Beginner’s Guide to Stacking Wood: Three Ways

Why wood heat?

I am not quite sure where my love for the open flame began, but one thing is for certain; I find fulfillment in keeping my house warm with a renewable resource like wood heat.  I have always enjoyed the ambiance of sitting around the campfire. The idea of utilizing wood to generate heat for my household took on a whole lot more meaning when I moved to Northern Minnesota.

Living in a major metropolitan area like St. Paul really limited the feasibility of burning wood to produce household heat.  While I would have loved to have a wood stove to cozy up to during the cold winters, availability of wood, limited storage space, relatively cheap natural gas and the potential for negative environmental impact of burning wood in an urban area prevented me from pursuing wood as a source of energy.

Burning wood in rural Northern Minnesota is not only more feasible due to the availability of cheap, abundant hardwoods (mostly Birch, Maple, and Ash), the cost of fuel in the north country makes wood burning heat sources much more attractive and cost effective.  

Due to the abundance of bedrock and lack of topsoil, it is incredibly difficult if not impossible to bury natural gas lines in the area, making natural gas – generally the cleaner, cheaper alternative – out of the question.  We do have access to fuel oil, which is generally the primary heat source in older homes, but it is almost twice as expensive as natural gas.

Fortunately, the house my wife and I bought last year came equipped with both a fuel oil furnace, as well as a high-efficiency, forced-air, wood burning gasification furnace (https://www.lamppakuuma.com/). These USA built wood-burning furnaces generate almost zero emissions if used and cleaned properly, which includes properly seasoning all firewood before burning.

Lamppa Kuuma Vapor-Fire 100 Wood Burning Furnace built less than 25 miles from my home

While fuel oil furnaces are reliable and kick out a lot of heat, I personally don’t feel the cost is  worth the convenience.  This last winter, which was a relatively mild one for Northern Minnesota, I still spent almost $1500 on fuel oil.  We had an early winter. The furnace kicked in starting mid-October and ran through early May.  I am hoping that my four cords of wood I purchased for a total of $700 would get me through a significant chunk of next winter and greatly reduce my consumption of fuel oil.

Environmental argument for burning wood

I will admit that I was originally skeptical that wood burning could be considered a relatively clean fuel source.  As far as I understood the issue, burning wood released carbon into the air, which was in turn bad for the environment.  

According to Jim Bowyer, University of Minnesota Professor Emeritus, “Wood is a renewable resource, assuming that the forests…are managed sustainably.”  Additionally, he goes on to make the argument that burning wood for heat is carbon neutral when comparing the combustion to natural decomposition.  In other words, exactly as much carbon is released whether you burn the wood, or let the dead tree decompose in the forest.

With wood being cheaper than the alternative, enjoyable to burn, more sustainable than fossil fuels AND carbon neutral, why wouldn’t I take advantage of this local resource?

Where do I store all this wood?

How to stack wood
Two cords of freshly cut local birch, less than half of what I will need to stack and burn to get through the winter.

The last two winters I have used wood to heat my home only partially.  When I moved to Ely, I did not have a reliable source of dry firewood at a reasonable price.  Little did I know, there are very few firewood vendors who sell firewood that has been pre-seasoned.  

Seasoning refers to the drying of firewood to reduce the moisture content to a level that will maximize efficiency of the burn and minimize the amount of the dangerous creosote buildup that results from burning wet or under seasoned firewood.  Pre-seasoned firewood is much more expensive and didn’t really end up saving me any money over fuel oil, which is kind of the point.

I calculated that I will need around four cords of seasoned firewood to get me through the winter. It would be nice to heat the house using only wood all winter, but I know that we will have to rely on the oil furnace to kick in to heat the house during the day when we are not around to stoke the fire. If we were somehow going to ensure we only relied on wood for our heat, we would probably need 6+ cords to make it through the entire season without using the fuel furnace.

A cord of firewood properly stacked occupies a space 4′ x 4′ x 8′. As I am new to stacking firewood, I am assuming my stacks will be less efficient, requiring even more space. Generally, firewood should be stacked and dried outdoors for at least an entire year to achieve proper seasoning.  Certain methods of stacking can be utilized to reduce that time, or speed up the seasoning process. As I am new to stacking wood, I thought I would explore three popular options to see which will work best for me and my available space.

