A woodpile is an ideal place to store firewood in optimal conditions. In addition, neatly stacked firewood will make your property more attractive. But first, you need to choose a suitable place in advance. Today we will look at all the different options.
For long-term storage and drying of firewood, you can use a special shed or shed. Woodpiles are also used in landscape design: beautiful stacking of firewood in an original way will add a special flavor to the area.
Designer woodpile: main advantages
1. Practicality and functionality. By placing the woodpile in a convenient place, you won’t have to go far to get firewood.
2. In winter, the firewood can serve as a kind of barrier, so clearing the paths of snow will be much easier and faster.
3. A beautiful woodpile is the highlight of the landscape design of the site.
4. Such an element in the country is a great idea for some functional structure, for example, the base of a table near the barbecue.
Metal
Metal frames have the usual advantages of metal products:
- serve for a long time;
- resistant to external influences;
- may have a beautiful design.
An inexpensive and elegant option is a woodpile made of aluminum profile. Manufacturing will take several hours, the weight will be insignificant, which allows it to be classified as a mobile structure that can be easily moved to any place.
Products made of steel and iron will require skills in handling a welding machine and will be more expensive. You can turn to specialists - just draw a sketch of the desired design.
Forged products made to order look the most elegant. They themselves will decorate any area.
How to fold a woodpile?
Making a firewood rack with your own hands is not difficult. Let's consider the process of constructing the most typical structure.
Tools and materials:
- carpentry clamp for ease of work;
- hammer;
- circular saw;
- roulette;
- wood nails.
For the frame, you should determine the required number of boards:
- for the base: two boards 3 m each, 3 cm thick, 10-15 cm wide;
- for the side parts: four 1.5 m boards with the same parameters;
- one board 1 m long, thickness and width are similar to the previous ones.
After all the preparatory work, you can begin the main process.
Site selection
When choosing a place to install a firewood rack, a concrete base would be preferable. If there is none, you can lay out a brick platform. This will prevent the boards from rotting, which could occur if they come into contact with the ground. Next is the turn of folding the frame.
Additional Information
If you plan to build a lightweight firewood shed with a capacity of only a few cubic meters, a pile foundation is not needed for it. It is enough to place concrete pillars, old curbs, and several bricks under each support point under the base; It is possible to install a pile, columnar foundation made of brick. If desired, a shallow or shallow strip foundation can be poured. Concrete piles in roofing felt can be replaced with asbestos-cement pipes, pouring a concrete mixture with polyethylene waterproofing, or even into natural formwork; On the basis of any completed foundation, you can build a firewood shed from a steel pipe or angle. If a strip foundation is made, the foundations of the walls can be made of blocks or bricks; To improve ventilation of the lower part of the firewood storage structure, the lower rows are laid with increased clearance; To avoid stagnation of water under the woodpile, drainage can be made under it
When laying the foundation part, soil is excavated inside the perimeter to a depth of 20-30 cm, into which crushed stone or broken brick is poured; The front part of the structure can be additionally covered with a curtain made of polyethylene, tarpaulin, or banner fabric; To extend the service life of the frame and lining of the woodshed, all materials are treated: wood - with drying oil and varnish, or antiseptic-based paint, PF paint; steel frame - anti-corrosion coatings for metal, powder paint, ordinary enamel; It is important to carry out the correct turnover of firewood inside the storage warehouse so that the back stacks do not lie untouched for years while the nearby rows are consumed and renewed with new harvested firewood. Once every 3-4 years you need to disassemble the warehouse, check it, sort it out and put it back together again
This will help remove rotten, spoiled logs from the firewood storage area!
Construction of a medium-sized firewood shed in a country house, provided the materials and necessary tools are available, takes up to two days, not taking into account the technological periods associated with the foundation. But this time will be well spent, because now you can light up the stove or grill at any time using dry and fresh firewood, rather than smoking and non-flammable wet wood!
