The Summer Scrounge is on!!!

[CrazyAboutOrchids]

And I am so excited! How weird of a woman am I that I drive around as I cart the kids around and check out wood, trees, etc. Today I scored over 2 cords of wood and am just so psyched Last year I got a mimimum 2 cords free as well. Got some hickory and maple that I am going to load up over the next few days that was cut in perfect lengths and then I am getting a few logs dropped in the driveway from a neighbor who is having trees taken down. I can't believe that the tree workers just chip up all this stuff. What a waste

 

[DonCT]

Yea, I find myself doing the same now. I'm trying to get my inside scoop from the landscapers/tree services. Most times, they don't want to waste time cutting the wood up once they drop it, so I'm trying to get it from there. I'm also going to be doing some cutting for the state forestry department. Only $20 per cord, so I can build my pile nice and big

 

[scfa99]

Tree company is doing alot of work in my area, trimming trees and taking some down for the electrical lines. Most properties in my area are 1-10 acres and the wood is left at the edge of the property. My question is what is the ruling on this? Is it the landowners property (the wood left behind) or is it up for grabs? If its the landowners what do you think a reasonable waiting period is? Say if its sitting there for a couple of weeks can i grab it? Were not talking a lot of wood, just piles all over so its not really worth banging on doors.

 

[BrotherBart]

Tree company is doing alot of work in my area, trimming trees and taking some down for the electrical lines. Most properties in my area are 1-10 acres and the wood is left at the edge of the property. My question is what is the ruling on this? Is it the landowners property (the wood left behind) or is it up for grabs? If its the landowners what do you think a reasonable waiting period is? Say if its sitting there for a couple of weeks can i grab it? Were not talking a lot of wood, just piles all over so its not really worth banging on doors.

Pretty much every electric company has a right of way supervisor. Call and ask for he/she/it. They will give you the straight scoop.

 

[Willhound]

Tree company is doing alot of work in my area, trimming trees and taking some down for the electrical lines. Most properties in my area are 1-10 acres and the wood is left at the edge of the property. My question is what is the ruling on this? Is it the landowners property (the wood left behind) or is it up for grabs? If its the landowners what do you think a reasonable waiting period is? Say if its sitting there for a couple of weeks can i grab it? Were not talking a lot of wood, just piles all over so its not really worth banging on doors.

Brother Bart likely has the scoop, but I know that around here, if the utility company left it behind, it is usually only after checking with the landowner, otherwise they remove it PDQ as it is a liability for them. Therefore belongs to the landowner. Regardless of how much or how little, my personal opinion is that good etiquette requires the 5 minutes it takes to bang on the door and get the landowners cooperation. If I leave my car on the edge of my property and it's there for a while, can you come and "grab it"?
Don't think so.

The upside of this is that quite often it will lead to other free wood that they have laying around and don't want or need and a good opportunity for future wood if they have acreage.

 

[Shane]

Reminds me of the little punks who were stealing my rocks to throw in the drainage easement. I have an easment on my property a drainage ditch which is 90% underground but becomes exposed on the last 20-30 of my property. Last summer I went into the prairie and collected a bunch of larger rocks for various landscaping purposes and stacked them up next to the exposed portion of the ditch. Caught about 6 teenagers out there last week hucking my rocks into the nasty green cess pool. Ticked me off. I didn't think to make them retrieve them before I expelled them from my property wish I would have. I think they had constructed some sort of IED because two of them fled from the drainage pipe and one was carrying something black with a string that looked alot like a fuse dangling from it. On top of that my wife heard them say "no dude don't light it he's coming!". Oh how I miss being one of those punks. Of course nowadays if you got caught with a firecracker bomb you'd be detained in a secret jail, by a secret judge and probably routinely visited by a secret bubba.

 

[colsmith]

I did my first stopping and asking about the availability of wood in someone's yard yesterday. Very positive reception by the homeowner. The wood is partly stacked up and partly laying on the ground. First glance showed things to be cut to suitable firewood lengths, but of course it needs splitting. The enormous sized rounds at the bottom of the tree were cut rather thin, I imagine so that the cutter could handle them himself. The nice lady told me it was just cut last week and is willow, and I can have it if I want. I know willow has fairly low BTUs, but it is free wood 4 miles from my house and already in the correct lengths. (I live near but not in civilization so 4 miles is very close for me.) Do you think it is worthwhile to bring home willow for a woodstove? A neighbor gave us a pickup full of it last year, they said they don't burn it in their stove. We have burned a little so far and it seems okay. Very light wood when dried of course. What do y'all think? I figured we can mix it in with all the mulberry we are splitting right now and the other random wood we are accumulating.

