How much is too much wood for suburban neighborhood?

[Paulywalnut]

You're preaching to the choir here on the forum. Most of us look at stacks of wood as works of art. It probably makes a nice fence for you.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

If I didn't have to play 18 holes of golf everyday in the warmer months

You run a lawn care biz, play that much golf and keep a huge property in exceptional state? You are either lying, being hyperbolic or have geniusly figured out how to run a landscape company and have plenty of free time other than in January.

In regards to the OP........ hats off to you guys who live and burn with HOA's. Couldn't do it. It's my property and I like things neat and organized, but I do what I want with it. Sounds like you could take it to 5 cords if kept neat and under radar.

 

[Firewood Bandit]

You run a lawn care biz, play that much golf and keep a huge property in exceptional state? You are either lying, being hyperbolic or have geniusly figured out how to run a landscape company and have plenty of free time other than in January.

In regards to the OP........ hats off to you guys who live and burn with HOA's. Couldn't do it. It's my property and I like things neat and organized, but I do what I want with it. Sounds like you could take it to 5 cords if kept neat and under radar.

I don't exaggerate about anything, there is no reason to. My lawn care business is very SMALL. I work generally 9 days a year, but I work pretty hard on those days. I specialize in spaying and fertilizing large parcels larger than 1 acre. I can spread 3600#s fertilizer in a couple days. It goes fast with PTO spreader on a SCUT.

Funny since I quit drinking beer I get a lot more done. So far have about 20 cord cut, split for 2.5 hours today.

I am pretty busy in Jan. too. hopefully we get some snow for snowmobiling. I just put it back together after having reinforcing gussets welded into the front clip.

 

[firefighterjake]

Ditto . . . Winter for me is all about snowmobiling . . . and enjoying the fruit of my labors when I come home to a nice, warm house and roaring fire.

 

[Sodbuster]

Ditto . . . Winter for me is all about snowmobiling . . . and enjoying the fruit of my labors when I come home to a nice, warm house and roaring fire.

It's interesting, Michigan used to be a huge snowmobiling state, still is pretty popular, but a lot of my friends got out of it because they had to trailer 6-8 hours north to get good snow. By the time you added up fuel, lodging, meals, etc. it turned into a pretty expensive weekend.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

Gotcha. I wondered as i run a landscape/lawn biz part time and it keeps me hopping. Mowing is the most significant aspect for me, but i do it all. Your yard and orchard shows your knowledge.

 

[coutufr]

 

[Firewood Bandit]

Gotcha. I wondered as i run a landscape/lawn biz part time and it keeps me hopping. Mowing is the most significant aspect for me, but i do it all. Your yard and orchard shows your knowledge.

Thanks for the kind words. I just looked at the orchard pics and saw there is some clover. My wife has said the following: "you run a lawn care business spraying weeds, isn't clover considered a weed"? "Why yes Hon it is, thanks for noticing".

In my defense I don't like to run spray booms that close to the apple trees, the chem lawn gun is the answer but at the time it didn't bother me too much.

Guess I have derailed enough back to wood pics: From past years.

 

[firefighterjake]

It's interesting, Michigan used to be a huge snowmobiling state, still is pretty popular, but a lot of my friends got out of it because they had to trailer 6-8 hours north to get good snow. By the time you added up fuel, lodging, meals, etc. it turned into a pretty expensive weekend.

I'm fortunate . . . other than the last two years which had a dearth of good snow in my area, most years I can snowmobile right from my backyard and hit the ITS (Interconnected Trail System) in 10 minutes or so.

That said . . . in my honest opinion . . . the best sledding is in The Crown of Maine . . . but as mentioned . . . it gets expensive with fuel, meals, lodging, etc. . . . heck, it's pretty expensive even riding from home with the cost of fuel, meals, two stroke oil (probably not a problem for you with your four stroker ).

 

[bob95065]

Might be time to sell the house and move into the woods where there are plenty of btu's and no neighbors.

Seriously, unless you have housing association or blight laws stack away until ruled otherwise by a court.

+1

I lived in a trac house in a suburban neighborhood with a tiny lot. I stacked between 3 and 4 cords in my sideyard every year that we burned in the winter. I had equipment squirreled away at friend's houses all over the county. I finally got sick of the rising crime and hearing my neighbor's phone ring so I convinced my wife to move.

We sold our house and moved up into the mountains above town in 2013. We have a modest two acres but it is plenty of space for me to do the things I want to do. The first thing I did was install a wood stove in the living room and build a woodshed that holds 9 cords of firewood. All my equipment is now in one place. I can't hear my neighbor's phone ring, no trafic noise, no cars driving by with people looking into my open garage. We live on a dead end road so the people that come up here live here or are visiting people that live here. The only thing I hear is the steam whistle at the tourist steam train about a mile away. The noise level here probably went up when I moved in and started cutting up firewood with my modern and vintage chainsaws and no one complains.

