Stacking firewood is just as important in getting a great burning experience as buying aged quality firewood. Stacking the firewood properly ensure that the firewood quality remains long after you have purchased the product. At Toemar, we go the extra mile in stacking firewood so that the wood ages properly with the appropriate moisture level. Here are some great tips to ensuring that your firewood is stacked appropriately:
- Location – stacking firewood in a moist shaded area won’t help you in minimizing the moisture in the wood. You want to stack the wood so that the cut ends face the prevailing west winds or moving air. You also want to make sure that the ground is even so that the structure does not collapse
- Off the ground – you want to lift the entire wood stack off the ground to prevent bottom rot. You know you have bottom rot by streaks of yellow mold or white fruiting bodies of fungus on the ground course of (ruined) wood. You can do this by using placing interlocking stones at the end of each log so that gap in between the stones allows for moving air. You may also want to consider building a wood shed with a floor
- Built-in airflow – when you stack your firewood, you want to build in as much airflow as possible by using irregularities and odd-shaped logs to create cross-stack channels for drying air
- Bark up – place the bark facing up when you stack so that you can use the bark to keep water out and allow moisture to continue to shed from the woodpile
- Pile sizes and shapes – the pile size and shape doesn’t matter as much as long as the pile is stable and allows for movement of air. You can stack them against the home, or you can stack them in square piles, or even other whimsical shapes
If you got any ideas or tips you like to share, please share them below. We love to hear what others are doing!