How to stack firewood? The simplest option is to place the pipes in stacks. Butt the logs end to end, forming a layer-by-layer structure. Separate walls of firewood should be in contact with their ends
It is important that adjacent structures have some slope towards the inside. Do not let the walls lean outward
As the height of the raspberries increases, the distortion will noticeably increase during laying. The walls will certainly begin to crumble to the sides where there is no support.
Frame assembly and woodpile laying technology
For the frame, a meter board is cut into 4 equal parts of 25 cm each, which will serve as cross members. At this stage, the frame structure is assembled, followed by the laying of material. The service life and degree of its stability will depend on the proper filling of the woodpile.
Important! Try to lay out the logs as closely as possible to each other, while at the bottom there should be the most even and long products. Loose laying will manifest itself over time, because after the firewood dries out, it decreases in volume and forms voids, and as a result, the structure may collapse.
The maximum permissible height of the woodpile is 1.5 m. Lumber can be stacked on top with a height of no more than 20 cm. During the work, ensure the strength and stability of the structure. If you notice that the logs are deforming the frame, you should not risk it - it is better to remove the excess boards.
Video description
Visual recommendations for creating woodpiles are in this video:
Tips on how to build a woodpile from firewood so that it does not fall :
- under the first tier of any woodpile there should be a flooring or frame (support, stop);
- do not allow a large distance between the firewood, stack tightly;
- observe the alternation of logs, and not stack them one on the other;
- it is advisable to choose a support on one or several sides of the woodpile (house wall, frame);
- Do not build woodpiles that are too tall or long, which are unstable by design.
If you do not follow these tips, then it is quite possible that the construction of the structure will not only take too much time, but will also become useless, because the risk of its destruction will increase significantly.
Basic methods of storing firewood
- on open air;
- in a special storage;
- under a canopy.
When choosing a particular storage option for products, several factors should be taken into account: type of wood, desired degree of drying, type of area, duration of storage.
Woodpile for firewood: laying methods
The most common option for storing logs is laying them outdoors. There are several types of structures:
- single row straight;
- two-row or more;
- round;
- straight along the wall of the house.
Regardless of the type of construction, general rules must be followed:
1. Laying necessarily requires a previously prepared site (base). It can be brick, wood or concrete.
2. The top of the woodpile is covered with an additional protective layer made of hay, bark, synthetic materials and other structures. But this coating should not interfere with ventilation.
3. Make sure that the place for the woodpile is easily ventilated and is not exposed to direct sunlight, but at the same time, its complete absence is also undesirable.
4. Don’t forget to use additional reinforcements for the structure (sticks, stakes, tree branches).
5. It is important to ensure a convenient approach to the firewood shed without any obstacles, as well as fire safety measures.
If you do not have sufficient experience in stacking firewood, you should not build a large structure; it is still better to start with a small woodpile. By doing this correctly, you will not only preserve the quality of the firewood, but also add an aesthetic touch to your site.
We build a woodshed with our own hands
Construction step by step
Before you start building a house for storing firewood, you need to determine the location, purpose of the structure (long-term or short-term storage), size, and prepare a drawing of the future structure. It’s a good idea to make preliminary calculations based on the material, tools, protective equipment and other construction details.
When the first stage is completed, you can begin preparing the foundation. It can be reinforced concrete, brick (it is best to use red brick for these purposes), or made of cinder block slabs. You can simply install the structure on four concrete blocks to isolate it from ground moisture.
On a ready-made base, a lattice box is made from boards and bars, which consists of transverse, longitudinal and lateral parts. The dimensions of the lumber must correspond to the dimensions indicated in the drawing.
All parts of the frame are connected to each other with metal corners using a screwdriver or a simple screwdriver. The top must be covered with a sheet of professional flooring, slate or soft roofing. It is advisable to make a gable roof with elongated porches so that rainwater does not fall on the masonry. To protect wood from rot, fungus and pests, do not forget to treat it with an antiseptic.
Laying methods
Determining a place on the site and building a woodpile is only half the battle. You need to stack the woodpile according to all the rules.
