Someone once said that there are three things every man thinks they can do better than every other man: manage a baseball team, kiss a woman, and build a fire.

Want to gather a crowd? Simply place a few pieces of wood together and strike a match, people will come running and they’ll all have opinions on how best to build the “perfect blaze.”

Similarly, there’s no shortage of opinions on how to build a wood pile. Constructing a pile and stacking the wood can be a challenge if you don’t know what you’re doing. If you listen to all of the conflicting advice out there you’re certain to be confused. Here’s a guide that will help you build a wood pile that will be the envy of every neighbor within miles.

Choose a convenient and safe location

Wait! Before you order your wood delivery or dump your wood out of the back of your own truck, determine where you will be stacking it. You don’t want to be moving the wood all over your yard or property. Choose a spot that’s convenient to your home, about 30 feet from the door where you’ll be coming out of your home. Don’t keep the woodpile any closer to your home or you’re inviting insects and rodents to live with you.

Give it some air

Your stacked wood needs airflow to make it ready for burning and to keep it dry. Don’t stack the wood in tight stacks, instead leave room both for air and for you to get at the wood when needed. Never stack your wood snug against a fence, shed, or garage: you could get insect damage to or from those other structures.

Build your stacks no higher than five feet otherwise they may become unstable and they can be dangerous (you don’t want wood falling on your head).

Construct your stacks so the bark side of the wood is facing outward and the interior of the log is faced inward when possible, this will keep less moisture from building up on the inside of the wood.

If possible, stack the wood on wood pallets to keep it off the ground. This will keep ground moisture and insects off the wood and also give you an even surface to stack your wood on.

The best season to stack wood is in the summer when the warmer temperatures will dry it out quicker.

Cover seasoned wood if you’ll get precipitation

Many people want to cover their woodpiles with tarps, but it’s really not necessary unless you expect a lot of precipitation. If you’re going to get a lot of snow and it’ll pile up on the wood, place a tarp loosely over the wood (you still want some air to get to the wood). It’s not necessary to cover wood until a few weeks before you plan to burn it, but if you do cover it, leave the bottom of the stacks uncovered (don’t extend the tarp all the way down) so air can circulate.

Let the wood sit before burning

For optimal efficiency, wood that is fresh-cut should sit for a full year before burning. When wood is first cut it has up to 50% water content. This means it won’t burn well at all in your wood stove or fireplace.