I am considering converting the area under my deck into firewood storage. The deck is 12′ x 16′ x 9′ high (Treated), with 4 x 4’s spaced 4′ to 6′ apart. There is an 8″ drop from the door onto the deck.
I’m thinking of a concrete floor, and framing between the 4 x 4’s with plywood on exterior and vinyl to match the house.
My main question is how to frame the ceiling and how to weather proof it. Not sure if I should use rubber, or steel, or….?
My budget is a concern and if I would have to remove the deck to accomplish the ceiling framing I’ll probably go back to the drawing board.
Any insight you guy’s have would be greatly appreciated.
Replies
You can likely build the roof in advance, raise it up and then frame the structure beneath it. Leave adequate airspace between the roof and the underside of floor joists.
I imagine this can be done and look like a trailer-park quality project or a structure that goes well with its surroundings. It's all in the planning and execution I guess.
http://www.petedraganic.com/
Thanks Pete, I'm definately not going for the trailer park look.
I'd caution you against putting your wood next to your house because chewing insects in the dead wood can migrate to your walls.
Thanks splintergroupie, good point.
A big AMEN to that, splinter!!
I recently met with a homeowner to talk about some termite problems in his garage. One entire outside wall was covered with firewood (nicely stacked to allow good air circulation), and a smaller stack inside. The HO was really proud of his "system" where he brought wood inside for a week (or so) during the rainy season so it would be nice and dry when he took it in the house (to another pile against the wall). He was devastated when I told him that the termites in the garage had probably come from his wood piles - and that it was a good bet that they were in the family room wall as well.
Ouch.I was delivering some of my woodworking to a gallery in Glacier Park. The lady invited me to 'listen' to her woodpile: no lie, you could actually hear their munching, a sort of squeaky sound. I don't know if the termites, carpenter ants, or whatever they were wintered underground or managed to survive aboveground inside the wood, but they were VERY hungry!
I've never heard anything munching on firewood, but I've heard that dogs can be trained to find the little beggars. I don't know if they smell them or hear them, though.
I had carpenter ants chewing tunnels in the EPS foam insulation in my basement. Several days I heard a scratching sound from that area, couldn't figure out what it was. And if I made a loud noise it would stop. Then the ex was on me for not sweeping up the foam "sawdust" (I had finished it months before, it wasn't me), so I looked. Up. And saw a phalanx of ants staring at me from the top edge of the foamboard, pushing green foam pieces onto the floor. When I shined a flashlight on them, they retreated. After a couple of weeks trying ant traps, I got an exterminator in there.
I never would have believed it if I hadn't heard the noise myself.
I have a friend who discovered carpenter ants in his house (in a wall). He also mentioned that he could hear them munching away in a pile in his garage. I suggested to him that he may want to move the wood outside, he said he thought about it but still didn't seem too alarmed about it. He found it amuzing.
Another friend/client I was doing some work for, found out they were was keeping a BIG pile of firewood in the basement. Gently told them it wasn't a good idea, that any bugs in the wood are likely to relocate to a more comfortable area of the house. They said their firewood is clean, they've been doing it for years. !?!
The termite problem is not an issue here in Minnesota. We do have Carpenter ants. My firewood goes straight to the fireplace, No storing inside.
If your moving ahead with this. Their is a guttering system they make that fits under each deck joists and panels you install between each joist. Makes a dry roof and is unatrusive from outside. Sorry I can't recall the brand, but they were available some years back.
Remember to raise the side panels up off grade, due to frost heaving. I would also be concerned if the added panels could cause a windshir issue with the 4X4 posts.
Good luck
Hammer, thanks for the info. Under the deck would make a great home for the mower, and alot of other things I currently have in the garage, so I think I'll check into it. But for now I think I'll play it safe and build an unattached woodshed.
Sounds like a great way to talk SWMBO into an outdoor woodstove (I.E. "Woodmaster").
Wasn't sure what a Woodmaster was, but I Googled it. Just as I suspected. These things are disgusting (a neighbour has one). It shuts off the air to control the fire, so most of the time it is just simmering. It belches smoke and smells like creosote. Most inefficient wood heat you can get, I imagine.
Goldenboy, From what i've heard woodmaster's are pretty efficient (not that any woodstove is perfect). But what they may lack in efficiency they make up for in safety. No chance of burning the house down with a chimney fire.
I live in a rural area on 10 acres, so the neighbors wont be smoked out all the time. In my opinion, no downsides except the cost (they are not cheap).
Hi Knight,
Don't know what you have heard about efficiency, but with a good system you could burn all that smoke, turning it into heat, and eliminating the pollution. If you burn all the smoke, there is almost no creosote being deposited in your chimney, so chances of a chimney fire are slim. So little danger of burning down the house.
The problem is incomplete combustion, caused by lack of air to the fire. When the thermostat is satisfied(the water is hot eneough), the stove turns off the combustion air, so the stove smoulders, emitting smoke(and lots of it).
What a good system does is to allow ample air for a clean burn, and stores the heat for later distribution. I know of 2 types.
One is a masonry wood heater. I have a Temp-Cast. It stores the heat in about 5000 lbs of masonry. The fire burns white hot, heating up the mass and radiating it to my living room, dining room and kitchen. I love it. There is some sawdust and bark in the living room where we fire it, and you have to build a fire once or twice a day. I use 6 pieces of kindling and about 6 sheets of newspaper each time. There is some smoke for about 5-10 min. just after lighting the fire.
