Firewood
Cut, split, dry hardwood firewood is £240 (no VAT) per 4 cubic metre (140 cubic foot) load and £1/mile each way from Wrexham for delivery. It is £1.70 per cubic foot if you wish to collect loose firewood yourself.
Ring 01978 353012
Logs are cut to a nominal 10" length by chainsaw and vary somewhat.
Current supplies are mixed species and we separate out the willow, poplar, horse chestnut and softwoods and sell this cheaper. The hardwood firewood varies in composition but contains mostly ash, beech, birch, cherry, holly, lime, oak and sycamore.
Firewood is loaded by throwing into a trailer by hand so if you stack carefully in your woodshed it will be slightly less than our measured volume because of the tighter packing density.
Firewood should be below 20% moisture content before burning (dry weight of wood compared to supplied weight) and ideally below 15%.
The best hardwood firewood species include ash, beech, holly, hornbeam and oak, which will burn hot for a long time. There are hardwoods that are not so good because they are so light when dry; they still burn hot but not for so long. These include the willows, poplars and horse chestnut.
The denser softwoods make good firewood but some are more inclined to 'spit' or throw sparks; this is not an issue if you use a woodburner because any sparks produced will not get out of the fire.
Cheaper firewood
Cost for cut, split, dry willow, poplar, horse chestnut and softwood, is £180 per load and £1.30 per cubic foot to collect yourself
Little Known Facts about Firewood
- Firewood should be sold by volume rather than weight because the best quality logs are dry and therefore lighter than green ones.
- Green (ie. fresh) firewood will actually burn but so much energy is taken to evaporate the water that very little heat is produced to warm your house.
- Green firewood burns at such a low temperature that much of the combustable (burnable) part does not burn but is deposited as tar in your chimney.
- Years of burning green timber will put enough tar into the bricks and mortar of your chimney stack to produce a chimney fire that could cause structural damage to your house. (For this reason it is always wise to have a steel liner fitted in your chimney.
- Dry firewood will produce far fewer jumping sparks than green firewood.
- Ash, the "Queen of Firewood" has such a low moisture content, even in a live tree, that it counts as dry firewood on the day it is felled. Even when very dry, ash still burns steadily for a long time with a small flame and lots of heat.
Stoves or Open Fire?
- An open fire looks very attractive.
- Burning firewood on an open fire produces a lot of heat - 75% of it goes up the chimney in flue gasses.
- Burning firewood on an enclosed wood-burner or multi-fuel stove causes 75% of the heat to warm your house (only 25% up the chimney).
- By controlling the air flow, a stove will allow your fuel to burn for much longer than on an open fire.
- A good stove will allow the fire to stay in all night on wood alone; no coal necessary!
- A good fire is better to watch than television.
Firewood Storage
Where most people go wrong in burning wood is in how they process and store it before it is burned.
- There are "rules" about leaving certain species on the ground for 12 months before cutting and splitting; I am not aware of any benefit in any of these rules.
- In our experience, firewood should be cut to length and split as soon as possible after felling
- After splitting firewood should be stored under cover and with a through draught for at least a summer
Therefore
- Unless you are buying dry firewood, you need to have proper woodsheds with a waterproof roof and walls allowing a through draught; 'hit and miss' boarding works well. (A tarpauline over a pile of logs on the ground will allow the wood to rot but not dry properly).
- You should have at least two and preferably three compartments to your woodshed: 1) being filled 2) drying 3) in use.
- If you only have enclosed storage space then you need to buy firewood that is already dry.