Rules for storing firewood for long-term storage
The most common arrangement of firewood in a woodpile is stacking. The woodpile is placed parallel to each other with small intervals for natural ventilation. For the first bottom layer, the longest, even logs are selected. The selection is based not only on the length, but also on the shape of the logs. They need to be laid in a certain order, giving stability to the structure.
The woodpile should fit harmoniously into the interior. Don't try to fill the storage to capacity. This will lead to possible deformation of the frame due to the heavy weight, and taking firewood from such a “fortress” wall is not very convenient. The optimal installation height is 1.5-2 meters.
You can stack firewood using the well system; this design will be stable in the absence of side walls of our structure. Many townspeople build such a firewood maker at their dacha with their own hands. In this case, there is no need to resort to sophistication; the main emphasis is on ease of use and easy handling.
Round, oval, and extraordinary stacking of logs look original, but it will take a little more time and require certain skills. For example, when stacking round and oval woodpiles, you need to start by determining their diameter and the center where a thick stick or beam is driven in. The first row of firewood is laid out in a spiral from the outer edge. The circle should be as even as possible, because it will serve as a guide for the entire masonry. The angle of inclination is also very important.
Any misalignment can cause the woodpile to collapse after assembly. When the outer walls of the well reach 50-60 cm, the free space is densely filled with vertical logs. Then everything is repeated until the height of the masonry reaches 1.5 meters. Then the resulting structure must be covered on top either with a roof or with a material that is waterproof and does not allow water and moisture to pass through. This type of firewood rack is used to build a fireplace.
An oval woodpile is created according to the same principle, similar to a round one, only for the strength of installation, the roundings should be additionally reinforced with boards. An oval fireplace log holder looks good in any interior.
Woodpiles of different geometric shapes. Such structures are called fantasy. Fantasy woodpiles are not just storage areas for solid fuel. They will decorate any site and thereby create its owner’s reputation as a creative person with an unconventional mindset. The possibilities for creativity here are endless.
Log shed: harmony in details
A canopy is an important part of a woodpile to preserve its quality characteristics as much as possible. The main function of the canopy is to provide natural ventilation and protect the logs from precipitation. Metal, slate, boards, brick, polyethylene, etc. can be used as a material for a canopy. But the most optimal, according to experienced summer residents, is wood. Its advantages are as follows:
- durability;
- efficiency;
- ease of use;
- aesthetic appearance;
- ease of transportation;
- possibility of quick assembly and disassembly;
- does not require laying a foundation.
The main requirement when constructing a firewood shed is a sufficient level of drying of the material used.
Setting the level is the most important part of the work when erecting a canopy. If you treat this issue negligently, the structure will quickly become unusable.
Recently, polycarbonate products have become especially popular. The material itself is inexpensive and has good quality characteristics. Therefore, it is often used to erect a woodpile canopy.
Base
A woodpile requires a kind of “foundation”: if the wood comes into contact with the ground, either wet or frozen, it will also become wet and inevitably rot.
The base for the woodpile is made using:
- concrete;
- brickwork;
- garden tiles;
- A budget option for a temporary woodpile is plastic film.
Closed firewood
This design can be used for short-term or long-term storage of logs. For example, some owners of suburban areas are building a separate extension within the house, garage or barn.
It’s quite easy to build a woodpile yourself, but unlike a purchased finished product, this design has a lot of advantages. A competent approach from the practical and aesthetic side guarantees the desired result, and a wide selection of ready-made solutions and materials will make the task much easier.
Photo gallery of finished products
The structure performs a decorative function on the site. It was given the appearance of a fairytale house.
The fireplace wall is filled with firewood. This placement gives the room a cozy look, and firewood is always at hand. In addition, wood looks great as a finishing material.
An original solution of concrete rings allows you to compactly stack logs and decorate your garden area.
The mobile woodpile is only gaining popularity. It's good because it doesn't take up much space. The colors are determined by the interior design.
