3 Ideas for Covering Firewood

Winter. The cold, rain, snow and wind are just around the corner and it’s time to start making preparations. Why a firewood cover you ask? There are a few reasons to use one, and a few good reasons to start preparing now.

Why dry seasoned wood is the best wood to burn.

- Completely dry/seasoned wood ignites quicker.

- Dry wood burns much hotter and doesn’t smolder.

- Dry wood creates less smoke because it is burning hotter and not smoldering.

- A HOT burn reduces the chance of creosote build-up in your chimney, which can lead to chimney fires.

The firewood cover offers:

- Year-round protection from the elements (rain, snow, fog, mist) and assists with wood seasoning.

- Covering your wood provides a more aesthetically pleasing sight if you don’t want to see piles of wood around your property, or if HOA’s have a rule on how firewood can/can’t be stored.

- Once wood is dry, a cover will keep the top few layers of seasoned wood from getting wet and moldy.

- A cover can help with keeping your piles contained to a smaller designated area.

Fully seasoned firewood takes a year or more to fully dry out. Unprotected firewood will continue to get wet and start to mold if left uncovered. Damp wood is slow to ignite, slow burning, doesn’t burn as hot as it should, and causes more smoke than is necessary or healthy to breathe.

Your firewood cover can be as simple as using a tarp or plastic secured with bungees, rocks, bricks or wood. Or you can get creative with PVC, EMT, pallets or racks. The most important thing to keep in mind when building your cover is to allow for ventilation. Proper ventilation will help with the drying process, as it lets wind and air flow through your firewood stacks. Sometimes using a tarp directly over your wood doesn’t provide the needed air gap for achieving the right amount of drying. By using some of these ideas provided you can build a dedicated PVC structure to dry your firewood.

Here are 3 ideas for creating an inexpensive and easy PVC cover for your firewood this fall.

1. Lean-to Firewood cover ---- https://youtu.be/zo12n4gSilE

This video shows how to make a quick lean-to style firewood cover out of common things found around the garage/property and a few Circo PVC items.

* Hanging Side Saddle T (#353-H)

* Snap Clamp (#10-#14 depending on size of pipe)

* Screw Eye Bolts

* PVC Pipe and/or EMT Pipe

* Ground stakes/Rebar

* Ratchet Straps/Rope

2. Pitched Style Firewood Cover ---- https://youtu.be/EHLWh2VeoS8

In this video you will see how we built a custom sized firewood cover using 1-Inch PVC pipe and fittings over a partial enclosure. This video shows how our 3-way adjustable fitting (item #243-3F) can allow you to make almost any angle for your pitched roof.

* 3-Way Adjustable Joint Fitting (#243-3F)

* Slip-T (#63-F)

* Snap Clamp (#13)

* PVC Pipe

* Tarp

3. Arched Style Firewood Cover ---- https://youtu.be/rBTs5w-Wjho

This video shows our 1-inch Arched Greenhouse Kit with the open back option, which

will not only allow you to grow year round but you can use it for many things like storing firewood, tractors, gardening supplies and much more! With this greenhouse you would not secure the plastic to the bottom of the frame, but leave a gap at the bottom for air to flow through. See the picture below as an example.

* Arched Greenhouse Kit (#278)

* Additional 1in PVC Pipe

* Side Saddle Tee (#353)

* Snap Clamp (#13)

* Snap Cross (#263)

* Tarp or Plastic

Thank you for reading! For more great ideas or plans visit our site by clicking below.