Freestanding Log Store Build

As those of you from the Europe will know, there is an epidemic sweeping through the ash trees here. Chalara, or ash dieback, is a fungus (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) that lives on the Manchurian ash where it is relatively harmless. At some point it spread to Europe, then the UK, and it is causing widespread damage - an estimated 80% of the ash in the UK will die. Due to the dieback, we've had to fell some mature trees along the roadside on the boundary of our land, leaving us with a lot of firewood (and the potential for some usable timber, in the future).

There isn't a good place to season or store firewood on our land.  We also don't have an easy water supply where we grow our vegetables - the streams are at the bottom of the hill, quite a distance from our growing space. To try and fix both of those problems, I decided to build some freestanding log stores and to catch rainwater using their roofs.

I drew some designs and found a local saw mill to cut me some larch, a reasonably durable (but inexpensive) species. The timber cost £205 and, whilst picking it up, we asked about some scrap roofing sheets and were given them for free. The cladding was given for free when an acquaintance had removed it from a building they were renovating.

The log stores were designed around the dimensions of a standard pallet (1.2 x 1m). They are tall enough to reach into at the front and the roof sits at a steep angle which faces the prevailing wind, preventing the rain being blown sideways into the stacked wood. Each holds 2.1m2 (23 sq. ft.) of stacked wood.

I cross-cut the lengths using a chop saw with a fine-toothed blade. Joints were cut with a jack saw and a wide chisel. The joints are secured using a single M10 (10mm) bolt and the classing, roof sheets and the bottom cross-members are secured using screws. I learned the value of decent quality screws during this project!

So far I've built one of the log stores and I've prepared the timber for the other. It's too hot outside for me to work on it much this week but I'm hoping to begin making progress again soon.

Finally, all offcuts have been re-used, either as timber or as firewood or even, in the case of the chippings and shavings, as fire starters. The leftover roof sheet, once it had been cut to size, is weighed down to provide a little rain protection for firewood stacked elsewhere.

Oh, and I did make a mistake: I didn't measure the 4x4 uprights and so the roof came out askew when I finally assembled the frame. I had to re-cut the roof joints on one side to get it to sit level. I made a mess of one of these, using a chisel rather than a tenon saw to remove much of the bulk, but it fitted closely enough and seems secure.

If you have a lot of firewood to cover, it looks like you could make them about 4x wider and it would be much cheaper than building 4 independent units.   Nice build!

You're absolutely right, it is an expensive way to do things.

Our limitations are mostly around what we can easily transport (small van, smaller car). This includes the wood we could buy and move. We also liked the idea of having something small enough that we might, one day, be able to lift the whole thing and move it on a tractor.

A portion of the firewood still to process...

Cutting roofing sheets
Instead of cutting them with the grinder, just do a nick 3/4 inch long where you want to separate the sheet and simply grab it with your hand, stand on the long side of the sheet adjacent to the cut line and tear it apart.
Its very fast, no noise and dust and it save cut off wheels which dont like roofing anyway.
Try it, you will be surprised.

John C Daley wrote:Cutting roofing sheets
Instead of cutting them with the grinder, just do a nick 3/4 inch long where you want to separate shortened too and simply grab it with your hand, stand on the long side off the sheet and tear it apart.
Its very fast, no noise and dust and it save cut off wheels which dont like roofing anyway.
Try it, you will be surprised.

My heart sings a little to read this. I really don't like using a grinder and I'd love to avoid it for the next build.