Ran out of wood--advice please!

[EPS]

While we don't rely on our wood stove to heat our house, it is the preferred method. I've only been cutting, splitting and stacking for about two years now and still haven't done enough to last me the whole winter apparently (as shameful as it is on this forum to admit that).

There is a guy nearby who sells 1/3 seasoned cord for $100 cash and haul, and another guy who is closer who is selling about 1/8 of a cord kiln dried for $25, also a diy delivery. I need enough to last me through the end of February at least. Which would you go for?

 

[HisTreeNut]

I would test the wood if you have a moisture meter and go with which ever has a lower moisture content.
As others will suggest, if you know other people who burn wood, they might sell you some. Likewise, get some wood pallets or purchase some of the compressed wood bricks (there are threads about the best kinds to get).
If all you have is wood that is not fully seasoned, mix the pallet wood & wood bricks in with the damp wood.
If you burn just pallet wood, be careful in that it is very dry and will burn fast and hot, and pull out as much of the metal as you can.
Hope this helps.

 

[gzecc]

Assume neither will have anything you like. Get 2 cords of ash maple mix. Stack it now and maybe it will be ready for next year.

 

[kennyp2339]

While we don't rely on our wood stove to heat our house, it is the preferred method. I've only been cutting, splitting and stacking for about two years now and still haven't done enough to last me the whole winter apparently (as shameful as it is on this forum to admit that).

Neither, spend $300.00 and get a ton of envi bricks, better hurry now, your suppose to get 3ft of snow this week.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

None.. turn on the heat. I really dont want to post that.. more than likely the wood isnt dry enough, and the cost seems to high. Wait a month or so and the prices will be much lower. Get some green wood and start splitting and stacking for next year..how much do you usually go through if you dont mined me asking..

 

[Hasufel]

In addition to the other suggestions, look around for downed branches and smaller trees. Smaller diameter stuff can dry surprisingly well uncut, especially if it's not lying directly on the ground. You might find some that's ready to burn this season.

 

[EPS]

Thanks for all of the advice, even if it is all over the place. In case it wasn't clear, money is an issue, otherwise I'd just pay the $200-$300 for a cord of wood. I just need to get through February. Like firewood guys, heating oil companies don't usually make deliveries in $25 increments (and I know that diesel is the same as Home Heating Oil #2 and I can get that myself if need-be). I was just looking for the most cost-effective way to heat my home for a few weeks. I think I may go down the wood brick route after all. Thanks!

 

[kavu]

Thanks for all of the advice, even if it is all over the place. In case it wasn't clear, money is an issue, otherwise I'd just pay the $200-$300 for a cord of wood. I just need to get through February. Like firewood guys, heating oil companies don't usually make deliveries in $25 increments (and I know that diesel is the same as Home Heating Oil #2 and I can get that myself if need-be). I was just looking for the most cost-effective way to heat my home for a few weeks. I think I may go down the wood brick route after all. Thanks!

if money is an issue, scrounge free wood pallets from wherever you can. bring in as much wood as you can into the stove room to dry what you have as much as possible and cut those dead pieces you see on the side of the road that noone seems to own. if you have to burn green, burn green but clean your stack weekly. I don't know if you have anyone that you can borrow some wood from and repay them in the spring? This spring you should make wood your number one priority but I am sure you already know this.

 

[EPS]

if money is an issue, scrounge free wood pallets from wherever you can. bring in as much wood as you can into the stove room to dry what you have as much as possible and cut those dead pieces you see on the side of the road that noone seems to own. if you have to burn green, burn green but clean your stack weekly. I don't know if you have anyone that you can borrow some wood from and repay them in the spring? This spring you should make wood your number one priority but I am sure you already know this.

Thanks for the tips. Maybe to reel things in a little, I'll state that we're not dirt poor, just not in a place to drop a few hundred bucks all at once one wood, you know? I have quite a bit of wood waiting to be processed over by my garage, but the snow keeps coming lately and that keeps me from spending as much time cutting wood as I'd like because my limited time outside is spent shoveling.

My goal is to keep cutting, scrounging, cutting, splitting, stacking in hopes that this time next year I'm basking in heat.

 

[peakbagger]

If you are in rural NH the best option is have several days of wood stashed in case you have an extended power loss. This wood should only be used in an emergency. I have seen some hardware stores that sell biobricks in smaller quantities but I suspect that you are getting up to the price per btu of heating oil. If you get lucky and find some standing dead wood or pallets great but this situation will just give you motivation to get ahead on work

 

[astonvilla65]

Prepare for next year, buy, scavenge your wood, once your ahead hopefully you'll be set

 

[kavu]

Thanks for the tips. Maybe to reel things in a little, I'll state that we're not dirt poor, just not in a place to drop a few hundred bucks all at once one wood, you know? I have quite a bit of wood waiting to be processed over by my garage, but the snow keeps coming lately and that keeps me from spending as much time cutting wood as I'd like because my limited time outside is spent shoveling.

My goal is to keep cutting, scrounging, cutting, splitting, stacking in hopes that this time next year I'm basking in heat.

I gotcha. i think the combination of some pallets and wood will get you through february. pallets will be dry and a great source of heat. My neighbor was doing that in march last year despite me telling him to take some of what i had left.

 

[Tar12]

You also may want to check with local tree services in your area. We have a couple here that run ads to give wood away as they can't handle it all. I took my dump trailer to the job site and they loaded it for me and called when it was ready to pick up!

 

[jatoxico]

another guy who is closer who is selling about 1/8 of a cord kiln dried for $25

You don't say what stove you have. The kiln dried may not be <20% but for $100 you're getting 1/2 cord (?). That's pretty good especially this time of year. If you can get that between it and scrounging up some pallets and/or lumber scraps and maybe some less well seasoned cord wood say from dead standing, you should get through.

