What do you haul the firewood into the house with?

[Wayne02]

Questions for those who use wood heat and have to keep a continual stream of wood coming into the house to keep the wood-stove going.

How do you stage the wood by the fireplace ready for use? Is it in a rack, in a box, on the floor???

What do you use to haul the wood into the house - a box, one of those canvas cradle things, armload, handtruck???

How much wood do you stage by the stove in any given day? How frequently do you have to replenish this wood? Do you have to make more than one or two trips out to the woodpile each day?

Currently I use some rubbermaid totes to haul in from the woodpile, usually two of them each trip with one or two trips per day. Used to be I could carry these totes from the woodpile to the house, but as I get older I find I have to use a handtruck to get them to the house, but that can get kind of dicey sometimes as I have to go up two steps.

I try to handle the firewood as few times as possible in it's journey from the woodpile to the stove to reduce waste of handling, but I'm thinking about building a rack next to the hearth to hold a days worth of wood instead of letting these ugly totes sit around on the living room floor. This adds additional handling though as the wood would need to be unloaded from the totes into the rack and then again from the rack to the woodstove when needed.

Or, another thought I had was to use a sacrificial handtruck and weld a U shaped cradle of sorts on the bottom which would extend out a bit and then up parallel to the handtruck handle. The handtruck then becomes a tall rolling cradle capable of handling a days worth of firewood (2.5 totes). I roll the handtruck right into the house and position it next to the hearth up against the wall, and just pick wood from it for the stove. This method would entail no double handling.

However, I see two problems with this idea. One is the modified handtruck may be a bit tippy when fully loaded depending on how high I make the cradle, and the other is really the potential deal breaker... that is the handtruck tires pick up all manner of debris, mud, and snow on the trip from the woodpile to the house and all that mess would get rolled across the living room carpet...

What do you do?

[Cookiecows]

I use the wheel barrow to haul from wood pile and stack against the house near the sliding glass door and then I use two of the rubbermaid type round barrel design with rope handles... I open the sliding glass door just enough for the barrel to sit in the opening so the little dogs can't get out while I throw the logs into it from the outside and then push over by the fireplace!! Usually it's two trips for the whole day and then I let the fire die out in evening and use electric heat at night if the house cools way down.

I'm a grandma so I push or pull.. don't carry! :baby04: ....a young grandma! LOL

[hunter63]

It used to be customary to put the wood pile between the door and the out house, and any one that uses the out house brings in an arm load of wood.

We don't have any out house, but the pile is next to the parking area, on the way to the door.
Stage on metal rack next to the stove.

[SHELBY]

Our woodstove is a bigger one in the basement, we stack the wood behind the house, and when we need wood we open the window and drop it in.

I guess that really wouldn't help you though,

My Dad has a fireplace in their house and what he does is throws the wood in the basement and uses a crate to bring it up. The fireplace has a spot that is built in to hold firewood, so after that is filled he's good for 2-3 days, but they only burn at night .

[RosewoodfarmVA]

I'm in the habit everytime I come inside I grab an armload. The shed's 40 feet from the door, so no matter where I'm coming from it's on the way in! Being a bachelor, I just plop it down in front of the stove! I know...messy, but I'll sweep every evening after I fill up for the night.

[cathleenc]

I use my husband.

But - I really use my arms more than anything. I just make a habit of grabbing an armful whenever going in/out without being 'full up' already.

[ihedrick]

It's not much help, but I dangle the truck keys in front of my 13 yr old. He gets to drive the wood from the pile to the house, but has to bring it in. Win win situation! We keep a day's worth, brought in by hand near the stove. The pile is off to the side of the house. Sometimes, when he REALLY wants to drive; he will bring a small tailgate load from the pile and stack near the front door.

[hillsidedigger]

Actually, we don't currently heat with wood but are in the process of building a stove room on the end of the house. The 275 gallons of kerosene delivered early last season for the Monitor heater is just over half gone now.

I guess I will carry it one stick in each hand.

[hunter63]

Originally Posted by hillsidedigger

and use a 'Bobcat' to get the wood into the living room and dump the wood right into the stove, the heck with touching the wood. Wood's icky, its got mold and dirt on it.

LOL, that's what the DW says, and that she is allergic to mold (and most icky stuff in general).

[Cash]

Those big five-gallon buckets. Four of them will last most of the day.

