Will wood season in my basement?

[DoorgunnerFMJ]

I have been burning wood my whole life and have always dried all of my wood outside for at least one season. This year I am doing something different. Last year I cut down about 7 cords of silver maple, and left them in 44 inch log lengths, stacked, and on pallets. Its now been 1 year and I am cutting them in half, splitting them, and stacking the wood in my basement. In the basement I have a box fan circulating the air and a dehumidifier running. Its obvious that at the moment it is humid down there, but that is to be expected. I took a sample piece of wood, marked it for identification and weighed it. Currently it weighs 5 Pounds 10.2 OZ. I will update with weights and when it comes to burning season the woods performance. If anyone has any input or personal experiences I would love to hear them. Thank you in advance.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

My folks heated with wood for about 35 years. Wood was seasoned at least a year, usually 2-3 outside and then brought in. Even still, always had really high humidity in the house (sealed up well).
They heat with coal now and without the wood in the basement, the humidity has been low enough to need a humidifier in winter.

 

[anlrolfe]

Growing up we had a big KING circulator similar to the Ashley down in the basement. Probably 1/2 the heat went up the chimney.
There was a Bilco door down into the basement into the "L" under a back porch that held about 3-cord stacked wide and high.
We'd bring in the well seasoned wood in first. Not so much trouble with bugs but we'd spray as a precaution.
Easy access to the wood in foul weather made it nice keeping the stove stoked up. Half asleep in the morning walking around in slippers w/ cup of mud.
Dad's workbench was down there as well and sometimes would get too hot unless we'd crank up a box fan.
The basement was unfinished and convection up through the basement door and custom return vents cut below the windows on 1st floor allowed good gravity air flow.

 

[NSMaple1]

I have been burning wood my whole life and have always dried all of my wood outside for at least one season. This year I am doing something different. Last year I cut down about 7 cords of silver maple, and left them in 44 inch log lengths, stacked, and on pallets. Its now been 1 year and I am cutting them in half, splitting them, and stacking the wood in my basement. In the basement I have a box fan circulating the air and a dehumidifier running. Its obvious that at the moment it is humid down there, but that is to be expected. I took a sample piece of wood, marked it for identification and weighed it. Currently it weighs 5 Pounds 10.2 OZ. I will update with weights and when it comes to burning season the woods performance. If anyone has any input or personal experiences I would love to hear them. Thank you in advance.

I would expect that wood to still be not dry enough inside. Did you happen to check moisture with a MM after splitting?

Moving the air around down there is a definite help - I'd say a must-do. My wood always went in seasoned. But the odd year was surface-damp from a recent rain that didn't have time to dry off. At those times, I set up a dehumidifier down there too - but once the (unheated) basement temps dropped below 60f or so (late fall), the dehumidifier didn't do much. They don't work well if at all in cool temps. The offsetting thing there was as more time went by, the outside (therefore also inside) air got drier (early winter) so the fan moving air around was more effective than it was earlier.

 

[svk]

Old thread!

Really depends on the basement. Some are super moist and others are bone dry. Even in a basement with low humidity you will need a fan until the wood gets down into the mid 20% range to prevent mold. I would bet it would take longer than outside though.

 

[NSMaple1]

One idea I had but didn't follow through on: those so-called 'basement dehumidifier' things. It's like a box that runs up your basement wall with an outlet up top to the outdoors, and a fan in it. The idea of them was to dehumidify your house by pulling moist air from your basement floor area & sending it outdoors, but pretty sure they fail as a dehumidifier and cause issues with air infiltration etc.. But one would work pretty good, I think, for moving air around in your basement & helping to dry the wood & prevent mold etc., if you buried it in your wood pile & the outlet at the top just directed the air back out into your basement across the top of your wood pile. If you stack on pallets there would be an airspace under your wood that would continuously circulate. If I explained that right. I think they even have a humidity switch on them, might run automatically. Was going to look for a used one since they were sort of a fail at what they were meant for, but didn't. Or haven't yet, at least.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

I tried desperately to solve that issue of damp wood. I have about 1,500 sf of garage space which seemed like a perfect location to keep wood dry and for seasoning the wood. So I stacked about 5 to 7 cords in one of my buildings thinking I had reinvented the perfect wheel. What really happened was the moisture was trapped inside the building with no way to get it out. Yeah fans really helped. A much better solution was to get the wood dry and keep it dry before January which is typically very damp. A carport style storage with fan was very effective. When freezing conditions exist turn on the fans and viola the wood can dry out very well or when humidity is low. Thanks

 

[svk]

One idea I had but didn't follow through on: those so-called 'basement dehumidifier' things. It's like a box that runs up your basement wall with an outlet up top to the outdoors, and a fan in it. The idea of them was to dehumidify your house by pulling moist air from your basement floor area & sending it outdoors, but pretty sure they fail as a dehumidifier and cause issues with air infiltration etc.. But one would work pretty good, I think, for moving air around in your basement & helping to dry the wood & prevent mold etc., if you buried it in your wood pile & the outlet at the top just directed the air back out into your basement across the top of your wood pile. If you stack on pallets there would be an airspace under your wood that would continuously circulate. If I explained that right. I think they even have a humidity switch on them, might run automatically. Was going to look for a used one since they were sort of a fail at what they were meant for, but didn't. Or haven't yet, at least.

