Seasoning wood in a garage?

[Kentish Man]

Hello,

I'm still looking for a wood of my own to buy after a couple of years, but trying to bring to life a dream is always hard work!

Part of my eventual plan is to buy a house that makes use of a wood-burning stove and to manage the woodland that I hope to eventually buy, sustainably, (possibly by coppicing) and harvest some of it for burning at home.

I currently have the opportunity to buy a garage which is part of my eventual plan - to store forestry related equipment in (as I still live in a flat!) and possibly to store logs for seasoning.

I know the short answer is air circulation is key to seasoning logs and the garage in question is a stand-alone concrete/corrugated iron jobby, but practically speaking, is a garage still a useful place to store logs for seasoning in (besides secure - yes, but airflow poor)?

Has anyone any practical experience of storing wood in a seldom-visited garage? Does it help at all in speeding things up as opposed to stacking in the woodland itself (I've read the great post by Steve1 about how to best stack/store in the woodland and the great idea of ring-barking to kickstart the drying process). I wouldn't be in any particular rush to use the seasoning wood, so even if it takes 2-3 years, perhaps, then I can plan around that.

As always, just thinking aloud and would appreciate advice from anyone who has any experience of this idea in practice.

Thank you.

[Kentish Man]

Hmm...I'll have to substitute Step 2 with buy a house with wood burning stove as the car is already ticked off the list! At least I've got no debts I s'pose!

[splodger]

i know that this is going to sound obvious - but seasoning wood - (to me and my dad) means exactly that - being exposed to the weather for several seasons - we sell sweet chestnut for logs (amongst other things) and would never sell the chestnut for firewood if it was not "seasoned" for at least two years - most of our firewood is seasoned for much longer. the wood only goes into the dry store - when it's dry (any wet wood would just go mouldy)

unless you have a type of kiln drying / nifty air flow and moisture extraction set-up - your concrete garage can't magically "season" wood

in my opinion - wood is best "seasoned" outside - use a dry storage unit to store dry goods etc in

i realise that you (and many others) have a dream - but buying a garage with a view to storing firewood in - sourced from a woodland that you don't have - and to burn in a house with woodburner (that you don't have either) - just seems a tad optimistic / premature - garages are useful assets to have - for storage and for rental - but what if your would be woods is 50 miles plus away from the garage you want to buy and your dream house is a further 50 miles away (bearing in mind you haven't even sourced either as yet) would you seriously want to store firewood in it?

[SimonFisher]

Don't do it! I made the mistake once of stacking partially seasoned wood in a garden shed thinking it would complete drying OK. It went mouldy. I now use a partially open-sided shelter and large crates/boxes made of pallets and scrap timber.

[docsquid]

It has all been said, but just to confirm, airflow is essential to drying logs. However, once you have a low moisture content, it might be ok for storage, but not for drying.