Getting firewood INTO the house.

[goeduck]

I only carry in what I am going to throw in the fire place, to many bugs and saw dust for me to store it inside. I put a wheel barrow outside my front door and can put about a days worth of wood in it. It is maybe a 15 foot walk and only feed the fire about once a hour. It doesn稚 seem inconvenient to do it that way to me.

Exactly what I do. In my area we have active bugs year round since it is not that cold. Mostly in the 30s and 40s, occasionally 20s. I am going to switch to a 4 wheel cart to get a few days supply next to the front door.

 

[oldtimer 66]

This is what I did 40 years ago. Family room fire place with wood box, heatilator, outside air make up, cold air return full length of house, blower in basement, 2 heat registers to family room,heat registers to (2) bed rooms up stairs, one heat register to garage, wood storage and fill wood box from garage burn approx 9 cord a year, 1.25 sq tubing for book ends no end rows

 

[BoylermanCT]

I store my firewood in IBC cages so I can move them from the far side of the barn where they season to closer to the house right before the first snow flies. Then I fill 3 Rubbermaid bins and haul them to the front door on a Harbor Freight dolly, and then carry each bin into the family room. Have two nice decorative wood holders on each side of the fireplace. 1 bin fills each holder with the 3rd in reserve. 3 bins will last me 2 days, so I get my firewood exercise every other day.

This years project will be to extend the garage roof over the firewood storage bins to keep them dry from snow and rain.

Someday I would like to build a 4x4x4 exterior closet addition to the family room with access from both the inside and outside. Then I can use the tractor to load an IBC cage into the closet and then access the wood from inside. Each cage lasts about 3-4 weeks depending on how cold it is. That would eliminate a lot of the handling of the firewood.

 

[Thomas]

Just be careful when bring wood into house to store your not bring in deer ticks.

 

[Garandman]

They make caddies specifically for firewood. I have one and it sure beats to arm load method.

Go to Amazon and search for "Landmann USA 82427 Log Caddy with Cover".

View attachment 540200

We are not quite that fancy, but use a Harbor Freight big wheel hand truck. Lean it on a chair on the porch, fill it up, bring it in to the storage area by the stove, and lean it on another chair. I can take 3-4X what I can carry.

On sale for as little as $40 sometimes.

700 lb. Capacity Bigfoot Hand Truck

 

[s219]

This is what I did 40 years ago. Family room fire place with wood box, heatilator, outside air make up, cold air return full length of house, blower in basement, 2 heat registers to family room,heat registers to (2) bed rooms up stairs, one heat register to garage, wood storage and fill wood box from garage burn approx 9 cord a year, 1.25 sq tubing for book ends no end rowsView attachment 540373View attachment 540374View attachment 540375

Nice setup!!

 

[Willie B]

I started the house in 1980, moved in in "81. Plan A was to store wood in the cellar, and have a dumbwaiter to the first floor. 8 cords went into the cellar. Two years later, the bug population it supported was a big concern. I switched to a big Mason's wheelbarrow. It was new, clean, and I brainwashed Mrs B. into accepting it inside the house. When the first child started to walk, the wheelbarrow was evicted as a hazard.

I took a couple 5" trees, peeled the bark. Two of the biggest pieces were flattened, and hollowed in middle on a jointer. They are 24" long, and serve as feet. 2" diameter holes are bored vertical. Next up the trunk, two pieces also 24" long were also bored likewise. Next up the trunk, two 5' long pieces lay on them forming a rectangle. Each of those has a hole at each end.

Using a wood lathe, but hand carving would work also, I turned 2View attachment 540458[/ATTACH]View attachment 540459View attachment 540460" tenons on each end of each upright. The whole thing slides together in seconds, and dismantles for summer storage.

These days I have french doors beside the wood stove I can offer a loader bucket full of wood up to.

PS: Mrs B would be horrified for you to see the heap of odd shaped pieces I put on the floor to be burned up first.

 

[s219]

I had a dream last night based on this thread, and awoke realizing the solution to our problem is a small indoor version of a Kubota BX with front loader, sized to fit through 32" door frames and with non-skid tires and electric motor. Oh wait, that is sort of like my daughter's little ride-on Deere tractor....

I had built a couple bins to go on each side of our fireplace, using matching barn wood that is used elsewhere in our great room. One is for firewood, the other for paper, kindling, tools, etc. Works well for us, and I also keep a dustpan nearby to cleanup after bringing in a new load of wood. I'd prefer some sort of trap door or side door, but there's no good solution for that back corner of the house.







Our intermediate woodpile is on the front porch, and can hold 1/3 cord. Normally I can make 3-4 trips with a canvas wood tote to fill the indoor firewood bin and another trip to fill the kindling bin. Sometimes the dog will help me with the kindling, but she is more likely to steal from the bin when we're not looking. Having an indoor supply of sticks must be great when you're a dog.

Where I'd really like to streamline things is restocking the front porch, as I have to travel along a 25' sidewalk and then go up/down 4-5 steps with armfuls of wood to get from the tractor bucket to the porch storage rack. It's not a big deal, but I know that is going to be a chore when I get older. I'm not kidding when I say I have visions of a ramp on the other side of the porch I could use to drive the tractor up alongside and raise the bucket to porch level. That would be killer.

 

[Willie B]

I had a dream last night based on this thread, and awoke realizing the solution to our problem is a small indoor version of a Kubota BX with front loader, sized to fit through 32" door frames and with non-skid tires and electric motor. Oh wait, that is sort of like my daughter's little ride-on Deere tractor....

I had built a couple bins to go on each side of our fireplace, using matching barn wood that is used elsewhere in our great room. One is for firewood, the other for paper, kindling, tools, etc. Works well for us, and I also keep a dustpan nearby to cleanup after bringing in a new load of wood. I'd prefer some sort of trap door or side door, but there's no good solution for that back corner of the house.

View attachment 540506

View attachment 540505

View attachment 540507

Our intermediate woodpile is on the front porch, and can hold 1/3 cord. Normally I can make 3-4 trips with a canvas wood tote to fill the indoor firewood bin and another trip to fill the kindling bin. Sometimes the dog will help me with the kindling, but she is more likely to steal from the bin when we're not looking. Having an indoor supply of sticks must be great when you're a dog.

Where I'd really like to streamline things is restocking the front porch, as I have to travel along a 25' sidewalk and then go up/down 4-5 steps with armfuls of wood to get from the tractor bucket to the porch storage rack. It's not a big deal, but I know that is going to be a chore when I get older. I'm not kidding when I say I have visions of a ramp on the other side of the porch I could use to drive the tractor up alongside and raise the bucket to porch level. That would be killer.

I don't know how heavy your tractor is, but that isn't out of reason. We back the car onto the deck to unload groceries.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Back when I burned wood I would lift a whole pallet full of wood at a time onto the back deck with the three point hitch pallet forks on the tractor. It saved me many a trip vs loading them by hand.