Use all possibilities to keep the wood in your stove loads at as low a moisture content as you can. So a if you have some greenish wood match with the kiln dried (if its actually any good) or lumber etc. to extend your supply.

All or most of us have been where you are. Bit of a PITA but doable.

 

[EPS]

If you are in rural NH the best option is have several days of wood stashed in case you have an extended power loss. This wood should only be used in an emergency. I have seen some hardware stores that sell biobricks in smaller quantities but I suspect that you are getting up to the price per btu of heating oil. If you get lucky and find some standing dead wood or pallets great but this situation will just give you motivation to get ahead on work

I live along the main power line that connects Rochester and Ossipee, so if we get a power outage it doesn't last long.

I bought $20 worth of biobricks tonight and sawed and split up some of the thinner branches that I have collected over the last few months to supplement. I didn't know that about pallets. I actually have a good. steady source of pallets so I may resort to those, too.

I don't envy you up in Northern NH-- how much snow are you expecting for Monday?

 

[Tar12]

Truss companies can be another source of wood.Often they give away the cut offs.Saw mills can be a good source for slab wood as well.Some give it away here and others charge a modest price and load it for you..
.

 

[peakbagger]

I don't envy you up in Northern NH-- how much snow are you expecting for Monday?

Strangely enough Northeasters tend to be coastal. My place is just north of the Whites and I have the Mahoosuc range and the Carter Moriah/Wildcat range that pretty well shields me from coastal storms. I was out of town stranded in Boston on Thursday but think southern NH got more than at my place. Where we get nailed are Alberta Clippers, I got a pile of snow in the last 48 hours. My house is at 1400 feet so that also adds in some snow. Usually Conway Barlett get the jackpot snow storms from Northeasters lately. By the way the firewood market is a lot better in Conway and down to Ossipee than it is in the North Country. I have bought wood from the Conway area (Western Maine Timberlands) in the past as it was lower cost than locally. Rt 2 is the "oak line" so not many oaks up north so I have to make due with red and occasionally sugar maple along with white birch and occasional ash trees. I just bought 83 acres with a lot of sugar maple and beech that need thinning so expect that will be my wood two years from now.

I may be wrong but expect I will be on the low end of the accumulations from the Sunday storm. Of course I live near the town line with Randolph NH which has the highest design ground snow load in NH. Its more than double of NH.

 

[EPS]

We live in the northern tip of Strafford county...technically Seacoast region but closer to Lakes region. So we get the brunt of clippers and Nor'easters.

 

[peakbagger]

Looks like you are in for the jackpot.

I have had a few winters where I could walk up on my garage roof from the ground. I like snow and go hiking and snowshoeing in it but its PITA when I run out of room to put the snow.

 

[firefighterjake]

If you want to heat with the woodstove and can afford it . . . bio bricks or something similar.

If you want to heat with the woodstove and money is tight . . . find a place giving away free pallets (just don't stuff the stove to the gills.)

If you want to heat with the woodstove and avoid this problem next year . . . start scrounging or buying some wood now for use next year (or better yet, the year after.)

 

[EPS]

I bought some bio bricks fairly cheap, cut up some wood that I've had up off the ground and covered with tarp all season long (so they are a bit dryer than if they'd been exposed to all the rain and snow), and brought in all the bags of little pieces that I was going to save for shoulder season. Between all of those we had a nice warm fire going throughout the three storms over the long weekend. It's supposed to be milder next week so I can take it easy a bit.

I should also mention that I have a two year old running all over and if you've ever had one of those, plus a full-time job, you know that the hours you wish you could dedicate to any work around the house, let alone the woodpile, dwindles to just a few minutes here and there before you know it. The planets need to align just right so that I can get a solid 45 minutes to CSS.

 

[maple1]

$200/cord for kiln dried?

And you can bring home part cords?

That seems like a decent deal to me - wouldn't that be cheaper than the biobricks?

 

[kennyp2339]

1 ton of bio bricks equivalent to 1 to 1 &1/4 cord wood

 

[Gazing in Wonder]

I came to the wood shed with this very question, but it seems like bio bricks aren't for sale anywhere near western WA state. I'm short on time and money this year, and I'm thinking I'll burn everything dry I have, hoping we don't lose power. It seems like a few 20 packs or something of those bricks might be just the thing to have in a corner of the basement, just in case. Is it true you can't get them here without paying to ship from east of the Mississippi?

I know I should dry more wood, but I have a small yard, much of which is a steep slope facing north. Some of our flat sunny places are used for growing vegetables, and some for drying wood. What I need is a rooftop drying shed. Drying wood and keeping it dry is hard in this climate.

 

[Tegbert]

I came to the wood shed with this very question, but it seems like bio bricks aren't for sale anywhere near western WA state. I'm short on time and money this year, and I'm thinking I'll burn everything dry I have, hoping we don't lose power. It seems like a few 20 packs or something of those bricks might be just the thing to have in a corner of the basement, just in case. Is it true you can't get them here without paying to ship from east of the Mississippi?

I know I should dry more wood, but I have a small yard, much of which is a steep slope facing north. Some of our flat sunny places are used for growing vegetables, and some for drying wood. What I need is a rooftop drying shed. Drying wood and keeping it dry is hard in this climate.

Here in the nw we have north Idaho energy logs and homefire prest logs. Can also find bio brick types at places like tractor supply or co-ops. The north idahos and homefire ones are usually at co-ops around me. The big box stores probably don't have the bricks anymore.


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