Pressed Wood Bricks in the North Shore, MA

[MrsD]

Good morning,

Hello there. Been here for quite some time, love all the information and help that I have received since buying my first house last year, just never posted. I was actually surprised to see that I had signed up earlier this year when I went to sign up today in order to ask a question. It's the exact screen name I was going to use today. Anyhoo...

I'm looking for pressed wood blocks to supplement some less than ideal wood I have for winter. I'm not even all that picky with quality, just need something. I need something that I can put in the house because we are almost out of room outside with the green stuff (we live in 01902 where land is in short supply). I've never purchased pressed wood items, and I'm not really sure where I should look. I want to buy it for tax free weekend whenever it comes up soon. We need it delivered (unless it is close enough to do two trips) because a ton might be too much for my husband's truck. She was pretty stressed with 1/2 yard of 1.5 inch pea stone last week.

*Northeast Nursery, in Peabody, near my house doesn't really sell them, but they will get them for people at the premium price of $439 a ton (they don't know the brand, but it's 50 bags x 20 bricks/bag). I don't even know if that includes delivery. Hell, they have mountains of gorgeous kiln dried for not too much more. I'm not paying that.

*Tractor Suppy, Ipswich, sells their ton for $335, but they don't have delivery. They have "a guy" named Andy (but they're technically not allowed to tell me that) that will deliver for, she thinks, $50. That's, I think, $385.

*Northeastern Fence Co, Saugus, is unknown right now, but last year when I went in because I was thinking of bricks, was expensive. Not sure if they deliver.

That's all I have. The nearest Enviro- (Eco) brick is 90+ miles away.

Does anybody know where I can buy some average quality bricks for an average price? Is just-shy-of-$400 a common price? I just can't believe that's true when I'm getting log length cords, one at a time, for $150.

Thanks in advance,
Mrs.D.

 

[begreen]

I'm willing to bet that the log length cords are not seasoned, but that is a very good deal for full cord delivered. I would buy several cords at that price, stack and top cover them for the following season.

 

[georgepds]

try

http://originalbiobricks.com/buy

there are about 15 vendors within 50 miles of you

 

[billb3]

Tax free weekend is 15/16 August.

Wood pellets are exempt from sales tax in Mass as are all heating fuels.
http://www.mass.gov/dor/businesses/current-tax-info/guide-to-trustee-taxes/sales-and-use-tax.html

 

[MrsD]

Begreen: No, they were not seasoned, but freshly cut. I actually paid $150 for 1.5 cords (I thought of that after), so $100/cord. We are buying as many as we can find, but it's not from a distributor, just tree guys willing to travel here and dump. I have my number at a couple of places, but they only call when cutting local, and I only take healthy hardwood, so it's not as often as I'd like. The guys around me are charging $275 for green firewood. We would much rather just cut it ourselves. I would go for a grapple load, but we don't have the space for that, unfortunately.

Georgepds: Thanks for the link. That's the exact one that I have used. Not only do the ones local to me not have "the original biobrick," some can't deliver, or charge outrageous prices. I was hoping that someone on this forum might be local to me, and have bought some recently. The one I decide on is Canawick brand for [I believe (the number is not in front of me)] $335/cord. Ugh. But I have only one cord of seasoned, and I have no idea how much I will burn over a whole season, so I guess I'm stuck.

Billb3: Nice, good to know. I missed the weekend anyway...


Man, I thought that I would get an email notification when there was a reply, but I guess not. I'll keep checking back every so often.

I found someone that doesn't deliver, but will sell me a 1/2 ton at a time (for half of the one ton price) so I can pick it up with my truck. It's not the price I want to pay, but it's not outlandish, either.

I'm still very much open to suggestions. Thanks.

 

[Dmitry]

Hey , I'm in CT , but want to share my story with bio bricks, eco bricks etc .
I was googling it before buying , tried calling numbers listed as dealers on Eco bricks site and the prices were outrages , like $350 and up. Every place has different price and just by the way they answered I had a feeling that it's not what they sell on a regular basis. Like : " yeah , we gonna call you back , how many pack you need?" packs ? I wanted 4 tons .finaly I found a place with delivery option selling Eco bricks for $250 a ton ,they had no problem delivering it. So , call around , it has to be under $300, somewhere

 

[kennyp2339]

You may also want to call some local lumber yards, I was surprised when I found out my local lumber yard was selling eco bricks for $305.00 a ton last year. That turned out to be my mom and dads x-mas gift since there firewood wasn't ready yet.

 

[kennyp2339]

These were from the lumber yard - these were much better burning / heat release than the tractor supply red-stones. These were more compact and lasted.

 

[MrsD]

I'll see if I can find a lumber yard around me, and ask. Thanks. Man, $250 would be AWESOME!

 

[MrsD]

I called ten that are local to me. Only one carried them (Moynihan's of Beverly), but the deal was $400/ton, and they don't stock them. They just order them when you ask for them. The rest didn't carry. One person said, "They're like giant pellets, right?" lol. Thanks for the advice though. It's an avenue I wouldn't have thought of on my own.

Honestly, I would prefer dried wood, but the kiln dried in my area (which was beautiful) is $550/cord, and what "seasoned" I have check out with a meter to buy was not seasoned at all. I mean, I get it--we used all the seasoned last year! So, my options are the green wood I am building up currently for the future, and bricks. Although, we did find a cord of four-year seasoned firewood on craigslist for under $200. I was so excited. The people were selling their house. We are always on the lookout for free or cheap wood. We burn for ambiance, mostly, but the heat that comes from it is so wonderful that we run it 24/7 till it's gone. I'm sure that I could go through a cord of wood a month easily.

