[jally]

Hi, I just installed a wood-burning stove, but didn't order a cord of firewood
... yet...
That's waiting for when I figure out how to safely store it.

I worked hard all day today lugging 4 skids (wood pallets) to the house via hand-truck, one skid at a time.

Their dimensions:

Three are: 46" x 35" (these are in quite good cond. I.E. the wood seems fairly new/fresh even if sort of dirty in various spots)

One is: 48" x 40" (also fairly good cond.

Description of basement:

My 1950s ranch-house basement, which is damp-smelling & more than 3/4 underground, gets occasional slight water seepage during extremely intense/stormy weather. Recently, trenches + crushed-rock were inserted along front & back of house, to safeguard. Also plastic window wells. But water still sometimes gets through.

Question:
Now I'm wondering whether I have to worry about termites getting at the wood of the skids (where the lower slats make contact with the basement floor?

[Catsmine]

Are there any stress cracks in the basement floor? Those can permit termites entry. For sanitation purposes as well as insect proofing, plastic sheeting under the pallets and clear air between pallets and walls will protect them as much as anything can.

[jally]

Hi, Catsmine, I can't tell if there's stress cracks in the foundation itself, because tile had been laid in the 1960's. It was good quality tiling. The tiles look like a brown & cream chessboard.

There are various spots where the tiles got cracked & chipped due to rough handling by people, especially since there used to be floods sometimes, which we shoveled up with metal dustpan & pail - instead of sumpump like most people do.

Naturally, the metal dustpan combined with wetness, ruined the tiles in some areas.

Would parachute cloth work as well as plastic sheeting?

Thanks!

[Catsmine]

For sanitation, parachute cloth will probably do fine. As far as termites go, doesn't it have some cellulose content? Any cellulose is termite food.

[jally]

Not sure about the cellulose, so I may just stick to plastic - even maybe an old plastic tablecloth, the kind without flannel backing. Thanks for your advice :)