Watching a this old house and they did a quick fireplace segment. The last tip was do not burn pine as it contains creosote and can cause a chimney fire! This was a newer episode, damn Yankees!
This old house says no pine
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I am not a fan of softwoods in open fireplaces as they tend to snap crackle and pop. I could buy that premise but agree creosote should not be reason
Ashful
Minister of Fire
My old house agrees with This Old House, don’t burn pine! Not because it’s dangerous, but because it’s not worth the effort. 
My old house agrees with This Old House, don’t burn pine! Not because it’s dangerous, but because it’s not worth the effort.
It does come in handy for those times when you are pushing a EPA firebox and need to burn down coals. That said I don't want a whole lot of it.
This myth continues to be perpetuated in New England. My SIL was shocked at first to learn that we burned fir. She calmed down a bit after hearing that our chimney is clean as a whistle, year after year.
The benefit with so many people avoiding pine back east is that there's lots of free wood to be had.
That fireplace segment was actually pretty horrible. I love toh but they dropped the ball on that one.
My old house agrees with This Old House, don’t burn pine! Not because it’s dangerous, but because it’s not worth the effort.
I'd argue cutting, packing, splitting and stacking wet green wood isn't worth the effort. The pine beetle killed lodgepole pine I'm burning right now we cut down just over a week ago, it's averaging 15-17% MC. The pine beetle has made an absolute disaster of our forests, but there is a lot of dry easy firewood because of it.
I burn pine in my modern woodstove equipped with an insulated metal flue without much concern.
I'd be much more concerned about burning it in an open fireplace with a masonry flue - less efficient burning, cold air dilution through the fireplace face, and a cold, high thermal mass surface for creosote to form on.
TOH segments on wood burning seem biased towards open fireplaces though they have done several segments on wood stoves. This is probably because one of the regulars, Mark, is a mason.
I'd be much more concerned about burning it in an open fireplace with a masonry flue - less efficient burning, cold air dilution through the fireplace face, and a cold, high thermal mass surface for creosote to form on.
TOH segments on wood burning seem biased towards open fireplaces though they have done several segments on wood stoves. This is probably because one of the regulars, Mark, is a mason.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
I suspect some are truly avoiding it, but I’d bet more just don’t see the point in bothering with it.
I was standing in a downed forest of white oak and ash yesterday, with literally 20-30 cords on the ground from just one storm. And while I was out picking thru that wood, I got a call from another member of our church wanting me to pick up 4 cords of red oak logs from his yard, hopefully next weekend.
You’re telling me that, when surrounded by a constant supply of more hardwood than you’ll ever have time to split, that you’d spend even a minute on pine? I won’t believe you, if you say yes!
Touch0Gray
Member
I have one evergreen tree and 15 acres of hardwoods. The fir is not knee high yet, pretty sure my woodstove would not even notice it was in there!
Never said that. But if you don't have property with a lot of trees and you have a friend, neighbor or power company that took down a pine in 16-18" rounds I would grab it in a heartbeat, especially if you don't have 2 yrs to wait for oak to dry. Pine split and stacked now can be ready to burn in November.
Grizzerbear
Minister of Fire
I only have access to oak and hickory on my property. When temps are as they were all day today.....45.....I wouldn't mind having a cord of pine to warm the house real fast and let it burn out. It's a little tougher with the hardwoods in this mild winter this year.
Shop stove gets a lot of pine. Dont care that it doesnt burn as long, as im long gone by the time it goes out anyway. Lights quick. Burns hot!
blacktail
Minister of Fire
The people who poopoo softwoods should contact Travis Industries and educate them. When I toured the Travis factory, they had a loading bay filled with douglas fir for their in-house burning!
Bad LP
Minister of Fire
Never gave TOH a lot of credit in the first place. I live near several of their project homes. Let’s just say the camera angles are very deceiving on the surroundings.
This Old House is a half hour infomercial. PBS carries them as it attracts viewers but every product they show is generally a paid appearance for the product by the firm that makes it. The hosts are not engineers most are tradesman who have businesses on the side that possibly could be enriched by appearances on TOH. Norm has an engineering degree but doesn't have a PE license. Its an eye candy show designed to attract eyeballs. I envision it as saving me admission to a home show as it does usually exhibit new to the market products.
The biggest downer to me is the overkill on mechanical systems. I think the moto is "if in doubt make it complicated" so the homeowner is saddled with signing a long term service contract to keep things running. They were accused in the past of abandoning a heating and cooling system unfinished after a wrap party leaving the homeowner with extensive bills to get it working. Their solution reportedly was to force anyone signing up for future projects to sign an "iron clad" contract that the owner would not disparage no matter what the issue was ever.
The biggest downer to me is the overkill on mechanical systems. I think the moto is "if in doubt make it complicated" so the homeowner is saddled with signing a long term service contract to keep things running. They were accused in the past of abandoning a heating and cooling system unfinished after a wrap party leaving the homeowner with extensive bills to get it working. Their solution reportedly was to force anyone signing up for future projects to sign an "iron clad" contract that the owner would not disparage no matter what the issue was ever.
I’m sure specialists of all types can pick apart TOH episodes, but it doesn’t bother me if they perpetuate the pine myth, because most of their veiwers are NOT specialists. There are a lot of people who would light up a fat pile of pine with a dirty chimney. I was once one of those people.
I have no problem with everyone here not wanting to burn pine. More for me.
Touch0Gray
Member
Remember when they canned Bob Vila for his excessive budgets on the properties, with the excuse "that is for rich people not commoners" I can't see where the new projects are budget friendly!
Gearhead660
Minister of Fire
I enjoy watching TOH as it gives me ideas for future projects. As for pine, I have at least a cord all set for next fall. All the wood I get is free, I take what I can get. I burn anything, key is to make sure it is fully dry/seasoned.
Mostly what i learned from TOL is how expensive it is to live anywhere near Boston.
Not just Boston, anywhere in the 495 corridor around Boston. Skilled trades people in that area are hard to find and good ones even harder. A lot of them are snow machine and ATV folks and they head up north to my area on weekends. Most are driving 1 to 3 year old 75to 100K plus 3/4 ton crew cabs with a custom trailer on the back and three or four ATVs on the trailer with the company logo on the side. Houses are cheap in the old mill town of Berlin NH where all the streets are open to ATV traffic so they pick up a house for cheap and use them to park their toys.
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I don't have nearly that much hardwood, but I have plenty for for my use currently.
I still grab the occasional pine log just to split up to give to my inlaws which they take camping.
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