by Misty S Bledsoe
Firewood stored outside.//Photo courtesty of alvimann/Morguefile.com
Uses
Many individuals use wood heat as their primary source of heat in their homes. Wood can be purchased by the cord (stacked at eight feet in length, four feet high and four feet wide) or chopped and stacked in similar types of dimensions in sheds, under carports, between two trees on land or simply against up against a home. People can burn wood in fireplaces and wood stoves located inside the home. Others utilize wood pellet stoves, which uses wood by-products that come in large bags of pellets that are ready for burning.
Cordwood can take from six months to sometimes two years of sitting and drying so that the moisture content is low enough for efficient burning. Burning wood as a form of heat year round or at least seasonally can be accomplished by having more than one stack of wood at varying degrees of seasoning. If you are just starting out purchase one to two dry seasoned cords of wood to start with and then purchase or harvest more wood that you allow to season at various lengths. Always burn the wood that has been seasoning the longest first. Burn the wood that has been seasoning the least last. If you can’t wait until next year or the year after to use the wood, then purchase only dry seasoned wood that is ready to burn.
Locating
You can find individuals selling cordwood through local classified ads or sometimes noting roadside signs. Cordwood can be purchased as “seasoned” or “green.” Do your best to negotiate a lower price for green wood than seasoned wood. Other times you obtain a permit from a county government to harvest your own wood on your own from local forestland. Check with the permits division for your city to see if this type of permit is available where you live, especially if you have or can borrow a chainsaw and a pickup truck.
Getting wood by harvesting it yourself is much cheaper than buying it from another person. Don’t neglect to pick up downed or dead tree branches that can be taken home and chopped at your disposal. If you choose to forage for extra firewood this way, the best time to find several downed branches and trees is usually right after a good windstorm. Make sure you get permission from any necessary landowners before you start taking downed wood.
You can buy wood pellets by the ton from the manufacturer online or choose to purchase as many bags as you need from a local distributor like a hardware or home improvement store or livestock feed supply stores. Wood pellet stoves don’t require any chopping or stacking of traditional firewood. It’s often cheaper to buy wood pellets in bulk. People that are moving or changing their primary source of heat may have extra bags of wood pellets they want to sell. Searching local classifieds for individuals selling their extra bags of pellets can be a good resource.
Mass.gov: Wood Pellet Heating
http://www.mass.gov/Eoeea/docs/doer/publications/doer_pellet_guidebook.pdf
Onlinedictionary.datasegment.com: Cordwood
