Will Firewood Dry In a Shed?
What i am about to share here may ruffle up some feathers in the wood burner community, but it has to be said by somebody…
Not really…
Wood hardly, if at all seasons, dries or gets ready for burning inside of a standard, enclosed shed.
With that said, “wood shed” is a bit too general of a term here – depending on how you build one, you may actually get great results, in regards to drying.
By this i mean building one that has open sides. (Image 1)
What this does is, at least, allows for better ventilation. Having air constantly moving through the wood is mainly what dries it, i think.
Not perfect either
Even though you can build a decent enough shed for firewood drying purposes, i still don’t think it’ll come close to the results you will get from leaving the stuff purely uncovered.
This means, in particular, stacking the wood in long rows, at the same time making sure there is at least a couple feet of distance between each and one of them.
I find the constant sun exposure, the further gaps between the rows are the factors which really seal the deal when we talk about drying firewood the right way.
What about leaving a door or two open?
If you’re indeed persistent in “seasoning” firewood inside of a closed shed, you may think that introducing some sort of airflow, be it a fan, open windows or things of that nature will help out the drying process…
The answer to that question is unlikely. You see, i don’t think it has anything to do with having fresh air coming into a building – wood seasoning is more about having those constant, natural winds coming in contact with different parts of the stack, every now and then, out in the open.
Sure, leaving a window open in a fully enclosed shed loaded with green wood should prevent stuff like mold and mildew from growing, but again, don’t expect anything to get that dry in there any time quick to be used as a quality fuel source.
How to use a shed, the right way
In my book, a wood shed serves one and only one purpose – storing already seasoned and ready to burn firewood.
This means that if you do indeed want to use one in your world, first you have to dry the split and stacked wood outside well enough, and only then bring it in there, to protect from the weather (normally that’s going to be during fall, depending on species).
I know, i know that may be too much effort for lots of folks out there, but if you want to use the shed for what it is worth, this is what you’ll have to do.
Personally speaking, i don’t do any of that! As soon as fall hits, i top cover those left-outside rows with whatever i have and leave it be; yes, the firewood isn’t as shielded from rain and snow when compared to an actual shed, but then again i never found the need for that…
The firewood still stays perfectly seasoned. Even if some rain gets to it, i never found that to make any difference in the actual moisture content.
Actually, starting to think about it, maybe i should also think about a shed… going inside of one is sure more comfortable than wrestling with the wood stack during those cold mornings!