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Tips for Buying Firewood
It's always best to shop for firewood
before you need it. Sometimes you can find great deals in the spring and
summer, before people are thinking about cool weather and warming their
home.
Good places to find postings of wood for sale are: Your local newspaper's
classified ads. Grocery store, church or post office bulletin boards. Signs
posted around the neighborhood. Most firewood is sold in cords, face
cords, ricks or truckloads.
Cord: A cord of firewood measures 8 feet long x 4 feet wide x 4 feet tall.
Face Cord: A face cord is 8 feet long, 4 feet tall but only as wide as one stack
of wood. This is usually about half the size of a cord or less.
Rick: A rick is basically a pile, the size can vary quite a bit.
Truck Load: The size of a truck load will depend on how large the truck is
and whether it's thrown in the truck or stacked:
Find Dry (Seasoned) Wood
It takes 8 to 12 months to dry (season) wood for burning so unless you have
wood on hand already you will want to purchase dry wood. Dry wood
burns longer, cleaner and produces greater heat. Unseasoned wood creates
a potentially dangerous creosote buildup in your chimney.:
Hardwood Burns Longer
When shopping around for wood keep in mind that hardwood is going to
burn up to twice as long as softwood. So just because a cord of softwood
might be cheaper doesn't mean you are getting a good deal. Softwood is
effective for kindling or mixing with hardwood but hardwood will burn
longer, tends to burn cleaner and will produce more heat. Examples of
softwood: Pine, Fir, Cedar. Examples of hardwood: Oak, Ash, Madrona
Storing Firewood
Store wood off the ground and protect it from weather. You will want to
store wood about 4 inches off the ground. Any wood on the ground will
collect insects and rot more quickly. You will also want to keep it covered
from rain and snow
Keep Wood Away From the House
Wood against the side of your house could attract wood loving insects like
termites who will start nibbling on your house. It also keeps air from
circulating around the wood which will help keep it dry.
Storing Firewood
Try not to store wood for more than a year once it's dried. This isn't a hard
and fast rule. You can store dry wood for more than a year but at some
point it will start to rot and collect tons of insects. Make sure to use your
oldest wood first.
Bring Wood In As You Need It
While it's nice to have a lot of wood on hand in the house, you inevitably
bring in insects even if you clean off the wood. So don't bring more than a
days worth of wood into your home at a time. A wood pile in your house is
basically a guest room for little critters.
Tips provided by www.ThriftyFun.com
It's always best to shop for firewood
before you need it. Sometimes you can find great deals in the spring and
summer, before people are thinking about cool weather and warming their
home.
Good places to find postings of wood for sale are: Your local newspaper's
classified ads. Grocery store, church or post office bulletin boards. Signs
posted around the neighborhood. Most firewood is sold in cords, face
cords, ricks or truckloads.
Cord: A cord of firewood measures 8 feet long x 4 feet wide x 4 feet tall.
Face Cord: A face cord is 8 feet long, 4 feet tall but only as wide as one stack
of wood. This is usually about half the size of a cord or less.
Rick: A rick is basically a pile, the size can vary quite a bit.
Truck Load: The size of a truck load will depend on how large the truck is
and whether it's thrown in the truck or stacked:
Find Dry (Seasoned) Wood
It takes 8 to 12 months to dry (season) wood for burning so unless you have
wood on hand already you will want to purchase dry wood. Dry wood
burns longer, cleaner and produces greater heat. Unseasoned wood creates
a potentially dangerous creosote buildup in your chimney.:
Hardwood Burns Longer
When shopping around for wood keep in mind that hardwood is going to
burn up to twice as long as softwood. So just because a cord of softwood
might be cheaper doesn't mean you are getting a good deal. Softwood is
effective for kindling or mixing with hardwood but hardwood will burn
longer, tends to burn cleaner and will produce more heat. Examples of
softwood: Pine, Fir, Cedar. Examples of hardwood: Oak, Ash, Madrona
Storing Firewood
Store wood off the ground and protect it from weather. You will want to
store wood about 4 inches off the ground. Any wood on the ground will
collect insects and rot more quickly. You will also want to keep it covered
from rain and snow
Keep Wood Away From the House
Wood against the side of your house could attract wood loving insects like
termites who will start nibbling on your house. It also keeps air from
circulating around the wood which will help keep it dry.
Storing Firewood
Try not to store wood for more than a year once it's dried. This isn't a hard
and fast rule. You can store dry wood for more than a year but at some
point it will start to rot and collect tons of insects. Make sure to use your
oldest wood first.
Bring Wood In As You Need It
While it's nice to have a lot of wood on hand in the house, you inevitably
bring in insects even if you clean off the wood. So don't bring more than a
days worth of wood into your home at a time. A wood pile in your house is
basically a guest room for little critters.
Tips provided by www.ThriftyFun.com
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