If you are lucky enough to have a beautiful fireplace, you know how comforting it can be to have a fire going on a cool night. A fireplace has the ability to bring people together and warm a house. It is particularly nice to have fires in the winter, and it can also be used to heat a home over the winter. However, actually getting through a winter in Canada can take a lot of wood during the entire season. You never want to run out of wood before the winter is over. Which is why you need to be properly prepared ahead of time and have the right amount of firewood at your disposal.
This means collecting a large amount of wood that is already cut and split and storing it somewhere by your house. You can get this wood from your own property if you cut down one of your own trees or get it delivered from a local arborist. Once you have acquired your wood supplies, it’s time to stack it. Do you know how to properly stack firewood? Five Star Tree Services is going to go over the correct way to stack firewood!
How To Stack Firewood in 3 Easy Steps
There are numerous ways in which you can stack your firewood to store it for the winter. We have come up with these 3 easy steps you can use to help you make this task even easier.
Find A Good Location
If you are using your fireplace as your main heat source for the winter, this means that it will require a substantial amount of wood and a large enough area to stack it for the winter and keep it dry. This requires a place that has a bunch of sunlight and allows the wind to blow through it and dry out the wood pieces.
Put In End Posts
You can do this step in a few different ways. One of the quickest is if you happen to have two trees that are at least 5 feet apart but the most ideal would be if they were 15-16 feet apart. Another inexpensive and quick option would be to build a wood rack. If you don’t have two trees, you can cut wood pieces in order to make end-pillars. When making this, think about Jenga, take three pieces that are roughly the same size and lay them tightly beside one another going in one direction and then take another three pieces and lay them on top of the first three but in the opposite direction. Repeat this process of alternating the direction until you have an end pillar that is roughly 4 feet tall.
Proceed To Stack
After you have your end-pillars, you can start laying your pieces of wood in single rows in between these posts. Make sure they are close together in order to maximize the amount of wood you will be able to stack. This also helps to minimize any shifting that might occur over time. But you do want to leave some room for wind to go through between the pieces. There is a bit of trial and error involved to see that pieces fit well together in order to have small enough gaps between each piece. Make sure to go back and forth when stacking, not building vertically but horizontally as you go between your end posts. This means creating one line at a time to help keep the pile even and not lopsided, which could potentially lead to it becoming unstable and falling over while you are still stacking it. Continue this process until you come to the top of your posts, which should be about 4 feet. Now all you have to do is let them sit and dry out.
Bark Up or Down?
This is a heavily debated question that many people argue. The short answer really comes down to personal preference and how you are going to be storing your wood. If you put the wood bark side down, there is a potential to trap moisture between the bark and wood, which can slow the drying process. If you are planning to keep your wood outside and exposed to the weather, it is best to stack it bark side up. Whereas if you are going to keep the wood in an area with a roof, away from the weather, you can stack it with the bark side down. Stacking it this way can actually make it easier to pick it up later on.
How Five Star Tree Services Can Help
Using wood to heat your house can be beneficial and knowing how to properly store it for the winter is also another important aspect. If you need any assistance with any sort of Toronto Tree Care, don’t hesitate to contact Five Star Tree Services at (416) 990-3355.