Process 1: Traditional American-Style

American Style of stacking firewood

This is the method for which I am the most familiar and requires perhaps the least amount of planning/preparation.  The construction is pretty simple, stacking each layer of wood perpendicular to the last, in a vertical column. This allows for maximum airflow around the logs and minimal contact between columns to reduce moisture/rot.

In my example, I chose an area next to my garage that was out of the way, and provided an area with ample sunlight and airflow.  I put down a row of 4 old pallets in a line and was able to get roughly 6 vertical columns of wood on each pallet.  I estimated that I was able to get almost one cord of wood stacked on 4 pallets using this method.  

While this method of wood stacking is relatively easy and requires little preparation, I found that the variation in the size and cuts of my firewood made stability a major issue.  In order to build a stable column, I needed to stack 2-3 pieces of equal height parallel to each other in each row.  If they were not equal height, the next row wouldn’t be level and so-on until the stack fell over.   

You don’t really think about these details when you use oil/natural gas to heat your home.  All parts of the tree were harvested for this firewood.  Some pieces are half-round from branches higher up that are no more than 8” in diameter.  Other pieces are from the thick, round trunk, sometimes split four or more ways to yield roughly the same size log for burning.  The half-rounds have either flat or rounded surfaces whereas the wood from the thicker trunk of the tree has two long flat sides and short curved ends.  

The unlimited possibility of sizes, shapes and densities of wood made this version of firewood stacking more difficult. While I didn’t waste a lot of time overthinking my stacking strategy, or picking up toppled piles, the process did take longer.  There had to be a better way.

Process 2: Wood Rack

Wood rack style of stacking firewood

By “wood rack,” I really just mean any method that uses physical barriers on the ends or one of the lengths to stack pieces of split wood in a straight line.  This method is perhaps the most useful when space is a limitation (re: basement, wood shed, garage).  Often, vertical two by fours are used as book-ends to keep the wood contained and stacked neatly.

In my case, I had about 12 feet of basement wall to work with.  Not only is this a dry spot in my basement that rarely shows any signs of moisture, it is located directly adjacent my wood furnace and the easiest access I will have for burning.  In this wood pile, I will actually employ the “traditional American-style” on one end where I don’t have a corner to work with for support.

Stacking the wood is the easiest and most satisfying part.  The only preparation required on my end (learning from my mistakes last winter) was to start the stack of wood 4-6 inches from the bottom of the wall before I started building upward. This will allow me to taper the pile of wood back towards the wall as it gets taller, creating a ridiculously stable stack of wood that is essentially leaning against the basement wall.  The gap at the bottom, behind the pile will also encourage airflow and in theory quicken seasoning time.

In the end, if I had the space to stack out multiple rows using this method, I probably would have.  Unfortunately, I did not have the space required in the basement to stack more than a half cord or so.  Also, I had been advised by friends against putting a lot freshly cut wood in my basement.  Too much wood indoors where airflow is poor can cause issues with mold.  I took the extra precaution of splitting these pieces of wood with a splitting axe to encourage quicker drying.  I speculate this wood will be the driest in October when it is time to start burning.  If not, I will start burning from the wood piles outside first. This will reduce the humidity in the basement rapidly, surely drying the wood to an ideal moisture level in a few short weeks.

American Style and wood rack style of stacking firewood next to each other for increased stability

Process 3: German-Style Holzhausen

This one certainly sounds the most badass.  A neighbor had introduced me to this style and I would also say that it looks the most badass.  Another benefit I discovered in my initial research is that this method also requires very little planning.  Sure, there are tons of people who take these structures very seriously and plan and execute flawlessly, but an effective Holzhausen doesn’t need to be complicated.  It’s essentially just a circular version of the “wood rack” with a pile of randomly stacked wood in the middle for interior support.

The basic concept is simple.  As with the “wood rack” I made in my basement, the walls would be built so they are leaning inward-or just like in my basement-towards a supportive structure.  To counter that lean, you would simultaneously build the inner support system, the randomly stacked pile of wood in a cone shape.    

