As the winter months turn colder, some consumers turn to burning more firewood to add additional heat to their homes. But not all firewood is the samein heat content or in price, warns the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
Remembering one’s math is critical when purchasing firewood, which is normally sold by the cord or the fractional cord. The amount of wood in a cord comes in a neatly stacked volume equal to 128 cubic feet. Put simply, that’s a stack 4 feet high, 4 feet wide and 8 feet long.
How do you know? When buying from a reputable dealer, and you can check the state’s website to ensure they’ve not been cited for misrepresentation, be sure the logs are stacked in roughly the shape needed to measure and calculate.
Buying from a store? Then the unit of measure is the cubic foot and you can do the same calculations to be sure you’re getting what you pay for.
The Agriculture Department says to be wary of buying wood advertised as by the truckload, face cord, rick, fireplace cord or pile. That’s because one man’s truck is sized differently than another and there’s little way of comparing prices.
Hard woods such as oak, eucalyptus or walnut are recommended by some because of their higher BTU content, while others say occasional users should try fir since it burns easier. Black locust, beech or ash are also said to burn hot. The Denver Post
