There’s nothing quite like a roaring fire, whether inside your fireplace on cosy winter evenings or outdoors surrounded by friends and family on summer nights. But to build a successful fire, you’ll need plenty of dry logs on hand, which means you’ll need somewhere to store them. This is where a simple log storage shelter can come in handy.
Logs need to be stored somewhere dry and convenient, so building your store beside your home is a good option. Leaving logs and leftover wood uncovered can cause them to become damp, making it more difficult to burn them in your fireplaces and firepits. Follow these steps to build a sturdy log store for your home.
For more outside storage hacks, like storing garden furniture for winter, check out our blog for our advice and tips.
Where to Build a Log Store?
Deciding on the position of your log store is one of the most important steps. As already mentioned, your log storage should be convenient for you so that it’s a useful addition to your home. This means that it will likely be against a wall or fence near a front or back door. Situated near the house, a log store can avoid the worst of the weather, particularly in British winters. It’s also a good idea for the open face of your store to face the sun, helping your logs dry out when the sun shines should they become damp.
When considering the position, account for a small gap between your log store and the fence or wall, which should help to combat any dampness that could threaten to creep in during wetter months. Your log store is also best raised off the ground for the same reason, so including some legs or some sort of platform for your construction is recommended.
Equipment & Materials
How to Build a Log Store
To construct an open-faced log store, which is one of the easiest designs, you’ll only need to create a 3-sided wooden structure. To get started, you can follow the following simple steps.
1. Lay Out the Frame
Use your timber slats to lay out a potential outside frame, starting with the front and back upright faces. Each frame should contain two slats the length of your wood store’s height, one that will be part of the roof, and one making part of the base.
If you wish to provide the ultimate weather protection, your front panel frame can be shorter than your back panel, meaning that your wood store achieved a slanted roof.
You should also ensure that the vertical beams jut out at the bottom of the panels, creating small feet and lifting the structure off the ground.
Once happy with your layout, ensure the slats are flush at the left and right edges and drill holes through the wood. You can then drill in your large screws and bolts to ensure they remain secure.
2. Attach Your Frames
Using two shorter planks, which will become the basis of your floor, attach your back and front frames together at the base. These can be added on top of the bottom sides of the frames.
3. Beginning The Roof
Now that the distance between the front and back is set, you can set about adding the frame of your log store roof. These can be nailed to your frames diagonally, jutting out at the back and front to offer your firewood the ultimate protection against the elements.
4. Lay Flooring
Now you can begin adding planks to create your floor, leaving gaps between each wooden slat. Allowing air in, even through the floor, will allow water to drain and damp wooden logs to air out. The ending flats will need to be shortened as the front and back frames are in the way.
5. Sides
The next step is to add these wooden slats on the sides of your log store, preventing logs from escaping while also allowing the wood to dry on warmer days. These planks do not have to be as wide as those laid on the base as they will not have to support the weight of the entire structure.
6. Under Cover
The final step is your log store’s roof. Using your feather boards, you can completely cover the top diagonal face of your structure. We recommend overlapping your feather boards by at least an inch to ensure as little water as possible can penetrate the wood. You may have to add a small wedge of wood under the front feather board to ensure it is flush with the rest of the structure.
7. Stack Them Up!
Your final step is to introduce your logs to their new home. This should take a bit of time and shouldn’t involve simply dumping your logs inside - this will make it more difficult when it comes to removing logs for use. Work from the bottom up, adding layers of wood - we recommend removing logs the same way to avoid small avalanches.
If you’re worried about your DIY skills, don’t worry. Why not consider self-storage for your log supply? With a storage location sure to be near you, Make Space offer secure, dry, and clean self-storage for as long or as short as you need. Take a look at our personal storage units today.