Is storing wood in my basement asking for bug trouble?

[1869_Caboose]

I searched a few threads on this topic before posting my own because none quite answered my qwuestion. So here it is. My dad said that after the wood comes into the basement it dries out and the bugs die since they won't live in wood that is not getting moisture. I don't havew the heart to question him right now but I'm a little suspect of that response. So what do you think? Is it safe to leave a cord in my basement over the summer?

 

[certified106]

Short answer no do not stack the wood in your basement. Stack the wood outside where it can get air movement and sun it will dry much faster and then if you are inclined move it in before the weather gets bad after burn season starts.

 

[gdk84]

I store wood in my basement and have no problems, as well as the rest of my family. If you use your head, and dont bring in ant or bug infested wood you should be okay. People should be more concerned about getting bed bugs! I enjoy going downstairs to grab my wood than trample through the snow to grab wood and making even more of a mess in the house. I run a box fan downstairs to circulate the air and it dries the wood perfactly. Although many people will disagree and call you crazy, it has worked for me just fine.

 

[raybonz]

I wouldn't do it unless it was kiln dried to kill any bugs and remove excess moisture.. There is no way you can be sure the wood is bug free one bad piece of wood and you could invite serious problems..

Ray

 

[wkpoor]

I have done it but I only bring in bark free wood and wood that is solid with no holes and that has dried outside for at least a year. That way most of the moisture is gone and the bugs don't like dry wood.

 

[oldspark]

I have done it but I only bring in bark free wood and wood that is solid with no holes and that has dried outside for at least a year. That way most of the moisture is gone and the bugs don't like dry wood.

+1 been doing it that way (garage) for a long time and no bugs.

 

[HotCoals]

I move it to the basement after a few killing frost..no probs ever.

 

[velvetfoot]

I store in the garage and have had powder post beetles, which chewed on my (previously) unpainted window sill. This year, I think I will spray a little.

 

[Hardrockmaple]

I've stacked 2 cords+ every fall in my basement for 20+ years. Spray liberally and clean up every spring. No lugging wet wood in through snow for me.

 

[nate379]

My folks have been doing it for 25+ years. Usually will throw a bug/spider bomb or two near the wood, but it's never been a big problem. I have spiders and bugs that come in the house here and I don't even have a basement to put wood in.

Basement has always had about 4-4.5 cords. Stack outside for a couple years and brought in basement toward fall. More than enough to last the whole winter.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

I store wood in my garage with no problems but season it outside first, otherwise it would take forever to dry out. This wood ends up dryer than wood outside under the tarp when we get many days of rain or snow and it's much easier to get to than tramping through mud and snow. I open the garage door whenever I can to get air circulation so maybe you could open windows in basement when you can to do the same.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Most of you know that we recently dropped a nice pin oak that had died. Two points I'd like to make. Naturally, being oak there is some punk on the outside layers. But when I was making some cuts and also when I was rolling some logs with the cant hook some of the punk tore off. What would I find? Cockroaches! That tree was standing so we cannot blame it on the log laying on the ground. I'll also keep watch as I split this wood to see if there are more bugs; so far no ants. But, would I want to put that in a basement or a wood shed? Methinks it will get stacked separately from the other wood.

 

[Hiram Maxim]

Wouldn't do it personally. I bring about 1 weeks of wood in off my covered porch at a time.

I had two yellow jackets come out of a log last month, thank goodness It was close to the stove! hh:

 

[Biff_CT2]

Most of you know that we recently dropped a nice pin oak that had died. Two points I'd like to make. Naturally, being oak there is some punk on the outside layers. But when I was making some cuts and also when I was rolling some logs with the cant hook some of the punk tore off. What would I find? Cockroaches! That tree was standing so we cannot blame it on the log laying on the ground. I'll also keep watch as I split this wood to see if there are more bugs; so far no ants. But, would I want to put that in a basement or a wood shed? Methinks it will get stacked separately from the other wood.

Funny, I had a similar experience last week.

I've been splitting up a few cords of maple and red oak I stacked last November from tree work my neighbors had done. The logs were bucked for me, I just had to haul and stack the rounds. There were no signs of punk or rot, the stuff looks picture perfect.

I had a single round maple round that, when split it, had a burrow in it's core with a really tough to see entry at the round's core that had black carpenter ants - some with wings. These rounds had sat out all winter, so I expected that the winter would have killed anything trying to season over in the rounds.

This experience, and that I'm extremely leary of using insecticide in my garage or basement, makes me think that outdoor storage is the way to go.