I remodeled everything in our old house and I had it set up nice. I missed it at first but it didn't take long for me to forget about that place and enjoy living in the mountains among the redwoods.

It's a choice you and your family have to make for yourselves. I'm conveying what worked really well for us.

Bob

PS: To answer your question, there is never too much firewood.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I don't exaggerate about anything, there is no reason to. My lawn care business is very SMALL. I work generally 9 days a year, but I work pretty hard on those days. I specialize in spaying and fertilizing large parcels larger than 1 acre. I can spread 3600#s fertilizer in a couple days. It goes fast with PTO spreader on a SCUT.

Funny since I quit drinking beer I get a lot more done. So far have about 20 cord cut, split for 2.5 hours today.

I am pretty busy in Jan. too. hopefully we get some snow for snowmobiling. I just put it back together after having reinforcing gussets welded into the front clip.

View attachment 217301

You are retired, Bandit. And, have retired brilliantly. Lots of retirees have a hard time with it. You clearly were born for it. I hope to follow in your footsteps around 07/2018. I just need to stop counting the beans and be inspired by folks like you.

All that said, as much as I admire you, spreading all those chemicals to kill everything except the grass is not cool. Being proud of it is even less cool. A little clover in the lawn is a good thing.

 

[Firewood Bandit]

You are retired, Bandit. And, have retired brilliantly. Lots of retirees have a hard time with it. You clearly were born for it. I hope to follow in your footsteps around 07/2018. I just need to stop counting the beans and be inspired by folks like you.

All that said, as much as I admire you, spreading all those chemicals to kill everything except the grass is not cool. Being proud of it is even less cool. A little clover in the lawn is a good thing.

Thanks for the kind words.

Regarding retirement, it's not for everybody and I mean that in all seriousness. I have found there are two types of people, those who live to work and those who work to live. I was definitely the latter. Work allowed me to do the other things I wanted to do in life. People of the former mindset do not do well in retirement. You have to have purpose. People I have known who say they want to "relax" when they retire are either unhappy or they don't last long. This sounds dumb but IMHO, in order to keep going when you get older, "You have to keep going".

We will not agree on the use of chemicals. Lawn care chemicals are fairly benign and I strive to maximize appearance with the fewest amount of applications. I do my own yard just like my customers and this is achieved with on a normal year 2 rounds of a 33-0-5, 100% controlled release nitrogen fertilizer and a single spraying for broadleaf and pre-emergent combined.

Treating apples is MUCH more involved and is done every 14 days.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Thanks for the kind words.

Regarding retirement, it's not for everybody and I mean that in all seriousness. I have found there are two types of people, those who live to work and those who work to live. I was definitely the latter. Work allowed me to do the other things I wanted to do in life. People of the former mindset do not do well in retirement. You have to have purpose. People I have known who say they want to "relax" when they retire are either unhappy or they don't last long. This sounds dumb but IMHO, in order to keep going when you get older, "You have to keep going".

We will not agree on the use of chemicals. Lawn care chemicals are fairly benign and I strive to maximize appearance with the fewest amount of applications. I do my own yard just like my customers and this is achieved with on a normal year 2 rounds of a 33-0-5, 100% controlled release nitrogen fertilizer and a single spraying for broadleaf and pre-emergent combined.

Treating apples is MUCH more involved and is done every 14 days.

Well said, on all counts.

It is clear as day that you are living large in retirement.

I'm not sure about the live to work or work to live thing, just because I suppose it depends on what work we are doing. When I work hard doing what I want, I'm happy, when I work hard at the bill-paying job, I just get tired and irritated. But, both are work. Perhaps I just don't like having a boss and rules.

I aspire to be just like you, working hard at what I love in retirement, and have been struggling greatly to get there, for about 5 years now (or perhaps from my first job). So, when I see your posts and pictures, I'm inspired.

I have a much smaller orchard than you, but enough to know how right you are about the fruit trees- every animal, fungus, insect, bacteria love the tree as much as we like the fruit, and all resistance seems to have been bred out of them. Those chemicals are horrible, but, if you want live trees and fruit, there is no other option...

Finally, regarding the lawn, friends can disagree from time to time. And, it sounds like you are responsible with it. Nobody's perfect, least of all me!

 

[Firewood Bandit]

Well said, on all counts.

It is clear as day that you are living large in retirement.

I'm not sure about the live to work or work to live thing, just because I suppose it depends on what work we are doing. When I work hard doing what I want, I'm happy, when I work hard at the bill-paying job, I just get tired and irritated. But, both are work. Perhaps I just don't like having a boss and rules.

I aspire to be just like you, working hard at what I love in retirement, and have been struggling greatly to get there, for about 5 years now (or perhaps from my first job). So, when I see your posts and pictures, I'm inspired.

I have a much smaller orchard than you, but enough to know how right you are about the fruit trees- every animal, fungus, insect, bacteria love the tree as much as we like the fruit, and all resistance seems to have been bred out of them. Those chemicals are horrible, but, if you want live trees and fruit, there is no other option...