 

[elkimmeg]

Around her I am not so blessed with rocks. Pita every time one digs a hole, rocks abound you would never run out of them.
also good around here is hard wood oak Ash Maple to name a few. One of my customers is building a horse barn
Cleared at least 5 cords of wood all about 10" rounds cut to 8' lengths. I just have to pick them up And I have the use of a skid steer loader with forks

 

[Corie]

Pretty much every electric company has a right of way supervisor. Call and ask for he/she/it. They will give you the straight scoop.

Here's my question. THe electric company did some cuts and the wood is laying in what consider the electric company right of way, however it's a posted lot with no house. So there's no door for me to bang on and the wood has sat since last year. Am i entitled to it? I've been leary to mess with it just out of principle.

 

[Shane]

The standing water shouldn't be there. It's a breeding ground for mosquitos but the city will not do anything about it. It's just a poorly constructed/maintained drainage ditch.
Elk that would tough having to acutally clear the land your going to build on out here all that has to be done to prep a lot is dig the foundation (often in sandy easy to dig soil) and off you go.
Corie, I would call the city and find out who pays taxes on the lot then call them. OR you could call the utility since it's in their right of way. Even if it is their right of way it may still be the property owners land. I store lots of stuff in the easement on my property.

 

[WarmGuy]

My neighbor cut a big log (36" diameter) and told me I was welcome to all the rounds. Yesterday I rolled eight of the rounds to my driveway, and went over today to split up the ones that were too big for rolling, but they were gone. He had his landscapers get rid of them. Bummer! But I'll get a lot of wood from my eight rounds.

 

[jabush]

Pretty much every electric company has a right of way supervisor. Call and ask for he/she/it. They will give you the straight scoop.

Here's my question. THe electric company did some cuts and the wood is laying in what consider the electric company right of way, however it's a posted lot with no house. So there's no door for me to bang on and the wood has sat since last year. Am i entitled to it? I've been leary to mess with it just out of principle.

Down here the State runs a Real Property website. You search by county, then map and parcel number or street address. Tells you who owns it, lot size, sqare footage of house, what they paid for it, etc.... If you have a site like this in PA you could pull up the nearest lot with an address. The map should show neighboring properties and their parcel numbers. Once you identify the lot your looking at, you go back and do a new search with that particular parcels map and lot number. Whoever owns it should show up on the search. At least you would have a name, then it's phone book time (or on line white pages time). Also, it's a good resource to see what places are going for in your neighborhood.

hth,

joel

 

[Rhone]

My electric company doesn't let anyone take any wood ever, and you have no right to anything they're coming back for. They have a wood chip electrical plant and everything they cut, gets chipped and dumped into it to make electricity. They are really protective of their wood and love trimming tree branches, as it helps offset their costs.

 

[colsmith]

Funny thing, did my first asking a person about the wood in their yard thing earlier this week. Today a neighbor stopped by to ask us about all the wood stacked in our yard, hoping he could have some of it. I found it quite amusing to have someone trying to scrounge off me! I had initially thought wood stoves weren't too common where I live, but have since found out that about one third of the houses up and down my street (not that many houses, mind you) burn wood. Fortunately I believe all the people with wood stoves to be good neighbors, or I would be worried that my wood piles are so close to the road.

Have started making friends with a new guy in the neighborhood that cuts down trees for a living!

 

[elkimmeg]

Back from the morning scrounge: Well ! actually they called me to pick up the wood. I filled my 3/4 ton pk truck with the side tool boxes an sagged down the road,, made it here saftely. My guess 3/4 cord. Off to make another trip. When the going is this good, yeah gotta keep on trucking. First come first served

 

[chevyhd]

I may have started scrounging early but it has paid off. Since january I have scrounged about 6 cords all red oak and locust. Most of it came from a lot that was being cleared for development only 3 miles from my house. I just asked the guy logging if I could have what they didn't want. He said I was welcome to it. Talk about easy, it was all pole length stacked on the landing for trucks to load. The rest sp far has been from along the interstate/ I am hoping to get some in my travels for work, but so far so good.

