Seeking advice on selecting a firewood supplier (Alton: house, store)

[bangorme]

Originally Posted by Eric-M

I don't know how new the stove is, but this is what we have: FW2700 EPA High Efficiency Wood Stove |*Century. One of the carpet installers that we had in here a couple months ago told us that if we got it going at it's max potential, we'd need to open the windows. A bit of hyperbole perhaps, but by all measures, it seems like a pretty good stove. I had to order a couple of replacement refractory bricks for it, so I haven't been able to test it out yet...

The Bailey Smart Splitter looks like a valuable companion to the regular log splitter that the previous home owner left for us. Maybe Christmas will be coming early this year!

As you will soon discover, one of the tricks to heating with wood is not wasting heat. But you will have all winter to practice up. Another good reason to buy a little extra wood.

[Eric-M]

Closing the loop on this and posting some info that might help anyone "from away": nobody has seasoned wood in October. If you move up here in the spring or early summer, don't allow yourself to think you have plenty of time to get wood, because you don't. Prioritize your firewood purchasing over any other to-dos on your list. The money you save will be almost as valuable as the frustration you'll avoid trying to find wood this late in the year. If you move here in the fall or winter, I would advise you to not expect to use wood as your primary heat source, or plan on burning a lot of green wood.

I ended up ordering 4 cords of green wood - cut and split - for $150/cord. Delivery fee was $50 per load, 2 cords per load. I also got some advice for accelerating the drying process: stack (some of) the wood in the basement, put a dehumidifier nearby and set up some box fans. I'm sure this will work, but I don't know how long it'll take nor how much this will drive up my electricity cost. This could end up being a more expensive approach than just augmenting the wood stove with baseboard heat... we'll see how it goes.

Lessons learned:
1) buy early and buy plenty
2) don't be shy about asking people if they know where to get wood; pursue every lead

Hopefully this link will be around for a while - it's full of invaluable information for rookie wood burners like me:
Governor's Wood-to-Energy Initiative: Heating with firewood

[Northern Maine Land Man]

An honest and reliable firewood supplier near Corinth is Doug Thomas Firewood. He kiln dries his firewood to a known moisture content.

Doug Thomas firewood
277-3017 or firewood@tds.net.

[ClownShoes]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

An honest and reliable firewood supplier near Corinth is Doug Thomas Firewood. He kiln dries his firewood to a known moisture content.

Doug Thomas firewood
277-3017 or firewood@tds.net.

Anyone with good prices near Springfield?

[bangorme]

Originally Posted by Eric-M

Closing the loop on this and posting some info that might help anyone "from away": nobody has seasoned wood in October. If you move up here in the spring or early summer, don't allow yourself to think you have plenty of time to get wood, because you don't. Prioritize your firewood purchasing over any other to-dos on your list. The money you save will be almost as valuable as the frustration you'll avoid trying to find wood this late in the year. If you move here in the fall or winter, I would advise you to not expect to use wood as your primary heat source, or plan on burning a lot of green wood.

I ended up ordering 4 cords of green wood - cut and split - for $150/cord. Delivery fee was $50 per load, 2 cords per load. I also got some advice for accelerating the drying process: stack (some of) the wood in the basement, put a dehumidifier nearby and set up some box fans. I'm sure this will work, but I don't know how long it'll take nor how much this will drive up my electricity cost. This could end up being a more expensive approach than just augmenting the wood stove with baseboard heat... we'll see how it goes.

Lessons learned:
1) buy early and buy plenty
2) don't be shy about asking people if they know where to get wood; pursue every lead

Hopefully this link will be around for a while - it's full of invaluable information for rookie wood burners like me:
Governor's Wood-to-Energy Initiative: Heating with firewood

I saw ads in the Bangor Daily News this weekend for dry firewood. I'm sure it's more expensive than it would have been during the summer. I'd be VERY careful about seasoning wood in your cellar. That's a lot of moisture being absorbed by your house. I know you are running a dehumidifier, but I have my doubts that you'll be catching a majority of it.

I hope you bought next year's wood, because that could be drying in your back yard all year.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

There is a paper at Smith's Store with tear-off phone numbers. The prices are good, but I don't know how long ago it was cut. I own a wood splitter if that's a factor. My wood splitter is about 5 miles due south of your place. Need your place bush hogged? I have a couple of jobs on my list in Prentiss.

-break-

Just putting your wood in a well ventilated shed or simply putting a tarp over the top of the pile will accelerate your drying rate.

[Eric-M]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

An honest and reliable firewood supplier near Corinth is Doug Thomas Firewood.

Thanks for the tip. I spoke with Doug's son (Derek, I think) and they still had seasoned wood available. I have 2 cords scheduled for delivery later this week. If it stacks out I'll see about getting more. I just can't bring myself to fork out the cash for 4 cords when I don't know what I'm getting... but I'm feeling a lot better about my situation than I was a week ago.

I also still have the order in for the 4 cords of green wood, and I plan to experiment with drying out some of it in the basement, though probably not as much as I thought I'd need to originally. The majority of it can go outside and be used next year. bangorme - it's an unfinished basement FWIW. I don't have to worry about that moisture getting into drywall or anything. Any thoughts on that? I'm here to learn, so please share. Also, I spent a couple of hours this weekend gathering up the "little stuff" that was already down on my land - no cutting involved yet - that I think can be used for kindling. I doubt that any of it will be efficient for heat and some will need to go straight to the compost heap, but yeah, I'm hoping that some of it will be moderately useful.

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

Need your place bush hogged?

Actually, yes. There's a decent-sized amount of land that we'd *think* we want cleared. If you're going to be in the area and you want to swing by and talk to us about our options, that would be fantastic. PM me if so.

[ClownShoes]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

There is a paper at Smith's Store with tear-off phone numbers. The prices are good, but I don't know how long ago it was cut. I own a wood splitter if that's a factor. My wood splitter is about 5 miles due south of your place. Need your place bush hogged? I have a couple of jobs on my list in Prentiss.

-break-

Just putting your wood in a well ventilated shed or simply putting a tarp over the top of the pile will accelerate your drying rate.

Got it, thank you...

[bangorme]

Originally Posted by Eric-M

bangorme - it's an unfinished basement FWIW. I don't have to worry about that moisture getting into drywall or anything. Any thoughts on that? I'm here to learn, so please share.

I would never season wood in my cellar. The moisture will get into your sills, and could even get into the walls of your house. When that evaporated water from that wood hits a cold surface, it's going to condense and turn into water. I'd stack it outside, cover it (not wrap it) with a tarp. Then I'd have to think about whether I'd burn it with the seasoned wood, or burn it at the end of the season. It will dry outside since there is very low humidity outside during the winter. I'm not sure which is best.

[Eric-M]

Thanks for the feedback - much appreciated. Do you think it would it be beneficial to bring small quantities of the green wood inside and store it for some length of time (a week, 2 weeks?) next to the stove while it's burning? Keeping it a safe distance away of course. Would that be sufficiently effective in accelerating the seasoning? Along those lines, what's the conventional wisdom on how much wood to keep inside? I feel like I saw this once, but can't find it now - do people generally keep one day's worth of wood inside? Throw it in in the morning, then bring in the wood you're going to burn tomorrow? Do you keep 2 days of wood inside?

//so many questions about something that I previously thought was a fairly simple matter.