Stovetrackworld – how much do you pay for seasoned logs?

So I’m joining the masses and getting a stove installed in the next few weeks. I’ve started stockpiling ‘fresh’ logs etc. but they won’t be ready for this winter so I want to buy some seasoned/chopped logs now before prices go up when it gets cooler (I assume??)

Question – how much have you paid/for how much? A quick Google looks like about £65/m3 for seasoned chopped hardwood (delivered – N Yorks). How much do you pay? I need to ring some local suppliers to see if they’re cheaper.
Also, how long will a cubic metre last (I know, bit of a how long is a piece of string question…). It’s a 5kw Stove and probably will be used on weekends and maybe a couple of nights per week. Will 2m3 last the winter?

Cheers

I scrump and process my own logs, but 65/m cube sounds very reasonable.
A couple of points to consider:
1. Check the volume as it’s delivered – a builders bag is rarely 1m cubed
2. Ask and check what the moisture content is. It should be <20% but you need to check an open face of a freshly split log. Get yourself a cheap moisture meter off eBay. It won’t be 100 % accurate, but it will give an indication.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251457394460

Lad i went to school, with just started selling at 100 quid “cube” ( builders bag) he wonders why i dont get my logs from him…..

I paid 210 quid for 5 cube in january. Prices come down the more you take….started at 75 quid a cube for 1

I paid 85m3 (builders bag), moisture was variable!! Oak seemed a bit fresh (not really wet though) and required a few extra weeks drying whilst the Ash was bone dry. I’m looking at Morsowood delivery which is very pricy but supplied as kiln dried. With 10% off for the first order and on-going use of the crate it comes in as a wood store, I reckon its cheaper than buying / making a wood store separately.

Kiln dried wood.,,,,

Unless your keeping it in a kiln or a hermetically sealed moisture controled enviroment ….no better than just getting seasoned logs.

Just get your self a season ahead – having space to store helps…..

Just looked . 200 quid a cube…,you have got to be kidding .

60 to 65 M3 int Dales.

. Check the volume as it’s delivered – a builders bag is rarely 1m cubed

To be fair, some were quoting a builder’s bag as being 0.7-0.8m3. I think the £65/m3 was based on a 2m3 trailer.
I’ve managed to get hold of some free dry stuff (pallets and old pine furniture) but I see that lasting a few nights at most.

Good idea re. moisture meter.

How long does a m3 last people? (Loads of variables I know, so it’s ballpark at best)

I get through 2 cube plus salvage scrap wood a winter. In a 4.5 kw stove.

I expect that to double. Moving to a 7.5kw stove shortly.

We burn everynight and at weekends. – cheaper and warmer than oil.

I can’t help with a price but beware, a builder’s bag is rarely a cubic metre, closer to half that actually.

I use 8 m3 a year in a 7 kW stove if that’s any help.

Also – I was surprised by the limited differences in price between hardwood and softwood. Is hardwood a no brainer?

We pay £60 a bag and the wood is mixed and usually half dry. Now might be a good time to negotiate the price in exchange for taking two or three bags because tree surgeons have got big stockpiles thanks to the warm winter and some gales earlier this year. Our own bloke (TL Tree Services in Simonstone, Lancashire) has got a mountain of logs, all split at his expense and tying up his cash, so he is not a very happy bunny at the moment.

Looking into storing and seasoning.

Something around 1 cube per stove KW / year seems to be thumb rule – for fairly frequent use..

so ideally could have upto 6m3 in hand or seasoning.. Worth thinking about that bit of stove ownership..

You don’t want to be scrabbling around the wet windfall merchants – at top dollar – during coldest Jan on record!

3 cu m for £240 here, normally mostly beech with a little oak or ash, and cut to the length you specify, from Ed Knight’s Logs. He has a good informative website if any newbies are reading.

3 cu m won’t last me a winter in a 5kw stove used every evening plus colder days. It does save a lot on the gas CH though.

