My Holz Hausen

Sheeeeew. Its been a long time since I've posted here. Hope everyone has been doing well.

So here it is, my holz hausen. (wood house). It's not the best looking one, but for a first, it's not to shabby. I built it going by the instructions on The Chimeny Sweep. These were really good instructions, but I still learned some hard lessons.

1. Start with level ground.

2. Keep it straight.

3. Have a lot of patience.

I had to do a little cheating with the first. Once I got half way up with it, I used some cheap fencing to wrap it and hold it together. After I got it 3/4 the way up, I wrapped it with another bit of fence. It started leaning pretty badly so I put props up, and so far it's held with no problems.

The second one I've started is going to do a lot better I'd say. First I dug out the hillside and made it all level. I set my center pole and looped a small peice of cable around it and marked the cable at 3' 6" so I could have a perfect radius. With each new load of wood I put on the spokes (outside edge pieces) I just pull the cable taught and check that the outside edge of the pieces are at my 3' 6" mark. It takes constant checking to make sure they don't slide down with each new piece you put on top. I also learned that the center pieces (vertical stack) needs to be packed tight. I mean, real tight. If it looks tight, you can always add a few more pieces. If you don't, they'll lean over and make an uneven plane for the next stack which makes a mess. If the bottom isn't tight, by the time you get to the top, it's a real fuss. Also keeping all the pieces the same length when cutting them makes a heck of a difference. The length of pieces doesn't matter so much as making sure they are all within an inch or so of each other.

All in all, it's fun to build and see the finished product. You don't have to worry about it falling over if it's built right, which is a lot nicer than just making a row and covering it with a tarp.

I haven't had the chance to work on them in a bit. Switched jobs and been busier than a cat covering...well, we won't go that far, we'll just say I've been really busy. Looks like I need to whip the weedeater out to

The boys and I tried that

They sure look beautiful if they go up straight. But gee what a beetch. Ours blew out a sidewall and we just said buck it. and gave up. and went back to ricking it up

They are pretty cool looking. Hope yours don't fall over. Last year I built 2 and one of them collapsed. I found out you have to have a little taper as you go up, almost kind of an igloo look for good stability.

and if that was stacked wet--id be concerned about the center ones drying---serious---

olyman said:

and if that was stacked wet--id be concerned about the center ones drying---serious---

Click to expand...

I was worried about that last year. I found that it all dried about the same whether it was inside or out. But I also found it didn't dry any quicker than my regular straight rows.

I followed the same instructions from The Chimney sweep to builds this one. It collapsed once. I don't recommend stacking the wood on end in the center. I don't think that "hausen" is the correct word either based on this site http://www.holzmiete.de/. This site's in German but you can get a rough translation using http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Holz What ?

Nobody said that the Germans made anything correct: a "pile" of wood that you need to walk around to look at ? C'mon. We tried a H² years ago because one of my men said it was used in Europe. So here's the Inconvenient Truth about the HH:
1. It is a PITA to build. No stacking, you need a degree in circular physics to get the "pile" (sic) correct. (Can you say "pi R squared" ?) We need enough effort to fell, buck, carry, split, stack, carry, hump.
2. You brains are right on: what happens to those poor little splits in the center and bottom ? Yes, they never dry. Sizzle time.
3. Ever try REMOVING a single stick from the infamous H² ? Hey, if you're under 6' 4", what then ? I thought we stacked for heating, then leering, then drooling at the PILE. Those people never heated with wood anyhow: it's been deforested for generations. :jawdrop:
4. Thimk about how much wood will go into that round, but sooooo elegant round pile. Great for those with limited liebenstraum, but for most of us peasants with space. Why ?
5. Gimmme a good old simple rectangular woodpile. Drink in front of it (circles have no sides people ), sit on the butt and toke while viewing the big side of YOUR pile.
Enough . Just say no to H².

logbutcher said:

Nobody said that the Germans made anything correct: a "pile" of wood that you need to walk around to look at ? C'mon. We tried a H² years ago because one of my men said it was used in Europe. So here's the Inconvenient Truth about the HH:
1. It is a PITA to build. No stacking, you need a degree in circular physics to get the "pile" (sic) correct. (Can you say "pi R squared" ?) We need enough effort to fell, buck, carry, split, stack, carry, hump.
2. You brains are right on: what happens to those poor little splits in the center and bottom ? Yes, they never dry. Sizzle time.
3. Ever try REMOVING a single stick from the infamous H² ? Hey, if you're under 6' 4", what then ? I thought we stacked for heating, then leering, then drooling at the PILE. Those people never heated with wood anyhow: it's been deforested for generations. :jawdrop:
4. Thimk about how much wood will go into that round, but sooooo elegant round pile. Great for those with limited liebenstraum, but for most of us peasants with space. Why ?
5. Gimmme a good old simple rectangular woodpile. Drink in front of it (circles have no sides people ), sit on the butt and toke while viewing the big side of YOUR pile.
Enough . Just say no to H².

Click to expand...

LOL!

Holz Hausens slow firewood seasoning, not accelerate it

The referenced site (chimneyseep) claiming Holz Hausen's accelerate seasoning of firewood over standard wood ricks or rows has no proof of such a claim - I did a scientific experiment and published the results dis-proving or busting this myth, which can be seen here:

soede.net - Holz Hausen Experiment - Results!
The full experiment can be seen here:
soede.net - Holz Hausen Experiment

Yes, they are sturdy, store large volumes of wood and look great, but they do not accelerate wood seasoning - on the contrary, wood ricks / rows are superior to HH's for faster seasoning of firewood.

The previous posters are spot on talking about wet internal firewood sizzling after being in a HH!

Regards,
David Soede aka Apprentice_GM