Firewood Buying Guide
A fireplace, wood stove, campfire or outdoor fire pit does significantly more than provide warmth. It's nice to sit in a comfortable chair and relax by way of a crackling fire, and if you're in the mood to entertain, it's fun to gather with friends or family. Choose bundles of dried hardwoods or packaged logs for fires that burn cleanly, last quite a while and produce heat without lots of smoke.
Make use of this firewood buying guide to find a very good firewood for your indoor and outdoor needs.
Dried Firewood vs. Fresh Wood
When you could gather fallen wood from your own yard or cut trees (if you've permission from the master of the trees), wood that has been allowed to dry thoroughly burns faster, produces less smoke and generates more heat than wood that's fresh, green or wet.
Ideally, wood ought to be seasoned, or dried, for six to nine months to reduce its moisture content. It's often sold as kiln-dried, which means it's been dried in a kiln, a type of oven.
Seasoned wood should feel dry to the touch and may have loose bark and splits or cracks in ends. It should feel lightweight because of its size.
If you get a bunch of wood wrapped in plastic, make sure it's already dry or unwrap it when you get home. When it still feels wet, stack it on a firewood rack in a sheltered spot off the ground and allow it continue to dry. However, don't lean or stack firewood against your house or any other structure to avoid possible infestation from pests that could be in the wood.
Hardwoods vs. Softwoods
Firewood burning in an outdoor fire pit.
Hardwoods like oaks, beech, hickory and ash are the best woods to use as firewood. They last quite a long time, although they could be harder to ignite than softwoods.
If you're cooking foods over a fire, use maple, cherry and other fruitwoods to add flavor. Be safe, and never cook food over painted, pressure-treated, ground-treated, stained or manufactured woods which could emit toxic gases. Never burn those types of woods indoors for any reason.
Softwoods and semi-hardwoods, such as for example poplar, spruce and pine, are good choices for fire pits and other well-ventilated, outdoor areas. Softwoods are generally more budget-friendly than hardwoods, however they don't last as long. However, they're more straightforward to ignite.
Avoid using woods that contain lots of resin, such as for example spruce or pine, in fireplaces, wood stoves and other indoor areas. When burned, these woods create creosote that may build up in chimneys and result in a fire hazard.
Buying Firewood by Cords, Bundles and Other Measurements
Someone carrying several pieces of australian firewood far from a large rack of stacked, split firewood.
Assess the opening in your fireplace, fire pit or wood stove before you decide pre-cut firewood to make sure the logs will fit. The standard length for a bit of firewood is 16 inches.
Firewood is usually sold by the pallet, cord, face-cord or bundle.
The full cord is a heap of firewood that measures 8 feet long by 4 feet deep and 4 feet high, or 128 cubic feet. If you get a complete cord of firewood, you'll need to cut the logs again to create them match most standard fireplaces, wood stoves or fire pits.
An experience cord, sometimes called a rick, is 64 cubic feet and typically measures 8 feet long by 4 feet high. Since the logs in an experience cord are 16 inches long, a face cord is 1/3 of a full cord.
Most firewood bundles are .75 cubic feet. Bundles are often sold wrapped in plastic or net bags, so they're easy to take care of, and some campgrounds sell them to visitors. Bundles in many cases are at the bigger end of the firewood budget range because they are convenient to hold and use and don't require further cutting.
The Home Depot sells firewood in bundles, as individual logs, as cases of logs and by the pallet. If you purchase a wide range of firewood, you may be able to own it delivered or haul it yourself. If you will need a rental truck, contact your local Home Depot store to ask if rentals are available.
Remember that regulations for measuring cords, face cords and other amounts of firewood may differ from state to convey, so ensure you understand exactly how much wood you are getting once you buy. Be wary of shopping for firewood from anyone other when compared to a reputable dealer who will give you a receipt.