How to store your firewood

If you’ve bought some premium British firewood from Logwise and you’re wondering where to store it, let us give you a hand.

This blog post runs through firewood storage considerations and tells you how best to store it indoors and outdoors.

Where should you store firewood?

Firewood storage should be attractive, stable, and dry.

Attractive because a huge disorganised mound of logs is an eyesore for you and your neighbours. Neatly stacked wood is much nicer to look at, and it’s actually easier to add and remove wood from a neater pile.

Stability is important as well: You don’t want strong wind and heavy rain to threaten the structural integrity of your pile. Ideally, you want a woodpile that can withstand the elements year-round.

Which brings us to our next point: Dryness. Wood needs to be kept as dry as possible to keep it in the best condition for burning. The best wood storage keeps wood dry from the weather above and the damp ground below while allowing airflow to help the moisture content stay as low as possible.

It’s possible to achieve these conditions both indoors and outdoors. Let’s take a look at how.

How to store firewood outside

Storing wood outside means you need to take steps to keep it safe from the elements. That means a covering over the top and something for the wood to rest on if it’s being stored above the grass, soil, or other ground that contains moisture.

For the top covering, you can use a tarpaulin weighed down by bricks. Tying two bricks together with rope and draping the rope across the top of the tarpaulin is a good way to keep the weight low to the ground, and to prevent wind whipping the corners of the tarp.

And below, wooden pallets make an ideal base for wood storage. They’re wide enough to allow for a  few rows of wood, and their holes are great for circulating air underneath the wood.

Storing your wood in a purpose-built structure works as well. This combines a wooden frame with the solid roof and raised bottom mentioned above.

Something a little bit like our log store, incidentally.

How to store firewood in your garage

Storing firewood inside can make things a little bit easier, as there’s less likelihood of rain and moisture. Garages and sheds are great places to store wood.

You can use the same storage methods as above, but there’s less need to raise the wood from the ground. Hopefully, your garage floor is dry enough that the wood can rest without getting moist.

A trunk will help to keep wood dry and organised. It will also prevent mice or any other creatures from building their homes in the pile.

How to stack your firewood

When you’ve chosen where to store it, it’s important to find a good way to stack your wood.

If you’re using a solid structure like the log store above, the outer walls keep the wood from tumbling out. This means you can stack chopped logs on top of each other without worrying about the pile collapsing.

If you’ve gone for a woodpile covered by a tarp without any structure, however, you have to be a bit more careful.

Our preferred wood storage method is based on the game Jenga.  Place two pieces of wood down parallel to each other, then stack two more on top but at a perpendicular angle. Keep repeating this pattern and eventually, you’ll have a tall and sturdy stack of wood. This process is called cribbing.

Cribbing is good because you can put stacks next to each other, and build rows of stacks to store lots of wood. If you’re storing on pallets as suggested earlier, you can usually fit four rows side by side on top of pallets.

How long can you store firewood?

Firewood can last a very long time when stored properly. We’ve heard reports of wood still being dry and easily flammable after 10 years, but we’d recommend 2-3 years maximum.

Good firewood needs to be dry. As long as your wood storage solution keeps wood away from moisture, it should be good to burn for a long while. Checking occasionally to make sure no logs are damp, mouldy, or starting to biodegrade is the best way to check the efficacy of your storage.

Buy premium quality British firewood here.