Firewood Facts

Here are some things you should know about firewood to make your investment an enjoyable experience.

You should only burn seasoned or aged firewood.  You can identify seasoned wood by looking at the ends of the logs.  Seasoned firewood develops splits and cracks which radiate out from the center of the log.  Firewood ages best when it is split.  Whole logs will also season, but at a much slower rate.  Split firewood should air dry for 8 to 12 months to get the moisture down to about 15% to 20%.  All firewood sold by Ridgeview Garden Center is seasoned in the open air or indoors for 8 to 12 months before it is sold to our customers.

It is much easier to start a fire with kindling wood.  Kindling wood is usually a mixture of hardwood and softwood that has been kiln dried.  The wood will have a moisture content of 5% or less and will combust at a rapid rate to get the fire started.  Your seasoned firewood should be placed in after the kindling wood has started to burn.  Kindling wood should only be used to start a fire.  If you require kindling wood to maintain the fire, the firewood you are using is too green, or in other words it is not aged or seasoned enough.

Burning clean and seasoned firewood decrease the maintenance and cleaning required for your fireplace and chimney, but will not eliminate it completely.  You should have your fireplace, wood stove, chimney etc. checked regularly by a qualified chimney sweep.

The only legal measurement or representation for firewood is a cord and fractional parts of a cord.  A cord measures 4 feet deep X 4 feet high X 8 feet long, or any other configuration that equals 128 cubic feet.  It should also be noted that the wood must be tightly stacked in this configuration.  Although " face cord ", " rack ", " pile ", " truckload " or similar language are prohibited terms to identify a quantity of firewood, most people commonly refer to a face cord of wood when making inquiries.  We sell firewood by the 1/4 cord and we refer to this as a "face cord".  The dimensions of 1/4 cord of firewood are 4' high by 8' long by 1' deep, or 32 cubic feet. Our racks that hold a 1/4 cord of firewood measure 4' wide by 4' high by 2' deep.  Again, no matter what the dimensions, the quantity must measure 32 cubic feet when tightly stacked to represent a 1/4 cord.