Whether you are new to wood burning or have bought firewood before, but wish to improve the quality of supply here is a useful firewood guide to help you through the process.

If you are new to wood burning, welcome to the wonderful world of wood, where we know you will have years of pleasure in burning a renewable and sustainable fuel that you know is environmentally friendly. A carbon neutral fuel that helps to dramatically reduce the CO2 emissions in your home so easing your conscious and doing your bit to save the planet.

We would suggest the following are key things you need to consider for the ultimate firewood guide:

  • Plan ahead for buying wood to make sure you have the best firewood quality ready to burn when the stove arrives. It must be below 25% moisture content

  • It would be wise to consider buying a moisture meter so that you can check the quality and be in no doubt when it is ‘ready to burn’.

  • Buy British hardwoods and ideally buy wood that carries the HETAS Quality Assured Fuel certification for guaranteed quality.

  • Ensure you have adequate storage for the wood you are buying and don’t just make sure the storage is close to the house and so easy to take indoors, but perhaps more importantly make sure the store is accessible for the log delivery i.e. the delivery vehicle needs to be able to get the logs close to the store. You don’t want to be taking the wood round the back of the house in a wheelbarrow – far too much extra work!

  • Always buy your wood by volume as buying wood by weight which is still common, does not make much sense as the wetter the logs, the heavier they are. Remember you are buying energy and the drier the logs, the more heat they produce.

  • Just bear in mind that volume can be in two different formats – stacked or ‘loose-fill’ and they do differ. BE CAREFUL. This is a real minefield and there are so many different shapes and sizes of pallets of stacked logs and bulk bags of loose fill logs and claims of volumes vary hugely. BE VERY CAREFUL. We recently bought a declared 1m3 crate of logs and when tipped into our measuring cage 1m x 1m x 1.2m tall (i.e. 1.2m loose-fill) it did not quite fill it. They declared the loose-fill volume as 1.35m3 so when you consider price /m3 it makes a big difference. Many companies when giving the size of the pallet of stacked wood, including the pallet, so when you multiply the dimensions, it may seem like you have 1m3 of 2m3 of stacked logs, but you don’t!!

  • If you are fitting just the one stove of an average size e.g. 5kw stove and you use it evenings and weekends from October to April, then you are likely to need 3-4m3  logs per year. This would be ‘loose-fill’ volume rather than stacked.

  • Make sure the wood is stored in a dry and airy storage area.

  • If you are short of storage space and so cannot season your own wood, it is best to buy kiln dried logs which are ‘ready to burn’ and below 25%, but when you have a delivery, check the moisture content with your moisture meter and split a couple of logs to check the internal reading which should be no more than 30% max.

  • If you are thinking of how to season firewood yourself, bear in mind that it will take over two years to achieve the best firewood so you will need enough storage for 6-8m3, or perhaps, even more, to ensure you always have enough quality firewood even in cold winters.

  • The best time to buy firewood is in the late summer when suppliers will have stored their logs through the best drying weather and in many instances you can get the best deals in the summer. It’s also by far the best and easiest time to stock up whilst the evenings are light and hopefully, it’s not tipping down with rain or even snowing!

  • Don’t forget to stock up with enough kindling and Flamers natural firelighters for the season too. Make life as easy as possible for yourself!