[sisterpine]

We use a wheel barrow as well, fill it up at the wood shed push it about 75 feet to the front door, push it inside the door and empty it into the wood box I built beside the wood stove (which is surrounded in red brick). The wood box holds 2-3 days worth of wood and there is a larger one on the front porch from which we can get more if needed quickly. sis

[GrannyG]

I have a big wood cart I bought from Garden Way years ago and we fill it with wood, then bring it up to the porch, cover it with a blue tarp held down by 4 heavy weights on each corner...are you ready for this?...an old heavy jack and three window weights. LOL. It works, just keeps it fine till we need to bring in a few pieces. We sometimes put the wood on the cement blocks by the stove if they are damp,

[NEOhioSmiths]

We keep a 5 to 7 day supply in the garage. The wall where the fireplace is located (we have an insert) is the same wall that divides the house from the garage, so half of the brick fireplace is visible in the garage (I hope that makes sense?). There is a nice alcove formed between part of the fireplace and a wall so I usually back the truck to the wood pile, load up about a weeks worth (can last as few as 4 days if it's really cold), then back truck into garage and stack. I usually start the fire in the morning for my wife and put a few extra splits on the hearth. She goes out in the garage a couple of more times to grab a few splits to keep the fire going throughout the day.

[RedneckPete]

Cardboard banana boxes were my favorite until I got kids old enough to do it for me. They use a red wagon, load it up, toss it into the mud room, close one door and open the other, then all the kids, including the two year old run it over and stack it next to the stove.

I rarely bring in wood these days.

Pete

[wvcowpatty]

We have our wood about 60 feet from the house in a shed where it's dry. To get it inside the garage, we built three sides on a wooden pallet. My husband uses the forks on the tractor to carry the pallet full of wood from the shed to the garage. Once it's at the entrance to the garage, we place a furniture dolly under the wood pallet and roll it into the garage by the door. This keeps the wood dry and we only have to refill it every 5 to 7 days. The reason we have to use the dolly is because the tractor won't fit inside the garage (it's too tall).

Once the wood is inside the garage, we purchased a wagon from Tractor Supply. It has sides on it about 8 or 10 inches high. The sides are metal, but wood chips can fall through them. To keep the wood chips inside the wagon, I used an old sheet and sewed it around all the sides. The wagon can be pulled through the house to the door, filled up, and returned to sit beside the fireplace.

This is the best solution we have come up with. It keeps the wood off the floor (except a bit when you're loading it at the door), and we only have to fill it once a day.

Several of our friends have seen our wagon and they think it's really cute, looks good sitting by the fireplace, and the fact that I don't have to carry wood and spill the woodchips and debris thoughout the house has made a huge difference in keeping the floors clean.

Hope this helps or maybe gives you some ideas.

I've been cutting and splitting wood right next to my front porch. Then I stack it on the porch. Holds a good rick or more. Then if I get ambishes, or the threat of extreme cold weather or rain, I haul by the arm loads and stack a days worth next to the wood stove. My woodstove is located right close to the front door. So no biggy to just use my arms for carrying.

[Shadow]

Everyother day when cold enough to use the wood heater I haul a front end loader full on the tractor from the fire wood shed to the front of the studio there I load it on to a old childs toy wagon. It has a wood bed with wood sideboards and holds the whole two days fire wood. Then we roll it into the sunroom where the heater is. Everyone wants the antique wagon but it is just right to haul and hold the wood. The wood yard where we cut and split the wood and the wood shed is about 800 feet from the house but with the tractor and front end loader who cares.

[tamsam]

We try to keep most of our wood under the roof on the porch. It goes around the side and across the front. Most of the time the wheel borrow is lodded and then transfered to a tote box on hand trucks. It is then brought in and stacked against the wall beside the heater so it can dry if needed. The wall is covered with alum flashing so as not to tear up the wall and to help reflect heat back into the room. There is patio block all in that corner about 8ft wide and 6 ft deep for the heater to sit on. Usually 2 totes last a day but if temps are real cold we use coal which is in 5 gal buckets. If we burn coal alone usually 2 buckets last a day and the buckets are what we haul it in from the mine. Just a little off to the side here but for those building on for a heater here is a neat idea. My daughters inlaws heat with wood down in NC and beside their heater they have a door in the wall which opens into a hutch built onto the house. On the out side the hutch has a door and they stack it full from the outside and close the door and presto open it inside and there is your wood. It is insulated and the door fits tight and no heat loss. I would have had that here but no way with this old log house. Stay warm. Sam

[mwhit]

I walk to the woodshed, load up my arms (3-5 pieces depending on size), walk to the house (about 75 feet) and up the steps, open the door (yes, I mentioned that 'cause it's tricky opening the door with my arms full) and put it in the closet in the hallway.

I also stack a bunch beside the stove so I don't have to walk to the hall everytime I throw in a few chunks of wood. I keep about 1/2 cord on the porch in case we get an ice storm-- I don't want to walk across the driveway with wood on ice.

Michelle

[Quint]

I bring it from the woodpile to the house either on my ATV or in a trailer I pull behind it. I then load it up on a hand truck that converts to a little four wheeled cart. I then bring it in to the fireplace and fill up the wood rack and then stack it to one side of the fireplace.

One of these trips is usually enough for most of the day. I may have to go back out and get some more to get through till next morning. Generally though I can get by with one trip a day.