The beauty of the seemingly chaotic, haphazardly stacked inner cone shaped core is that it can handle a lot of pressure from all sides without crumbling.  As the circular wall is built up around it, leaning inward, it would absorb the weight of the wall and create one gigantic beehive or even igloo shaped structure.

The Build

Completed Holzhausen in the backyard

As I wanted maximum airflow, I brought home a stack of pallets to create a base.  I had to get creative, as I only had four pallets to use and needed to create a giant circle, as I was attempting to stack the full two cords that were just dumped in my driveway a few hours prior.  I arranged the four pallets in the outline of a 9’ x 9’ square, which would be the base for my 9’ diameter circular structure.

To cheat a little bit, I hammered a long mechanic’s screwdriver into the ground in the exact center of the pallet square.  With one end of a 4.5’ length of string tied to the screwdriver and the other wrapped around a carpenter’s pencil, I traced a 9’ diameter circle on the surface of the four pallets to act as a guide for my Holzhausen.

For the first row, I did try to be strategic about the size of firewood pieces I used.  I tried to keep them about equal height, at least to ensure my first layer would be as level as possible. From there it was pretty simple; I alternated between building up the outer wall and filling in the middle.

I mean it when I say the middle was stacked haphazardly.  There was no rhyme or reason to the locations I stacked – threw rather – the pieces of wood in the inner cone.  As long as they were relatively flat and moderately level, I would continue to build upward.  

The outer wall was another story.  I did have to be strategic about how I built it inward, as with an igloo.  When building a circular wall of stacked wood, the pieces do not want to stack nicely, tapering inward.  

Close-up of the shims on the outside vertical wall that ensured a proper inward taper

On the outside wall of the structure, I spent a lot of time putting in shims to ensure the end of the logs facing outward, were higher than the insides, creating that inward taper.  This took a lot of trial and error, made more difficult by the irregular pieces of wood that result from cutting down an old gnarly birch tree.

Only once or twice did I have to rebuild the outer wall.  With a few shims here and there, my structure was coming along nicely and before I knew it (probably somewhere around 3-4 hours), I was running out of wood and needed to fashion the roof.

Ready to install the birch “shingle” roof

This is where I got to have some fun with my new Gransfors Large Splitting Axe processing half-rounds and cutting the points off the quarter-rounds to make them flat like shingles.  As I had built up the interior in the shape of a cone and flat outer walls, I had already begun to make the start of a peak that could be covered in layers of these trimmed/split pieces. 

Once I had 50-60 of these pieces, it was as easy as stacking them on top of the cone, birch bark side up.  This would create a roof that would shed rain and keep the interior relatively dry, even during bad storms.

Birch half round split pieces I will use as “shingles” for the roof of the holzhausen
Building the birch shingle roof for my holzhausen

Analysis and First Impressions

The Holzhausen was hands-down the most fun to build, created the best looking structure and most importantly, took the least time and effort per cord stacked.  Multiple times the American-style structure caused a collapse of a tower which halted wood stacking and forced me to redo my hard work.  

I also think I made a mistake by building the towers too far apart from each other. This prevented them from using each other as support, which sacrificed strength.  I was too worried about only having a short six months to fully dry my firewood, so the gaps were designed to encourage airflow and shorten drying time.  

While I still think that next year I will just build two or three Holzhausens to store all of my wood,  I do have to acknowledge that it does take up a lot of room in the yard.  This forced me to build it a little further from the back door, which is going to add extra work when it is time to start hauling the wood inside as I burn through my other stacks.  

While I do not yet know which wood will season the quickest, I do know that I am surprised by the amount of pride I had in building the Holzhausen.  I enjoyed the planning, stacking, and tinkering required.  I feel that it looks cleaner and more deliberate than any of the other styles, and have even been complimented by my neighbors, which of course feels nice.

Even though I am writing this in early spring, just as flowers are beginning to bloom and the days are getting longer and warmer, I must say that I am excited for fall. There is nothing quite like knocking the cold damp air out of the house with the first wood fire of the season. I will be sure to update you in the fall as I start burning, with an update as to which wood dried the most completely. Stay tuned!

Holzhausen three weeks after completion – still looking good!

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