On a similar note, after this winter, I'm sold on the 'tarp after Labor Day' thing. I got a liner from a neighbor's backyard ice rink that, once cut into sections, should last me a decade or so. Outdoor ice rinks are a great source of free tarp material the following spring...

 

[begreen]

Wouldn't do it personally. I bring about 1 weeks of wood in off my covered porch at a time.

I had two yellow jackets come out of a log last month, thank goodness It was close to the stove! hh:

Same here. It's store in the shed except for a cartload kept on the covered porch. I got stung last fall by a hornet that had settled in among the splits for winter. Now I wear gloves when moving wood.

 

[VCBurner]

I don't think there is a right or wrong here. Just up to what you're willing to bring into your house. I had wood that was cut for three winters outside. The bugs were still in it after being under cover for a year. The frost does not kill them! The fact is, there are many species of bugs that can and do live in the bark and inside the wood too. It is up to you weather you want to open your doors to spiders, moskitos, ants, cockroaches, termites, moths and other insects like even fleas and ticks maybe! Mice, that love to build nests in the wood piles carry fleas that may lay eggs in the neaby wood. I have had as much as 1/2 a cord in my basement at times and would rather keep the bulk of my wood outside where it can dry in the wind and sun especially in the spring, summer and fall. Before the first snowfall I'll probably bring in a 1/2 cord into the basement garage. It has two foundation walls and the other two sides are block walls separating it from the rest of the basement, with a finished drywall ceiling. It certainly is a gamble everytime you put cord wood inside your house.

 

[oldspark]

The only time I see any bugs to speak of is when I cut or split the wood, after 1 to 3 years in the wind and sun there are very few if any bugs to be seen.

 

[Wade A.]

I would pity the bug. When I split it down to handy width, they would need to be be sucking in their bellies and turning their feet sideways to survive.

But no, seriously, I wouldn't do it.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Personally, I don't think it's worth the risk. Sometimes people can get away with it from pure luck. Many years ago, my parents, not knowing any better, had a pretty good load of fresh-cut firewood stored in their basement for very occasional use in their fireplace for years and never had any problems with it.

But I've seen too many uglies pop out of good-looking well-seasoned splits even in the dead of winter to take a chance on it. And in NJ, you've got termites as well as carpenter ants, which you really don't want to invite into your home. Also, unless your house is hermetically sealed, the mice will celebrate when they find that wood stack in the cellar. There's nothing much they like better than making a nice little nest of dried grass, chewed up paper and other debris deep in a wood stack, outdoors or indoors.

 

[ruserious2008]

Well I'll give you a real estate agents perspective as I see a lot of peoples homes and a real life example. First, home inspectors always cringe if they see wood stored in or against a home, garages included. Actual experience I had with a client- nice old gent burned wood in a wood furnace in his wood basement. Been doing it "forever" with no problems. Stored a couple of cords at a time in his walk out basement that had probably 10 ft ceilings. Found a buyer, did inspections and the inspector warned against storing the wood in the house but did not find any problems (keep in mind inspectors can only inspect what they can see/access so I don't blame him for not finding these termites I'll tell you about , had some financing delays, seller moved out and let buyer move in for a month rental before closing, buyer asked seller if they could get started ripping up the carpet in the dining room (room over where the wood was stored) and install hardwood and seller said ok....buyer finds the underlayment of the floor is eaten big time (they thought it was nice fat carpet pads ...turns out it was termites. They ate lots of underlayment and about 2-4 ft up of wall joists and a good section of sill. Pest treatment company followed their path of destruction and said they had no doubt that the termites came from the firewood. Cost the nice seller a good chunk of change to fix. So....convenient? Sure! Worth it? I don't think so. Keep your wood outside and AWAY from the house.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Whoa I'm betting the seller is biting his nails about now; maybe even worse. This is just one more good testament against this practice.

 

[pen]

I made this mistake with fresh cut ash a few years ago from perfectly healthy trees that were simply in the way. As they started to dry out and they were no longer and adequate food source for the beetles that were chewing on them they came out by the 10's of thousands. I had a mess in every window of the house for weeks.

Dry out doors.

pen

 

[mainemaul]

20YRS of wood heating. well seasoned wood only. 2 weeks at the most in the basement at a time. ocassional spider in the house.
BUT i do inspect the splits for signs of critters as i handle them.
never spray bombed, but not a bad idea i suppose.
gamble? i suppose.

 

[pen]

here's a link to a thread called "here's why I don't season wood indoors"

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/73085/

here is a sneak preview

pen

 

[Ratherbfishin]

I don't know if I would worry about bugs, but it would make me think it would be a mice hotel.