Firewood log length heating????

[RoosterBoy]

hay guys i just had a few questions i am getting 4 more loads of logs that i will cut up into firewood. when it comes i will have tarp on the ground and 2 logs put one way and the rest of the logs will be on top that.
then i will cover the top with another tarp. will the the wood last longer if i don't cut it because i will not need the wood for six years or more. or will it last longer if i cut split and stack it. then cover it after a year.

also i am buying a new Avalon stove this year and was debating with a friend. what causes more pollution to the environment heating with my new wood stove or heating with my oil fired boiler?

thanks
Jason

 

[046]

don't buy so much wood in advance. unless you have inside storage. wood stored outside for 6 years will aged too much be much use.

 

[elektrobot]

Bugs

I have had some unsplit logs that have sat outside and covered for just a little over a year, and I can not begin to tell you how many insects have nested in them. Every time I would throw the axe into one to split it, ants would come pouring out.........then they would run back in to try and retrieve their egg sacs. If you let wood sit for that long, it will begin to biodegrade, and it will be consumed by insects and most likely just crumble when you handle it.

 

[RoosterBoy]

thanks for the good advice so i am better off splitting and cutting it all right away? and stacking it so it dry's right? then cover it

also what i will do with the logs is buy ant baiting traps that the ants will carry back to the nest and kill the queen and the intire colony

thanks
Jason

 

[1CallLandscape]

roosterboy, keep it whole bugs will take longer to eat away at the wood than if it were split and cut to length. you will lose some to rot but you should have some nice hard wood by burning time. try not to get wood so far in advance if possible.....What type of wood is it????

-mike

 

[RoosterBoy]

hi mike it's all hardwoods no soft.

oak's , maple , cherry , ash

prices for wood around here are getting high so i want to stock pile it so i wont get stuck. oil looks like it's just going to keep going up so i want as much wood as i can now so i wont need oil anymore at least for the next ten years. this year i will be heating 100% with wood. replacing the old Vermont casting stove with a new Avalon wood stove.

thanks
Jason

 

[staywarm53]

what i will do with the logs is buy ant baiting traps that the ants will carry back to the nest and kill the queen and the intire colony

thanks
Jason

Jason, is that something you can get at LOWES ?I have had some yard trees in the past killed by ants, i'm thinking after seeing your post, that I should set something out.

 

[turnkey4099]

Jason, is that something you can get at LOWES ?I have had some yard trees in the past killed by ants, i'm thinking after seeing your post, that I should set something out.

They are little containers of slow acting poison. The ants carry it back ot the nest so the nest dies. You will find them anyplace selling bug spray. I have bought them at my local grocery and 3 different harware/lumberyards. Look for things saying "ant bait" or similar.

Harry K

 

[staywarm53]

sounds like a plan, thanks Harry

 

[RaisedByWolves]

what causes more pollution to the environment heating with my new wood stove or heating with my oil fired boiler?

thanks
Jason

Hi Jason.


Your boiler not only releases more carbon into the atmosphere than the burning wood will, but by burning the wood you reduce your carbon count due to heating in a number of ways.

The principle one is that the carbon released during the wood burning process is only equal to the carbon that would be released if the wood were left to rot in the woods or in a land fill or as wood chip mulch.



Heat with wood, its the most environmentally friendly option.