Finally, regarding the lawn, friends can disagree from time to time. And, it sounds like you are responsible with it. Nobody's perfect, least of all me!

Obviously apples are big hobby for me. I have grown apples since 1991. There are a varieties of apples that have been bred to be "scab resistant" and will grow pretty decent apples without much interference. PM me is interested.

 

[Remsenburg Blazer]

I live in a suburb with close to an acre lot, that backs up to a yuppier neighborhood, who I could care less about. I get a few comments from my immediate neighbors but nobody actually cares. The biggest eye sore would probably be my tarps covering the stacks.

As far as I know, there's no town laws/ordinances against storing firewood. So stack away!

Your woods fine and your taste inasfar as beer goes is impeccable!

 

[Bmore]

I live in the suburbs on a1/3 acre street. I’m the youngest home owner on the street and all the neighbors think I’m nuts, ha! I have 7 cords single stacked around my fence line. I replenish each season as I burn. Keeps me 3 years ahead. In my neighborhood I’m referred to as that Firewood Guy. It just makes me laugh when the neighbors comment on another haul of wood coming home. Pics aren’t this season but you get the idea.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I live in the suburbs on a1/3 acre street. I’m the youngest home owner on the street and all the neighbors think I’m nuts, ha! I have 7 cords single stacked around my fence line. I replenish each season as I burn. Keeps me 3 years ahead. In my neighborhood I’m referred to as that Firewood Guy. It just makes me laugh when the neighbors comment on another haul of wood coming home. Pics aren’t this season but you get the idea.

Nice stacks.

 

[coutufr]

I live in the suburbs on a1/3 acre street. I’m the youngest home owner on the street and all the neighbors think I’m nuts, ha! I have 7 cords single stacked around my fence line. I replenish each season as I burn. Keeps me 3 years ahead. In my neighborhood I’m referred to as that Firewood Guy. It just makes me laugh when the neighbors comment on another haul of wood coming home. Pics aren’t this season but you get the idea.

Looks very good!

 

[jman66]

Looks very good!

Thanks for the fertilizer tips Bandit...Hey Bmore, What do you cove your stacks with??? Thx in advance

 

[kennyp2339]

Thanks for the kind words. I just looked at the orchard pics and saw there is some clover. My wife has said the following: "you run a lawn care business spraying weeds, isn't clover considered a weed"? "Why yes Hon it is, thanks for noticing".

In my defense I don't like to run spray booms that close to the apple trees, the chem lawn gun is the answer but at the time it didn't bother me too much.

Guess I have derailed enough back to wood pics: From past years.

View attachment 217320

View attachment 217321

So we just met the Chuck Norris of firewood and apple growing

 

[saewoody]

I live in the suburbs on a1/3 acre street. I’m the youngest home owner on the street and all the neighbors think I’m nuts, ha! I have 7 cords single stacked around my fence line. I replenish each season as I burn. Keeps me 3 years ahead. In my neighborhood I’m referred to as that Firewood Guy. It just makes me laugh when the neighbors comment on another haul of wood coming home. Pics aren’t this season but you get the idea.

Curious what you are covering your stacks with. I’ve thought about felt roofing paper, but yours looks thicker than that. Thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bmore]

Curious what you are covering your stacks with. I’ve thought about felt roofing paper, but yours looks thicker than that. Thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am using roofing Ice and weather shield. Made as underlayment below shingles in valley and eve locations. It is much thicker than roofing paper and can be used over again for several seasons. Not as good as rubber roofing but does the job. It has an adhesive side, but I still weigh it down with splits. I manage new home construction, so I save the leftovers for my stacks. Not too expensive for a 50’x3’ roll but free is best.

 

[Firewood Bandit]

So we just met the Chuck Norris of firewood and apple growing

I don't know what is my strongest passion is, I am pretty tough on the golf course and playing 9 ball too, I like to wager.

I worked on and off 10 years on the golf course, (learned about turf care and gambled with the pro) and while in College I worked in the bowling alley/pool hall on Campus and could play pool while I worked. Eventually I bought one of the Professional model Brunswick 4.5 x 9' tables when they sold them off and have it in my basement.

 

[jscs.moore]

I live in the suburbs on a1/3 acre street. I’m the youngest home owner on the street and all the neighbors think I’m nuts, ha! I have 7 cords single stacked around my fence line. I replenish each season as I burn. Keeps me 3 years ahead. In my neighborhood I’m referred to as that Firewood Guy. It just makes me laugh when the neighbors comment on another haul of wood coming home. Pics aren’t this season but you get the idea.

Thanks for the pics...you have a very similar situation to mine. I will push it to about 5 cords running down my fence line next year, but that's about my limit. I don't want to push it too far given I have an HOA. But it's nice to know I'm not alone in my suburban homesteading Burn on brother!

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

Too much wood is when the Mrs. is asking you to help her packing her suitcase.