No Firewood in the Basement.

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Trx250r180, basements are very uncommon around here too, and I have heard all of the reasons/excuses which includes a high water table and fear of flooding from rains. When I decided to build my own home one of the parameters for me, living in tornado country, was a full basement. Mine was poured 3 summers ago and I am nearing completion on my home (yes it takes time to DIY a whole house). The only time I have seen a wet basement was before I had a roof on the place. I do have a foundation drain tile, as any poured basement should, to get rid of ground water that might otherwise seep in but you will see that anywhere. I have come to the conclusion that it is contractors cutting corners is the reason so few homes have basements.

Basements are a must here. It really doesn't save much money after putting in 4' frost walls anyway and pouring a cap of cement over the excavated ground, you really are only paying for 4' more of wall and a finished floor instead of just floated or screed off. Now some may argue, not trying to start something, but only speaking of my area. It has been found that it is too difficult to keep the chill out of a house if building on a straight slab and if you don't pour a cement cap over the dirt in a crawl space the odor of the ground eventually seeps into the home. Like I said, around my area.
 
...firewood rots if left uncovered in stacks outside...
If it ain't cut to length, split and stacked on some sort of moisture barrier it won't last here either... and some species won't last more than a couple years period.
But, 'round here anyway, for the most part, "firewood" is the dense hardwoods such as oak, hickory, maple, elm and whatnot... the softer "soaks up water like a sponge" stuff is passed by or used as bonfire fodder. That's not to say some of that "other" wood don't end up in the stacks... sometimes it's necessary to cut some sacrificials to clear a fall/work zone. Regardless... anything left in logs, especially with the bark attached or in contact with the ground will have a limited shelf life.
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The damp climate here ,the bugs hide under the bark ,and firewood rots if left uncovered in stacks outside ,needs to be in a shed or be covered to last any amount of time ,we do not have basements out here either , too much rain ,so they would leak or me moldy in no time ,i had a pretty good sized pile of firewood decked 4 years ago ,i am just now getting to cleaning it up 80% i had to put in a bon fire from being rotten or punky already ,some of the bigger fir and cedar was ok ,all the alder was junk .
most of this went into a bon fire

View attachment 420395
Hows that Stihl engine work in that skid steer?! Never seen that done before! :rolleyes: :laugh: :innocent:
 
Hows that Stihl engine work in that skid steer?! Never seen that done before! :rolleyes: :laugh: :innocent:
actually has a little wisconsin gas in it ,i use the crap out of that old machine ,have a bucket ,and a set of forks i modded to fit it ,2 pins and they swap bucket to forks real quick ,had no where to put the saw so made a scabbard out of wood and bolted it back there ,was just given a mini cat has the same engine on it ,guy kept the dozer blade though ,engine got water in it from sitting , but i got it broke loose with atf /acetone solution ,clear water came out after it broke free ,need to get a carb on it now see if it will run again .bay cat 016.JPG
 
around here if you have spiders in your basement then you do not have radon gas. northeast that is.
 
around here if you have spiders in your basement then you do not have radon gas. northeast that is.
Hmm, if that's true then it must not be very reliable.
My inlaws had radon so bad they had to have two blower systems put in and they occasionally would see HUGE wolf spiders (before the radon system)
 
Well... sadly... the "basement spiders = no radon" thing appears to be a myth.
A quick internet search... spiders and insects have short life spans, they don't live long enough to be affected by radon. Basically, if there ain't no spiders in your basement it likely means there ain't nothin' in your basement for them to eat.
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Damn, and here I was goin' out to buy a "gaggle" of spiders instead of a radon detector. Thanks Spidey, you probably just saved my life.
FOR SURE ON THE SAVE CLINT! NO ONE SHOULD SAY THAT SPIDY DONT EARN IS KEEP AROUND HERE!! you are the testimonial to his best work saving you the way he did!! now you will have to give "spidy 100+ likes" for his input!! lol
 
sorry about that next time i will check before i type.
Oh man... don't apologize.
I said "appears" from a quick internet search... the internet don't make it fact by a long shot.
I ain't debunking or confirming anything... just reporting, and what I found can't be attributed to "expert" testimony neither.
Heck, I'm hopin' ya' are right... I've got spiders in my basement (OK now, no jokes about me :D), I just ain't found any conformation.
Ya' know?? Trust, but verify??
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