One of the home features that stays popular is a fireplace. I’ll leave it to another post to talk about the different types of fireplaces – natural (wood burning), gas (vented and vent free). There are also safety issues, and regular maintenance on natural fireplaces is important. Let’s assume that you have a properly maintained natural fireplace, the colder weather is coming, but you need one thing – firewood.
Of course, if you have a large enough lot, you’ll harvest some trees now and then and that will help you with your supply. Storm damage, age and disease will contribute to your firewood pile. If you’re in a more typical subdivision and lacking trees you can always buy firewood. A ‘cord’ of firewood is 8 ft long by 4 ft high and 4 ft deep. A ‘face cord’ is 8 ft long by 4 ft high and around 16 inches deep, or one-third of a cord.
A standard pickup truck bed will hold from one-fifth to one-half a cord of wood, depending on how it’s split and stacked. If you are buying anything but a full ‘cord’ be careful about the price you pay. Face cords go from $50-$75 each. At $75 per face cord, that would be (3 face cords x $75) around $225 per full cord.
If you have experience with a chainsaw, you can harvest wood from Michigan State land with a permit from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The permit costs $20 and you are allowed to take up to 5 full cords of wood. There are restrictions, of course. The wood must be for personal use only (NO RESALE), it has to be dead wood (think of it as “pre-dried”), down within 200 feet of a road, and only one permit per household per year. Additionally, you must use the permit within 90 days of purchase and the permit period is only for the period between Apr 1st and December 31st of each year.
For information on the State of Michigan’s fuelwood program, see the DNR page at http://goo.gl/CtMZMa. This page has a permit application and maps of areas that are eligible for the program, basically the upper portion of our lower peninsula. If you plan on taking multiple cords at one time, be prepared for a long day – or even a weekend – of work. And make sure you have a large enough truck to do the transporting. You may find out that buying full cords retail is more cost effective.
There are certain types of wood that you should not burn in your fireplace, and it should be dry (aged). For example, conifer trees (pines, etc), and painted or treated woods are not recommended for fireplaces. Remember, it’s a fireplace, not an incinerator.
Whatever your choice, be smart. Have your chimney inspected and swept. I have friends that have dramatically reduced their heat bills by using wood burning stoves, fireplaces and inserts. I currently have a vented natural gas fireplace. While it does kick out some BTU’s it is really more of an aesthetic thing. And we love the remote control for it, too, so it’s very convenient, but it’s not really a main source of heat.
image courtesy artur84/freedigitalphotos.net
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