Firewood Seasoning Log
The EPA baseline on one side, your meter readings on the other. The calendar tells you when to start checking; the meter tells you when to burn.
BFCBrilliance · bfcbrilliance.com/tools/firewood-drying-time-calculator
The EPA baseline
- Softwood
- at least 6 months
- Hardwood
- at least 1 year
- Target moisture
- under 20% - use a meter
- The clock starts
- when it is SPLIT and stacked
- Store it
- off the ground, TOP covered only
- ⚠ Covering the sides
- traps the moisture in
- ⚠ Meter a FRESH split face
- the outside always reads dry
- ⚠ Wet wood
- creosote, smoke, far less heat
- Hardwood takes twice as long
- denser, so more water further in
This stack
- Species
- Date felled
- DATE SPLIT AND STACKED
- Wood type (soft/hard)
- Baseline months
- Ready to test from
- Where it is stacked
- Off the ground?
- Top covered only?
- Needed by
Meter readings - freshly split face, middle of the stack
| Date | Months in | Piece 1 % | Piece 2 % | Piece 3 % | Under 20%? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stacking it right
- Split before stacking - rounds barely dry at all
- Split smaller if you are short of time
- Off the ground on rails, pallets or scrap timber
- Top covered, sides and ends left fully open
- No tarp wrapped over the whole stack
- Long side facing the prevailing wind if you can
- Somewhere sunny rather than against a shaded wall
- Single row rather than a deep block where space allows
- Split side facing up on each piece
- Meter bought - it costs less than one bad flue clean
Work a year ahead
Almost everyone who burns wood arrives at the same arrangement eventually: this year's wood was stacked last year, and this year's stacking is for next winter. It removes the entire problem, because nothing you burn is ever new. Getting there costs one season of buying seasoned wood while your own stack waits - a single year's overlap, once.
The tarp mistake
Wrapping a tarp down over the sides of a stack feels like protecting it and does the opposite. Rain is kept out, but so is the airflow that removes the water, and the stack sweats inside the plastic. The EPA wording is 'only the top covered' and the reason is stated plainly: covering the sides traps in moisture. If you take one thing from this sheet, take that.