New DIY Firewood Rack with Roof - Built August 2020

A couple of years ago, I built a pair of custom-sized firewood racks that I keep in our screened porch.  They're made of Cedar 2x4's (larger than what you find at a Big Box store) and between the two cedar racks, we store a lot of our firewood inside the screened porch during the Winter.  I have another metal rack that I keep outside my office door and between those three racks, I can usually handle the two face cords of firewood that we order each early Fall/Late Summer.  You can see what two face cords of firewood look like in this post from last Fall.  We filled all three racks and had to pile or stack wood up both in the screened porch AND next to the metal rack.  So, we're already in a position to not have enough space for just two face cords.

But, there's a theory going around - and seems to be manifesting itself in the southern hemisphere right now - that there will be a firewood shortage this Winter.  With COVID still here (hi there, pandemic), it would seem that people will be spending more time at home.  Couple that with some people doing some deferred maintenance around their houses this Spring (March, April, May) when many trees would have likely come down and be seasoned for six+ months to be burned this Winter, there are some (including a lot of firewood sellers, of course) saying that there will be a shortage this Winter.

Will firewood become the new COVID panic purchase like toilet paper?  Or will there even be a shortage like there is with coins right now?

The seller that we use - Best Firewood - is already saying to their customers that orders are 'up' and they're expecting a shortage.  But, as a seller of firewood, I'm not surprised they're pushing early orders.  I would do that, too.

But, that still made me think about our orders.  We've gone through three face cords each of the past two years.  This past January, we ordered our third face cord after going through the first two.  But, what happens every year when we do that, is that we get wood that I'm NOT as happy with compared to the wood that is delivered in the Fall.   I haven't ordered three because we don't have the space.

In February of 2019, I posted about how based on a few years of consumption, I know that I need to order three face cords to handle our needs for the full season.  From that post:

What has become apparent is that with a close to full Winter under our books, we're going to likely have to order three Facecords next Fall.  The issue is the storage of that third Face cord.  I'm thinking that we're going to have to make a few more custom racks.

"a few more custom racks" - is indeed what is what I need to order that third face cord right now.

Fortunately, we have a construction site going on next to our house with a HUGE dumpster.  Right after the framers finished their work, the siding guys came.  I started to pick through the dumpster for remnant parts and boards that I could use to build a rack.

I started with seeing this rack plan from Firewood for Life and modified it to include a couple of boards that span the top and connect the legs.  I then doubled-up the legs to help support the beams running the width and then added a little roof on top using the cedar siding from the dumpster.

At the top of this post, you can see this new rack that is made up of both treated and non-treated lumber (I know...I know), but has the feet (treated) and roof (cedar) as the elements that will take the most moisture.

Below, you can see where I've placed it (for now).  It is just inside the fence on the north side of the house.

My plan is to (now) order three face cords and fill the racks in the screened porch and outside my office first.  Then, turn to this one.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to get all three face cords up and put away, but I have a little bit more scrap lumber that I'm going to use to make both another smaller rack to carry any of the overflow of the purchased wood as well as to get my backyard Ash firewood put up off the ground.

Oh, and #11 on my 2020 To-do list was to 'build something'.  I had already built the raised bed, but now I can add this firewood rack to my list, too.