When do you have "enough" wood?

[Encore]

I keep cutting until I'm a year ahead. When we used the wood stove solely it was 2 years ahead simply because I was trying to get the wood as dry as possible but since we switched to the OWB we just go for a year ahead. I never have a difficult time getting my hands on wood. I cut most weekends in the summer and fall and I'm good to go.

Never usually worried about rot, but we do have space issues if I get too much wood.

 

[zogger]

I keep cutting until I'm a year ahead. When we used the wood stove solely it was 2 years ahead simply because I was trying to get the wood as dry as possible but since we switched to the OWB we just go for a year ahead. I never have a difficult time getting my hands on wood. I cut most weekends in the summer and fall and I'm good to go.

Never usually worried about rot, but we do have space issues if I get too much wood.

Last place we lived had a big woodshed for the main house that had some, I don't know what species, just "hardwood" way in the middle of the stacks. Four sides open big overhanging roof kind of woodshed. The original owners said that wood way in the middle had been there since they owned the house, like fifteen years. It was outstanding dry and good and clanged together like metal. And this is Georgia, real humid here. I climbed in there and pulled some splits and burned them once on a cold day and threw heat like crazy.

I guess what I am saying is, is if it is a species that bugs don't like, and it really is stored well so no rain ever gets to it, it could last a long long time.

I'm stacking as much as I can get to here, one way or the other it will get used, by us or someone.

I am beyond paranoid about fuel availability and cost, due to outside political events that could spiral out of control. So while I can, cut and stack way beyond one year worth.

 

[Whitespider]

And if anyone uses 10 or more cord, they should look into insulation, or a better burner. or both. Do the math it tells all.

Really? Have you ever tried heating a huge old two-story farmhouse sitting on high ground in the open prairie of the northern plains?
I don't care how well insulated... or how high-efficiency the furnace is... when those northwest winds drop out'a western Canada and come racing across that flat prairie it takes a lot of fuel to keep the house warm, wood or otherwise.
I've seen ice build-up a quarter inch thick on the inside of north/west facing insulated door during a cold winter "blow"... a 30-40 MPH subzero wind just sucks the heat right out'a the house, and it can blow for days. I spent a winter out in the Dakota's once, and that was one cold, windy winter (and I thought western Iowa was bad)... I'm not so sure 10 cord would be enough!

 

[Hedgerow]

Really? Have you ever tried heating a huge old two-story farmhouse sitting on high ground in the open prairie of the northern plains?
I don't care how well insulated... or how high-efficiency the furnace is... when those northwest winds drop out'a western Canada and come racing across that flat prairie it takes a lot of fuel to keep the house warm, wood or otherwise.
I've seen ice build-up a quarter inch thick on the inside of north/west facing insulated door during a cold winter "blow"... a 30-40 MPH subzero wind just sucks the heat right out'a the house, and it can blow for days. I spent a winter out in the Dakota's once, and that was one cold, windy winter (and I thought western Iowa was bad)... I'm not so sure 10 cord would be enough!

Just be glad you got a basement... Cuz it could be worse...
:big_smile:

 

[ShadeTreeWelder]

I try to keep 2-3 years worth cut and stacked, lucky if I have one year done now. If it was ahead I would cut and stack until the rot started, that would be my upper limit, don't think I will every get there.

 

[zogger]

Really? Have you ever tried heating a huge old two-story farmhouse sitting on high ground in the open prairie of the northern plains?
I don't care how well insulated... or how high-efficiency the furnace is... when those northwest winds drop out'a western Canada and come racing across that flat prairie it takes a lot of fuel to keep the house warm, wood or otherwise.
I've seen ice build-up a quarter inch thick on the inside of north/west facing insulated door during a cold winter "blow"... a 30-40 MPH subzero wind just sucks the heat right out'a the house, and it can blow for days. I spent a winter out in the Dakota's once, and that was one cold, windy winter (and I thought western Iowa was bad)... I'm not so sure 10 cord would be enough!

A really good insulation job makes a heckuva difference no matter where you are, but it would be a chore to retrofit a two story old leaky farmhouse.

I guess...if you didn't want to make it that much of a chore, do the north walls and roof/attic first, then work your way around.

when I was working doing superinsulation, we got simply amazing results. I don't think me typing anything would convince anyone how good it can get as to energy savings, you almost just have to see a good job first hand in person to really be able to notice and feel the difference, regular insulation as opposed to super insulation. T shirt as opposed to a parka. There's def an economic payback on it though, no matter what you are doing for heating and/or air conditioning.

 

[stihly dan]

Really? Have you ever tried heating a huge old two-story farmhouse sitting on high ground in the open prairie of the northern plains?
I don't care how well insulated... or how high-efficiency the furnace is... when those northwest winds drop out'a western Canada and come racing across that flat prairie it takes a lot of fuel to keep the house warm, wood or otherwise.
I've seen ice build-up a quarter inch thick on the inside of north/west facing insulated door during a cold winter "blow"... a 30-40 MPH subzero wind just sucks the heat right out'a the house, and it can blow for days. I spent a winter out in the Dakota's once, and that was one cold, windy winter (and I thought western Iowa was bad)... I'm not so sure 10 cord would be enough!

Thats what a vapor barrier is for. If the situation is that bad with an old farm house then spray foam would stop every thing. Theres a guyVermontmont with an old 3,000 sq ft farm house on top of the mountain. He spent $15,000 on spray foam insulation. He now uses less than a cord in his wood furnace. He used to use 15-20 cord a year.

He also replaced his wood furnace with a new high tech one.

 

[Steve2910]

Ran out of pallets, just been throwing the splits in piles for the time being. I'm thinking it will actually start to season quicker this way--- more surface area exposed to sun. I just screw around down there an hour or so every evening, mostly w/ the Fiskars for the work out, so they get good exposure before being buried by the successive splits. Will get it stacked & the top covered before MD hurricane season.http://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=241392&d=1339468276http://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=241392&d=1339468276

 

[rmihalek]

I was easily 2 years ahead on the supply and then tropical storm Irene brought down two huge red oaks literally falling right on top of some of my stacks. Then, there was a snow storm the day before Halloween that brought down two more huge red oaks about 50 feet farther back from the wood stacks. No cat crying over spilled milk here!

After blocking up this wood and also several very productive weekends helping neighbors clean up their yards, I'm thinking I've got about 16 cords (maybe 10 of that already split). We can burn 4-5 cords per winter (the exception was last winter being so mild we burned about 3 cords), so I'm anywhere from 3-5 years ahead.

Unfortunately, I discovered some wet/rotted wood (sugar maple) in the middle of one of my biggest stacks (a 4 x 4 x 32 foot stack). I was taking the tarps off to get the water off them to try to keep the mosquito population down and saw some funky orange fungus growing on the ends of some splits. I started moving some pieces around and realized some of the middle row was starting to rot. So, I'm taking the whole stack down, pulling out the punky stuff, and re-stacking.

Of all the firewood related activities, stacking is my least favorite thing, but this 4 cord stack is on-deck for the 2012-2013 season, so I have to get it straightened out.

 

[genesis5521]

When you get nosebleeds climbing over it to get to the house. Maybe.

I like that CTYank. Same here.

I burn 5 cords a year. I have about a 5 year supply on hand and am always looking for more. I'm 66 now. By the time I'm 70, I wanna have a 10 year supply on-hand. That'll last me till I'm 80. By then I may not feel like going out in to the woods to harvest my firewood, so will probably just buy a truckload of logs every couple of years.

Don <><