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Solid fuel boilers, stoves or fireplaces installed in a private house require a certain supply of firewood. For this, the owners build firewood. The log storage should look compact, while still holding the right amount of solid fuel, designed for the whole season. A large woodpile is lined up in the yard. Small decorative structures are installed near the fireplace or stove.
Optimum location for the shed
Woodpile is needed for storing dry firewood. You can use a regular barn, or do harvesting in the open. On the street, chopped firewood is stacked, covered from above with any material that does not allow water to pass through.
In order not to run far for fuel in inclement weather, it is advisable to put firewood in a woodpile closer to home. Moreover, they must be folded beautifully so that the structure does not spoil the appearance of the site. If firewood is needed only for cooking outside, then a woodpile for firewood is placed directly next to a stove or barbecue.
The close location of the woodshed to the house does not mean that it should be placed right in the yard or front door. Stacked firewood should not be an eyesore. The best place for a woodpile is the back of the yard, but you should not place it far from your home either. Chopped dry firewood can be an interesting object for intruders.
So that the logs do not crumble, they are stacked in a pile, resting on three sides against the walls of the building. In the absence of such a place for a woodcutter, a frame with thrust racks is built. When laying out a woodpile for firewood with your own hands, any waterproofing material must be laid under the bottom row of firewood or a raised flooring is made.
Options for laying firewood in a street woodpile
Firewood is not just thrown into the woodpile. They need to be put together correctly. This is the only way to ensure the stability of the storage, good ventilation of the wood and the beauty of the structure. Now we will consider several options for how firewood is laid in a woodpile on the street.
Stacking without supports
Stacking firewood is very easy. First you need to prepare an elevated platform. It can be a concrete slab or long logs laid out on a cinder block. In the presented photo, the woodpile is raised from the ground precisely on concrete blocks. At home, this is the easiest solution. If it is impossible to prepare the site, the ground is simply covered with waterproofing material.
So, our firewood has no supports and a frame. The first three rows need to be stacked tightly to each other. On the fourth row, the stacked logs are placed perpendicular to the logs from the third row. This will help to lift the edges of the woodpile, preventing the firewood from moving out. From the fifth row, they continue the usual dense laying out of logs. After three rows, a perpendicular dressing is again made. In such a folded woodpile, the firewood will never disperse, but a shelter made of slate or other non-wetting material will protect them from rain.
Firewood rack with stakes
Now we will look at how to make a woodpile with a more reliable emphasis from stakes. Before stacking firewood, the ground is covered with waterproofing or laid out with stone. The woodpile will turn out to be quadrangular, and in the corners of long logs you will need to dig in supports.
Inside the finished frame, logs are not laid evenly, but in cells. Such an arrangement of firewood creates an excellent dressing of the rows, which gives stability to the woodshed. If it was not possible to prepare thick logs for stakes, another method of stacking firewood will help prevent the collapse of the supports. Blocks of wood are laid in a cell only at the corners of the woodshed, forming additional support pillars from them. All other firewood in each row is stacked exactly to each other. From above, the finished woodshed is covered with a waterproof material.
Beautiful round woodpile
Making a round woodpile is much more difficult than stacking logs in a regular stack. However, guests will come to the owner in the country, who has made a round storage of firewood from logs, and the building will attract maximum attention.
Now we will try to figure out in detail how to fold a round-shaped woodpile in the form of a house. This option is considered the most common. So, a round woodpile begins to line up from laying waterproofing on the ground. It is important to lay the first row of firewood evenly to form the shape of the firewood rack. Blocks of wood are laid in rows with one end towards the center of the circle, and the other towards its outer borders.
When the wall reaches a height of 50 cm, they begin to fill the internal space. Blocks in a round firewood rack are installed vertically until the filled middle is equal to the height of the wall. Further, the outer wall of the same height is laid out again, and then the inner space is filled. Thus, they build a woodpile with their own hands to the desired height, usually no more than 2 m. It is desirable to make the roof of the house attractive. You can try to fold it from straw, reeds or the logs themselves. However, tiles or other roofing material will protect you more reliably from precipitation.
With year-round living in the country, a large amount of firewood is required. You can often see round firewood sheds over four meters high. In order to take firewood from such a storage without violating the shape of the house, the inside is filled not with vertically installed logs, but horizontally laid in the form of rays coming from the central axis.
The video tells about the manufacture of a woodcutter with their own hands:
Decorative woodpile for the fireplace
If in the country you only need a woodpile for a fireplace, you can make it yourself from wood or metal. At the same time, it should be taken into account that it will often have to be moved, so it is advisable to make the design not heavy.
Room decorative woodpile in the first place should be beautiful, so as not to spoil the interior of the room. In the absence of talent and experience in the manufacture of such structures, a firewood rack can be bought at a specialized store.
woodpile
If a woodpile is made for the fireplace with your own hands, then it is better to stay on a wooden model. Wood is easy to process and after opening with varnish it acquires a beautiful appearance. The simplest wooden structure is made from a barrel. If the farm has such a container, it will have to be disassembled into separate planks. Each element is bolted to a metal hoop. But first it must be cut to make a semicircle. In the final, a firewood container should come out of the boards. Under it, a frame is cut out of a wide board or chipboard. The legs are made from wood. The finished structure is opened with varnish with a coloring pigment to match the color of the tree.
steel woodpile
The metal firewood rack is quite heavy, but still has the right to exist. For its manufacture, you will need a steel sheet 1,5–2 mm thick and a rod with a cross section of 8 mm. A semicircle is bent from a metal sheet. You can simplify the task if there is an old gas cylinder or a metal barrel in the country. A semicircular bathtub is easy to cut out of them with a grinder. Further, it remains only to weld the legs and handles for transportation from the rod to the container. The finished woodcutter is opened with paint, usually black or silver.
Wicker woodpile
If a lot of vines grow in the summer cottage and there is experience in weaving it, you can make a beautiful woodpile for the fireplace with your own hands. As a frame of four rails, a rectangle is knocked down. On the long sides, holes are drilled exactly opposite each other. Copper wire is inserted into the holes in the center of the rivers, bending handles out of it. A vine is inserted into all other holes, after which they begin to twist each twig. The finished firewood is opened with a stain or varnish.
Forged woodpile
If you really like metal woodpile, then it is better to pay attention to forged models. To make it yourself, all the elements will have to be ordered at the forge. At home, all that remains is to weld them, and paint the finished structure. A forged firewood rack will cost the owner a lot, but it looks very chic.
To summarize
As you can see, the woodpile in the country is not just a firewood storage. This is a whole tradition to skillfully decorate your site and premises with benefit.