I've never seen one with an intake and exhaust, just one that sucks moisture from the air and either deposits it in a bucket or runs it down a floor drain.

They work well if you have a unit that can keep up with the size of the room.

 

[anlrolfe]

I wouldn't put unseasoned wood in an unheated/conditioned basement to just sit and mold. It will mold the wood or mold your house.

 

[NSMaple1]

I wouldn't put unseasoned wood in an unheated/conditioned basement to just sit and mold. It will mold the wood or mold your house.

I would not do that either. Has to be seasoned before entry.

 

[Little Al]

I wouldn't put unseasoned wood in an unheated/conditioned basement to just sit and mold. It will mold the wood or mold your house.

+ all the wood boring/ravaging insects will make a feast of your stud walling

 

[NSMaple1]

+ all the wood boring/ravaging insects will make a feast of your stud walling

I have never seen that actually happen. Everyone around here who burns wood puts all their winters wood in the basement in the fall. Seasoned, that is.

 

[Little Al]

I have never seen that actually happen. Everyone around here who burns wood puts all their winters wood in the basement in the fall. Seasoned, that is.

That is probably/possibly the reason you have suffered no creepy/crawlies ( The timber is Seasoned) you are more or less guaranteed a selection of livestock if it"s freshly cut/unseasoned logs.Depends somewhat on the species of wood.

 

[GVS]

It would take a lot longer to.Chances are you could get some of mold growing through out your house, from all the moisture coming out of the wood.I stack mine outside on pallets and cover the top.Leaving the sides open to vent.

Not to mention the bugs that are probably living in the wood.

 

[DoorgunnerFMJ]

It's been 2 weeks since last entry and here is the update. Original weight was 5lbs 10.2 OZ which is 2558 grams, the new weight is 4lbs 13.6 OZ which is 2200 grams. That's a 12.6 OZ loss in 2 weeks which equates to a 14% drop in weight. Any food for thought would be appreciated.

 

[svk]

Well that is coming along nicely. I would bet if you re-split a piece the area towards the ends and the original split size will start to look drier.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

It's been 2 weeks since last entry and here is the update. Original weight was 5lbs 10.2 OZ which is 2558 grams, the new weight is 4lbs 13.6 OZ which is 2200 grams. That's a 12.6 OZ loss in 2 weeks which equates to a 14% drop in weight. Any food for thought would be appreciated.

That is quite remarkable. Still chewing on it.

 

[NSMaple1]

How much water do you dump from your dehumidifier every day? Or week or whatever?

Or maybe it's just going to drain?

 

[rarefish383]

Old thread!

Really depends on the basement. Some are super moist and others are bone dry. Even in a basement with low humidity you will need a fan until the wood gets down into the mid 20% range to prevent mold. I would bet it would take longer than outside though.

Yep, old thread. Started to ask who pulled this up, then saw it was a new guy. So instead of cussing, I'll say welcome. Some stuff I just don't get. Been heating with wood for 40 plus years. Saying seasoned wood has less bugs makes no sense at all. If I cut and split green wood right now and take it in the basement, and take a quick look to make sure there are no bugs on it, the only bugs that can get on it are ones in the basement. If I let it sit outside for a year, there all kinds of spiders and bugs on it. Have to brush it clean before bringing it in. What's the humidity level in your house? The wood will equalize to your house, not the other way around. Since your experiment showed a drop in water content, that's your answer. Unless you have an old farm house with a dirt floor in the basement, your wood will dry out in the basement. I have 2 dehumidifiers in my basement, one draws 6 quarts and the other draws 4 quarts per day. I live in the Metro Wash. D.C, area, quite humid and damp, Joe.

 

[rarefish383]

I tried desperately to solve that issue of damp wood. I have about 1,500 sf of garage space which seemed like a perfect location to keep wood dry and for seasoning the wood. So I stacked about 5 to 7 cords in one of my buildings thinking I had reinvented the perfect wheel. What really happened was the moisture was trapped inside the building with no way to get it out. Yeah fans really helped. A much better solution was to get the wood dry and keep it dry before January which is typically very damp. A carport style storage with fan was very effective. When freezing conditions exist turn on the fans and viola the wood can dry out very well or when humidity is low. Thanks

Ted, I think the big difference is that a house has a heating system and an out building doesn't. I stacked several cords in our pole barn and it dried out great. We have a heat pump and it has a dehumidifier built in. It has a constant stream of water draining out of the house. If the heat pump has a moisture setting, everything in the house will soon be at that level, Joe.