• A firewood shed protects the wood and allows air movement.firewood image by Nikolay Lapitsky from Fotolia.com
  
  A prerequisite of an effective wood heating system is a place to store enough firewood to get you through the winter. There's nothing worse than going out in February, digging through snow and kicking apart wet or frozen pieces of wood -- then trying to get them to burn, all because you left the firewood in an uncovered heap in the fall. A roomy, well-built firewood shed can protect the wood while allowing it to air dry.
  
  

Attached Shed

• The most convenient shed design for firewood is one attached to the side of your house. If the roof of the firewood shed connects to your porch roof, you can get to your firewood in bad weather without getting soaked. An attached shed is easy. All you really need is a roof extending off the side of the house. It should be wide enough to store the wood and move it around. The sides of the shed should be left open for maximum air flow, which helps the wood to dry.
  
  

Detached Shed

• If you don't have a convenient place for a wood shed on the side of your house, or just don't like the look of it, a detached shed can be built almost anywhere on your property. A basic structure of posts and a simple peaked roof made of metal sheeting on rafters will keep your wood dry. The lack of walls allows the air to constantly move around the wood, so it continues to dry while its stored. Because the shelter has no walls, you can rest the posts on stones or blocks without building an elaborate foundation -- it won't matter if the structure moves a bit.
  
  

Temporary Shed

• If you don't have the resources to build a permanent shed, or you're storing firewood in a temporary location, you can easily build a temporary shed using only lumber and a tarp. Just build a cube or rectangle out of two-by-fours. A shelter that's 8 feet wide, 4 feet tall and 4 feet deep is a reasonable size, but you can make it bigger or smaller depending how much firewood you want to store. Stretch the tarp over the top of the structure, and over the side that gets the most blown-in rain. If your area gets a lot of rain, make the shelter more effective by building the top at an angle so the water runs off.