 

[wg_bent]

With a little work theres really no need for any of us to ever pay for wood.

That's a gross generalization if I EVER heard of one.

And nuclear power was gonna be "too cheap to (bother) meter(ing it)".

There's a helluva lot more to the supply/demand 'curves' of firewood than your experience indicates.

Hmm. My experience tells me that unless you can't cut wood, or have no place to stack it...then I agree, no need to pay for wood. I'm not saying there isn't reasons that someone might have to pay for wood, but in general...there's not need.

 

[chevyhd]

It never hurts to ask people about their wood, the worst they can say is no. I frequently get into places where they are starting new housing developments and just clear the land and pile everything up and burn it all with a trench burner/incinerator. The contractor doesn't care if I take it, they are usually happy. Less work for them. I just carry the saw with me all the time, I just don't work any OT and load up my work truck with wood instead. Saving money on heat is just as good as a couple hours overtime.

 

[babalu87]

I knew I should have brought the saw on the dump run Saturday
Some nice Maple logs but no way I was getting them in the truck in that length and Ben is a little young to help out yet going on 4) though he like to try
I have wood of my own on our land but anything log form for free I will scrounge.
Cant get back to the dump till Saturday at the earliest and I would bet it is gone by then, lesson learned ALWAYS bring the saw to the dump.

There are some HUMUNGOUS logs there but you would need a professional and alot of time to wack them up.
I should have snapped a pic with the phone, that tree (Maple, maybe Elm) was ENOURMOUS, 5 feet across.

 

[ourhouse]

I took care of my wood for the year. I Talked with our log truck driver today and said 10 cord please. He said ok. Great i'm done.

 

[martel]

I took care of my wood for the year. I Talked with our log truck driver today and said 10 cord please. He said ok. Great i'm done.

Done? thats a big stove- no cutting, splitting, stacking---- okay, i'm just jealous.

 

[Nokoni]

I just got permission from my local yard waste to scrounge. I had already taken some from their nice big pile but thought I should get permission. They let it pile up and then send it through a chipper. Everything is supposed to be cut into four foot lengths before people drop it off. I don't have a truck but a Subaru wagon so I can get a good amount in there. I've even loaded up my Honda when I was driving past. I'm feeling pretty happy and hoping I don't have to give one dime this year to buying wood.

 

[BrotherBart]

I just got permission from my local yard waste to scrounge. I had already taken some from their nice big pile but thought I should get permission. They let it pile up and then send it through a chipper. Everything is supposed to be cut into four foot lengths before people drop it off. I don't have a truck but a Subaru wagon so I can get a good amount in there. I've even loaded up my Honda when I was driving past. I'm feeling pretty happy and hoping I don't have to give one dime this year to buying wood.

Ah yes, I remember well the time I hauled scrounged wood home in my wife's station wagon. And the hell I caught when that spider climbed up on her shoulder as she drove to work the next day.

 

[scfa99]

I scored a nice load on saturday. coming back from the dump with my buddies trailer, i saw a house that had some wood in front that the utility company cut down. wood was set back on the property, so went up to the house (isolated, didn't even know anyone lived there). knocked on the door and an old man answered and he was very happy that I was interested in it. His parting words were "i hope it keeps your family warm this winter". Loaded up the trailer, even took some crap wood, light weight/punky wood just so the guy didn't have to look at it rotting there. Didn't want to be one of those guys that only picks the choice peices and leaves the garbage. All told we filled the trailer, approx 3/4 of a cord all shag hickory and maple. Gonna drop the guy a thank you note and also give him my number in case any trees go down and he needs them removed (he has about a 6 acre wooded lot).

 

[Shane]

One man's trash is antother man's treasure. It's great that you guys are able to source your heating fuel like this. I'm still seriously considering a switch to wood from pellet. I still can't get past the automation and even heating that the pellet provides me compared to the wood. If my wife still worked from home I think there'd be a wood stove there now.