📦 Firewood Rack Size Calculator

Enter how many cords you want your rack to hold, plus its width and height, to see the length you need.

Target capacity (cords)

Rack depth / width (ft)

Rack height (ft)

Working out the length

The rack has to enclose 128 cubic feet for every cord, so once you fix the depth and height only the length is left to solve for:

cubic feet needed = cords × 128
length (ft)       = cubic feet / (depth × height)

The defaults ask for one cord in a rack 1.5 ft deep and 4 ft high, which needs 128 / 6 = 21.3 ft of length — say three 7 ft bays. Make it 2 ft deep and the same cord needs only 16 ft.

Choosing depth and height first

Depth should equal your log length. Firewood is normally cut at 16 in (1.33 ft) or 18 in (1.5 ft) so it fits a stove. A rack deeper than one log means stacking two rows back to back.
Four feet is the practical height limit for a free-standing stack. Higher piles lean and fall, and you cannot reach the top row without standing on something.
Measure the stackable space, not the frame. Uprights, braces and a sagging tarp all eat into the volume, so build a foot longer than the answer.

Because a cord is a stacked volume, this same rack is how you check a delivery. If a seller's "face cord" or "rick" fills 8 ft of a rack 4 ft high and 1.33 ft deep, you received 42.7 cubic feet — a third of a cord. Face cord and rick mean whatever the seller intends, so measure.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a firewood rack need to be to hold a cord?

At 4 ft high it depends on depth: 32 ft if the rack is 1 ft deep, 21.3 ft at 1.5 ft, and 16 ft at 2 ft. All three enclose the same 128 cubic feet.

How much wood does a 4 ft by 8 ft rack hold?

With 16 in logs it holds 8 × 4 × 1.33 = 42.7 cubic feet, or 0.33 of a cord. That single-log-deep stack is what most sellers call a face cord.

What size rack do I need for half a cord?

64 cubic feet. At 4 ft high and 1.33 ft deep that is 12 ft long; a pair of 6 ft bays or one 12 ft run against a wall.