Thanks again,
Mrs.D.

 

[NE Poultry Supply]

We have been using the Bio Bricks for the last three years. I don't burn the green firewood in the house and I can never get ahead to have wood longer than a year or two. I bought 10 tons last year. There is a place in southern main that gave me a good deal. I hired a truck and fork lift to deliver them to me. They said they would honor the price this year for me too but only after calling a few times. They tried to quote me prices that are more around what you have been quoted.

I like these because they are wrapped in paper bags and the whole brick (9 of them) get put in at once on top of coals. Much cleaner as you don't get the sawdust coming off in the house that way.

 

[kennyp2339]

Cord wood is always king, free cord wood is especially nice.
I started burning 4 years ago as a primary source, my first year in my house I didn't know anything and probably paid the oil man enough to put his children through college.
I bought my stove and installed it in the month of October, after installing it I spent all my available time in the woods cutting up anything that was dead and seemed dry, I was able to scrounge about 2 cords from thin air that was burnable. That winter really wasn't that bad, we had the typical cold days, but the temps would rebound back to warm 30's. I ran out of wood towards the end of February and had to scrounge again, luckily I found a few dead oaks that were standing, I was able to piece together another cord or so and that brought me to the end of the season.
The next spring my buddy had a huge maple tree removed and gave me all the wood, I split and stacked it right away, I ended up with about 4 cords, that fall I spent $300.00 on a log truck of green oak, I cut and split it right away and had a yield of 6.5 cords, the following spring I had (2) large maples removed, obviously I kept the wood and yielded about 5 cords. I have since been in the woods cutting up fallen tree's (no rush) and splitting them, I'm about 3.5 years ahead with a wood supply and I want to keep it that way.
The point of this rant is to show that in order to be efficient you need to prepare, the initial surge of wood was a lot of work, it seemed never ending, but after I got a 2 year supply the rest became easier because I could pick and choose.

 

[MrsD]

I swear, if I was ANYWHERE but eastern Mass, I could probably get a much better deal on bricks (or wood, really...). I've seen Maine, VT, CT, all with suppliers for those good quality bricks that people are willing to purchase a lot of. Also, they have more seasoned wood. The cost of shipping would make it ridiculous...

Four cords from one tree!! I've never seen something that big. But yea, I would love to get a bunch of wood drying for the next few years, but finding it isn't easy. We just passed our one year mark in this house, so we are still feeling out where we have space to process, dry, and then store the wood. We have nearly no sun or open space because we are in the woods, but it's not our land that surrounds us, so we can't use it. We are definitely willing to do the work, but since it's not our main source of heat, I'm not willing to spend $400+ for a months worth of heat. It's just going to be so hard to be sparing with the fires...

 

[kennyp2339]

Mrs. D - yes 4 cords from one tree, base was near 42" round, but in all seriousness, if you can find a dealer (wood bricks) that is worth the $$$, maybe rent a truck, or trailer and go to them to pick it up, 1 ton is equivalent to 1 cord, so if you buy 3 tons and then wait until December to light to stove you may be able to squeak by this year. I totally understand what it feels like to be in a place for the first year, most of the time spent is trying to make the house your home, and wood n stuff is last on the priority list. g
Good luck

 

[Bad LP]

My brother who lives in Southern NH bought a pallet (1ton) of bricks for 290 but he trucked them himself.

 

[MrsD]

Thanks for the info Bad LP. Do you know where? $290 is $35 less per ton than I am paying now. Also, I think the truck rental idea is good. I guess I would have to just see how much it would cost to rent one versus the difference in cost. Thanks guys.

 

[sportbikerider78]

Sounds like you have a truck,....how about renting a nice trailer? You could likely rent a dual axle trailer and load it with 4 tons of bricks.

 

[MrsD]

Just thought that I would update and say that we just (this week) finally grabbed a ton of Canawick bricks for $325. Since it was less than 10 miles away, we used our own pick up truck for 2 trips. We have scrounged a few cords of various hardwoods, but since they are all obviously green, the bricks were kind of a necessity. It's all stacked under the staircase in the basement. It's so neat and beautiful. We burned a load of just bricks for the night and I thought it was just fine. I look forward to mixing the loads. Thanks for your contributions! We both have dreams of a future estate with land large enough to surround our property with wood Until then, we will just keep piecing together what we can. I's like to recommend Northeast Fence Supply Company if anyone is looking for bricks. They have the best price around this area, and they will sell by ton or half ton. They also have great customer service.

 

[mellow]

View attachment 160626 These were from the lumber yard - these were much better burning / heat release than the tractor supply red-stones. These were more compact and lasted.

They do burn pretty good, not sure if this is the same company but I got a Ton of them so we will see how they do over the winter.

 

[turbotom1052]

bio bricks in Windham county Vermont for 285 you pick up. Stove depot in Londonderry. Available as of the last weekend in Oct.

 

[MrsD]

bio bricks in Windham county Vermont for 285 you pick up. Stove depot in Londonderry. Available as of the last weekend in Oct.

Sure wish I could get those prices around here, Turbo. You guys are lucky!