should be measured in years, rather than months.

 

[Jstpssng]

You definitely have experience, but I have to disagree that any green wood would be sufficiently dry in this time. Some wood species just take longer to dry out, longer than 6 months. Also, the newer, high efficiency stoves/furnaces need drier wood to perform optimally and in those cases the seasoning time should be measured in years, rather than months.

Common lore is that you can burn Ash the day you cut it. That's technically true but it still burns better after you season it.
Green wood will burn but you're losing BTU's evaporating that moisture.
Until you split it or the bark comes off the only way wood dries is from the ends.

I cut some red maple (AKA acer rubrum) one November and left it tree length in the bottom of a pile until the following Oct. It still had green leaves which had sprouted that spring.

 

[tbutman]

I have forced hot air heat and it will season firewood in two months of burning. But during the warm months i'm not using my furnace if I bring unseasoned wood into the house it puts out so much moisture that I will get black mold growing on my rafters just above the firewood pile. I could probably run a fan to increase air flow all summer and negate this but it makes more sense to just wait until Oct.-Nov. to start bringing in my wood and the morning fire I usually have to take the edge off is enough to keep the mold problem down. My home tends to be VERY dry from the forced hot air and the firewood makes for a great humidifier for our home if brought in at the right time. Smarter not harder right?

 

[turnkey4099]

I have forced hot air heat and it will season firewood in two months of burning. But during the warm months i'm not using my furnace if I bring unseasoned wood into the house it puts out so much moisture that I will get black mold growing on my rafters just above the firewood pile. I could probably run a fan to increase air flow all summer and negate this but it makes more sense to just wait until Oct.-Nov. to start bringing in my wood and the morning fire I usually have to take the edge off is enough to keep the mold problem down. My home tends to be VERY dry from the forced hot air and the firewood makes for a great humidifier for our home if brought in at the right time. Smarter not harder right?

Yep. Don't bring green wood into a house unless absolutely necessary and then only a small amount at a time.

Mine gets seasoned a minimum of 1 full year before moving into the woodshed and/or back porch. Back porch is stocked with a couiple cords at the beinning of heating season and the gets restocked out of the shed about the end of January.

Harry K

 

[nickmags]

Not being blessed with a basement, I cut and stack all outside. Wood is stacked in long running cords to assist in air flow/drying and then covered with scrap sheet metal from a barn build. We have a large bike wheeled garden cart that will hold three to five days of wood. That is always kept full in the attached garage. If weather looks really bad will bring in extra and stack near stoves (two, one at either end of a large ranch style house.) Burn about five cord a year to heat 3,500 sq ft. One year, burned seven, but average is 5.5. At 66 not as spry as once was, wood is our primary heat source. Try to start cutting late Sept and be done by early Nov. Depends on weather. Can not take the heat very well anymore, (nor the ticks, chiggers and snakes) but not enthused at cutting when very cold either. Right now, I'm cutting next years wood. I get it all cut, creating a big pile where it sits most of the winter. When spring comes, or just a nice winter day with nothing else to do will spend a couple of hours spitting and stacking. Only bug problem I seem to have is some kind of moth that thinks my wood pile is a great place to winter over. They don't seem to wake up until I bring the wood in. No termites or carpenter ants yet. Wood stacks are up off the ground using 2" cedar tops, and I pour a box of twenty mule team Borax on area where wood will stand for a year.

 

[tcreeley]

I knew an oldtimer who only would burn green wood. He said everything else burned too fast. He cut wood all his life.

I've been burning only wood for heat 40+ years now. I like it sitting for a year outside and stacked before I ever get to burning it. It is dry and burns well. If I go three years, the moisture outside starts rotting it and I lose some. 1 - 2 years dry time works well.

I am always looking for carpenter ants, checking every piece for those little holes on the ends, or the grooves on the side. Nasty bug. I won't store wood inside that I haven't checked.

The wood stays out until I start the stove and I try to hold off as long as possible. We only have two days of frost forecast for October, so I am aiming for Nov to start heating.