What is the price tag on firewood?
A fireplace, wood stove, campfire or outdoor fire pit does a lot more than provide warmth. It's nice to sit in a cushty chair and relax with 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 long time and produce heat without plenty of smoke.
Use this firewood buying guide to find a very good firewood for the indoor and outdoor needs.
Dried Firewood vs. Fresh Wood
While you could gather fallen wood from your own yard or cut trees (if you have 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 lessen its moisture content. It's often sold as kiln-dried, which means it has been dried in a kiln, a type of oven.
Seasoned wood should feel dry to the touch and might have loose bark and splits or cracks in ends. It will feel lightweight because of its size.
If you get a deal of wood wrapped in plastic, make sure it's already dry or unwrap it once you get home. When it still feels wet, stack it on a firewood rack in a sheltered spot off the bottom and allow it to continue to dry. However, don't lean or stack firewood against your house or some other structure to prevent possible infestation from pests that might 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 may be harder to ignite than softwoods.
If you're cooking foods over a fire, use maple, cherry or other fruitwoods to add flavor. Be safe, and never cook food over painted, pressure-treated, ground-treated, stained or manufactured woods which could give off toxic gases. Never burn those forms of woods indoors for any reason.
Softwoods and semi-hardwoods, such as for example poplar, spruce and pine, are good choices for fire pits or other well-ventilated, outdoor areas. Softwoods are often more budget-friendly than hardwoods, but they don't last as long. However, they're simpler to ignite.
Avoid using woods that have a lot of resin, such as spruce or pine, in fireplaces, wood stoves and other indoor areas. When burned, these woods create creosote that will develop in chimneys and create a fire hazard.
Buying Firewood by Cords, Bundles and Other Measurements
Someone carrying a couple of pieces of bulk firewood far from a sizable rack of stacked, split firewood.
Measure the opening in your fireplace, fire pit or wood stove before you decide pre-cut firewood to be sure the logs will fit. The standard length for a bit of firewood is 16 inches.
Firewood is generally sold by the pallet, cord, face-cord or bundle.
The full cord is a stack of firewood that measures 8 feet long by 4 feet deep and 4 feet high, or 128 cubic feet. If you purchase the full cord of firewood, you'll have to cut the logs again to produce them match most standard fireplaces, wood stoves or fire pits.
A face cord, sometimes called a rick, is 64 cubic feet and typically measures 8 feet long by 4 feet high. Because the logs in an experience cord are 16 inches long, a face cord is 1/3 of the full cord.
Most firewood bundles are .75 cubic feet. Bundles are often sold wrapped in plastic or net bags, so they're easy to handle, and some campgrounds sell them to visitors. Bundles in many cases are at the higher end of the firewood budget range because they are convenient to transport 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 large amount of firewood, you might be able to possess it delivered or haul it yourself. If you need a rental truck, contact the local Home Depot store to ask if rentals are available.
Be aware that regulations for measuring cords, face cords and other levels of firewood may differ from state to state, so ensure you understand exactly how much wood you are getting once you buy. Be skeptical of purchasing firewood from anyone other than the usual reputable dealer who will give you a receipt.