Another system is a wood fired boiler, which heats hot water. My neighbour has a system like this. Hot water is stored in a 1000 gal insulated underground tank. This system has a fan to induce combustion air to the firebox. It is quite a bit more complicated with a fan, pump, thermostats, etc. He says it was the same price as a woodmaster. You would need to add the water storage tank, I think.
Plus you would get a warm fuzzy feeling knowing you are not smoking out the neighbours. And wood is not free if you count your labour, so efficiency does matter!
I do not know the brand name of the hot water boiler type systems, but can find out if you are interested. I know of 2 different ones.
Thanks for reading my rant. JM.
The first one you wrote on is also called a Russian stove isn't it?
I had someone trying to talk me into one. Interesting design and concept. My wife would have killed me not being able to see the fire in the fireplace after spending all that money on a house.
As noted we have a Tempcast. It does have a glass firing door, and a glass oven, former opening to living room, later to kitchen. We have a fire every night,about the time we are cooking dinner. We enjoy watching the fire.
Then the masonry heats up and glows warm all night. It is great to lean against in the morning. I can always find a warm rock to rub that knoted shoulder or back muscle on.
I'm sure your wife would love one. JM.
Goldenboy,
I think the boiler you are referring to is called a wood gasification boiler. The best one I could find was made by (or marketed by) Garn. I recall seeing one other company making a wood gasification boiler but after getting Garn's literature and talking to them on the phone I was pretty well sold on their system.The only drawback I see is that you have to be somewhat of an engineer by nature to run a system like that. I don't see it as rocket science but any newcomer to the system will have to do some learning before they can effectively operate it.If I put one in and then was hospitiized, jailed, or otherwise not there to run it, I don't think a housesitter, tenant or anyone else living in the house would find it very intuitive unless they are something of an engineer by nature.It seems like a helluva way to use firewood effectively if you have plenty of it and like to cut it.Karl
Stored wood under a large open porch many years ago at our first house. To prevent the water raining down on top of the wood pile we installed pitched corrugated roofing panels under the deck joists. Worked slick. We left enough space at the cement foundation to allow getting a hose up there to wash down pine needles and debris off the panels.
As for chewing insects I stored firewood in my basement for nearly 10 years without worry. A light spray of insecticide (Dursban) around the sill plates and never saw any type of ant or spider in the basement. The inside storage of wood worked so well that on the new house we built I designed a place for it. However, I would never store firewood against a wooden wall of any kind.
Firewood needs to be stored so that it receives constant air circulation. The walls of real woodsheds are frequently covered with staggered plank; in other words, planks nailed vertically to horizontal furring, on both sides of the framing, but leaving ¾ of the width of a plank between the adjoining planks on each face, and staggered so the planks on the opposite face 'cover' the open spaces.
It's also common to have a non-solid floor. Skids work very well because they can be pulled out every year or two and the accumulated bark and chips raked away.
The roof is generally corrugated iron or (nowadays) sheet-steel roofing, laid on skip sheathing. Freestanding sheds will have either a gable roof at 12/12, or a shed-roof at 6/12.
For your application, I would keep it simple. Skip the concrete slab; rake and tamp the earth flat and solid, lay a couple of inches of ¾" gravel, and put in some skids. Or build a skid-like floor of 4x4 sleepers (hemlock or cedar would be best) with 5/4 x 4 rough plank set on 8" centers perpendicular to the way you will stack your logs. Drive T-rail fence posts solidly into the ground to act as 'bookends' for each row of cordwood. You will wire the top of these rails to the center of the floor in each row as you stack; that will prevent the wood from spreading them.
Now build a sloped crib about six inches under the deck joists and install some corrugated Fibreglas¯ or steel roofing under it. Make sure there's enough pitch to drain it properly, and run it far enough so that it drains outside the storage area. Dig a 6"x6" trench under the drip line of the eaves, line it with 90# felt, and fill it with ½" gravel. Drain it from one end with a section of flexible 'french drain' pipe running to daylight or a rock pit.
Finally, build a curtain wall of staggered plank hanging from the underside of the 'roof' so that it's at least 6" to a foot inside the drip line. Anchor the bottom of the curtain wall to a stake driven into the ground every 6 feet or so. Make sure you build the doors wide enough for your wheelbarrow.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
Besides the insects, I'd also be concerned about mice taking up residence in a wood pile sitting right next to the house - no reason to encourage them to hang around.
Thanks to everybody for the input.
I have a "Fire Chief" woodstove, that is ducted into my nat. gas furnace (I call it wood assist but not sure if that is an appropriate way to describe it).
Last year I built two 2' x 4' x 2' high plywood boxes with wheels and hinged, screened tops to help the wood dry once inside. the boxes fit in my mechanical room, where my stove is, so it's fairly convenient for loading.
I am currently not working ( lost my free day care, and can't justify working full time just to pay day care). So I thought I would kick the woodstove into overdrive to save some $$. This is where the wood shed discussion comes in.
At this point I'm thinking I may be better served by focusing my energy on keeping the wood I already have stored under the deck (not covered, but not in direct contact with house) dry, and continue on with my current system.
I appreciate all the input and any other thoughts anyone has.