We're worried about our firewood walking away. Has anyone thought about secure places to store firewood? I'm definitely going to put a pile on the porch, but may have to resort to storing some in our very crowded basement too. Any suggestions?

-- Libby Alexander (libbyalex@aol.com), October 20, 1999

Answers

In our area it is the opportunist that floats down the alley---might be worse later. My plan was to put behind chain-link fence and in covered shed--then discovered how easily a fence can be broached but then I plan to put up boards and locks on the shed, but realize that too can be broken into---basement storage is out except for a day or two's worth, so I've been thinking about stringing up a chicken-wire wrap to really discourage pillfering. I am quite sure I have gone round the paranoid bend, but the exercise in recognizing risk and developing a plan of defence has been worth it.

-- catherine plamondon (Howaboutthis@storage.com), October 20, 1999.

Yes. When one tries to prep for every worst case mini-loop within the Worst Case Scenario one beging to mimic paranoid behavaior. Can't be helped, however. In my opinion, every little element of surprise slash deception may be to your advantage in discouraging at least the casual pilferer. So I would suggest covering your wood with whatever you plan to use to keep it dry -- my blue tarp for example -- and then putting chicken wire or rabbit wire under that. That at least adds some unanticipated frustration to the efforts of the casually dishonest. For the thief ...... ?

-- SH (suirrel@hunter.com), October 20, 1999.

My mom's putting it in her garage. The firewood is worth more than the car, if the lights go out. Find a spare room, put it there. If you're getting sawdust logs, bugs are not an issue.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), October 20, 1999.

I don't have to worry so much about someone stealing my firewood, since I'm on 30 acres on top of a mountain, but I did want to protect my firewood from rain. With the high winds that we get, I bought a big, heavy waterproof tarpaulin used for $200. It covers the wood just fine, and is too heavy to be blown away.

72 days.

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.~net), October 20, 1999.

Ours is on the carport at the moment. The ground is too wet (and it's raining still) to wheelbarrow it to the far reaches of the backyard, which is where it will be stored, under a lean-to next to the shed. 'Way back there, it will be too much trouble to transport more than a few loads in someone's arms and the wheelbarrow will be securely locked in the carport laundry room. We'll just fetch in a couple of days' supply as needed and stack it on the wide brick hearth.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), October 20, 1999.

Put something really sticky on the top logs like STP, or what ever. Theft is always done in the dark. As soon as somebody tries to steal a few logs and feel the sticky mess, they will drop it and forget it.

-- freddie (freddie@thefreeloader.com), October 20, 1999.

Get it out of sight, no matter where. We are fortunate to have a woodroom on the back of the house where a winters worth can be stored, but I moved the next two years worth (I try to stay 3 years ahead) away from prying and tempted eyes. At the very least put it behind the house under cover of some sort.

-- Bill (Bill@SHF.com), October 21, 1999.

We have 5 cords stacked on the patio in our back yard and another 5 cords in the back yard, hidden from site from all but one neighbor. If things get to the point where we are concerned about it "walking away" we plan to clear all the furniture out of our family room and restack it inside. The floor is mosaic tile, so no need to worry about carpet getting ruined, but if it gets to that point, I think we will have more to worry about than ruined floors anyhow.

-- Nicki (y2kaware@excite.com), October 25, 1999.

Stock up on Cow Bells!

-- Judy (dodgeball@aol.com), October 26, 1999.