Build A Simple Firewood Storage Rack Anyone Can DIY Using Ordinary Wood

To have a fireplace or a wood stove during the winter months is something of a luxury, as it provides a boatload of cozy vibes and high-intensity heat that won't show up on your electric bill. Now, lugging the wood back and forth isn't everyone's cup of tea. (Though as the old saying goes, "firewood warms you twice" — once when you chop or stack it, and again when you burn it.) To make it easier, it helps to have a firewood rack in a convenient place in or around your house. But you don't have to spring for one of those expensive builds. All you need to effectively pull off a sturdy storage rack is a concrete cinder block or two and some 2-by-4 or 2-by-6 pieces. 

When it comes to firewood, you want a stand that keeps wood neat and dry by elevating it off the wet ground, as the moisture level affects how hot it burns. In this iteration, the cinder blocks provide height, and the wood provides structure. Simply place the cinder block on a flat area where you'd like your firewood stand to live, with the openings facing the ceiling. Next, place a support board in each of the cinder block's openings, angling them up to create a vertical "V" shape. Choose boards long enough to support your storage needs. I keep a small version in my house that uses two, 3-foot-long boards, but you can use longer ones to hold more wood. 

The best thing about this inexpensive and easy firewood stand is that you can make it as big or as small as your space allows. While some folks may use a wood pallet DIY for a budget-friendly firewood rack on a larger scale, this method requires some drilling. For a no-drill strategy, you could space three or more cinder blocks equidistant from each other and lay two landscape timbers across them. Then, place a 2-by-4 at an angle into the openings of the blocks that bookend the structure, the same way you would do with the smaller stand. With that, the firewood rests on the long timbers, giving you more space to manage a large pile.

Even though a rolling firewood rack is a real game-changer for winter, you can still make life easier with this simple V-shaped rack inside, as it will keep you from having to go out into the cold every time you need to re-up. It also gives the wood a super-dry place to live right before being burned (though you'll want to put a mat underneath to protect your floor from the cinder block). However, we get it if the cinder block method doesn't exactly jibe with your interior living space. But what if you gussied that cement block up a bit with a custom paint job? To give the stand a more finished look, you might paint it in a color that compliments your fireplace area. Keep in mind, cinder blocks are porous, so you will have to go about it just as you would if you were painting cinder block walls: Coat it with sealant before priming and painting it.