Basement Firewood Rack

We have a decade of wood cut, split and stacked outside under roof but every Fall the basement is filled with about 400 cubic feet of seasoned wood that will last us the winter. This wood rack is easy to use and requires no nails, screws or bolts to erect.

MATERIALS
Pallets
2" x 4" s

TOOLS
a saw (a circular saw is very handy)

Scrounge some wood pallets that are in good condition and, if they are wider than about 24", cut them in half. Assuming that there are three runners, cut just to the side of the center one and save the pallet half with two runners. Disassemble the other half and use it for firewood OR add another runner (usually a 2x4 will work) and build yourself another narrow pallet.

Make sure you can get a 2x4 in between the end topboard and the board next to it.

Measure the distance between the basement floor and the top of the floor joists. Measure the height of the pallet. If the floor to joist top is 90" and the pallet is 5", subtract 5 from 90 to get the maximum 2x4 length of 85". Better still, make it 1" shorter to make assembly easier. BEFORE YOU CUT: make sure the 2x4 cut to 84" will safely sit on the floor and lean against the floor joist.

You only need 2x4s at the end of your rack. One end of our stack of firewood is against the basement wall so we only need 2x4s at one end.

Position the pallet and stand the 2x4 upright over the gap between the last two topboards. Lower the bottom of the 2x4 into gap and lean the top against a floor joist. There should be at least two uprights per row of stacked wood. Each end of the pieces of firewood should rest against the uprights. As you stack the firewood, make sure the uprights remain vertical so the wood at the top of the stack will have two points of contact.

Add another row of pallets and 2x4s as you finish each row of stacked wood. If you add all the pallets right away you have to walk on them as you stack.

As you use wood through the winter the rows of pallets and uprights are easily disassembled and stored.