A little off topic, but if it’s a multi-fuel, like I have, smokeless coal is a much more convenient fuel (IMO).
I can get a 25kg bag that will run, constantly and belting out good heat for three days solid, for around £10. I reckon buying logs to keep a burner going for the weekend would be more expensive, but less pretty of course.
I rarely burn logs on mine. Stoking it with coal makes it almost Instant heat, using the air valve to ramp up the heat when needed or first thing in the morning. Within ten minutes or so it’s back roaring and ready for a top up that lasts 6-7 hours.

When I first got mine, I was very surprised how quickly it went through logs. Buying small nets was eye wateringly costly.

We tend to only burn logs when we have visitors.
Or romance is on the cards.

Price varies on location, I know if we towed down to Cardiff we could double our prices. Around here for a pick up, which is about a cube is £60-80.

As for how much, most of our customers probably get through 2 12′ trailers of mixed, seasoned wood. Pubs with big fires use about a trailer a fortnight.

No idea what the fascination with hardwood is, it all burns and softwood will light easier, get up to temperature quicker and help the hardwood burn more efficiently rather than just smoulder.

We get a bed of smokeless going and glowing well then dump the logs on top for a good hot, dry burn.

A tenner for 3 days? Bugger that.

Had ours for three years, and I’ve not paid for wood since we had to buy the first winters worth. There are always people at work, friends etc who want a tree down, or know someone who does. I also spend a bit of time in late winter early spring out riding scoping for downed trees, ripe for liberation.

Reckon I spend about thirty quid a year on fuel/oil/chains for the saw, and also saw cost a couple of hundred quid too (but has other uses – ie liberating trails from aforementioned downed trees!) i actually enjoy getting out and cutting and chopping, all part of the fun.

Wood should heat 3 times – cutting, chopping and burning… 😀

Oh, and I very much agree with timber, a good mix of hard and softwoods is where it’s at.

£80 a m3 here in Cheshire..

Tenner for three days was offered as a cost comparison against wood. I didn’t think that was too bad if you don’t have the means to be all lumberjack’ish.
Op was asking about the cost of logs. I offered a price comparison with coal.

rockhopper70 – Member

… but if it’s a multi-fuel, …

Multi-fuel makes more sense.

What type of multi-fuel are yours?

Just curious like.

🙂

Fair do’s, didn’t mean to come across all ‘lumberjackish’ mate!.

No probs nobeer, I’m just jealous of you being able to get free logs!

Chewkw…it’s a Firefox 5, 4.9 kW model so I could still have cavity wall insulation without the need for a dirty great 300mm diameter vent through the outside wall!

rockhopper70 – Member

Chewkw…it’s a Firefox 5, 4.9 kW model so I could still have cavity wall insulation without the need for a dirty great 300mm diameter vent through the outside wall!

Very nice stove. I like.

Nice fire, cracking big viewing window too

I’m pretty sure the cheapest place is in your local shopping centre/high street. I know it sounds barmy but bear with me:
Cheapest Wood

I can’t be bothered doing the maths, but I did it last year. Read the bumph on this site about the relative merits of wood versus briquettes.Dunfries Bulk Wood

They seem to think that ordering just under a tonne 960kg of the Verdo briqs is the cheapest option at £269.
For some reason HomeBargains are knocking them out at the equivalent of £249 per tonne even if you buy only 10kg. ie £2.49 per 10kg bag.

Unless you want to do a lot of work, or know someone in the trade, I doubt you’ll get cheaper wood.

ours is the squarer version, as in less curves on the various cast parts. If I knew how to post a picture, I would.

Just checked, it’s a Firefox 5 classic cleanburn.

Love all this chat, paying for wood 😉

After getting a bit excited with a chainsaw over the last two years I have sort of collected quite a store of wood

I have 40, 50 year old oak trees, two years into being seasoned plus the same quantity of Ash ready in Sept.

Looks like I have been undercharging for a pickup load 😉

I pay 100 per builders bag, as noted on here it’s never a ton. Seems expensive compared to others on here, but it is chopped to a good size and nice and dry and burns well. I have a 5kw and use 2 bags over winter, most weekends and a couple of nights in week.
Enjoy, it’s great to sit and watch. Beats anything on tv except the tour. So 49 weeks left to watch the stove.

£50-100 per builders bag in Herefordshire. We have a lot of competition. This time of year until December the wood will be nicely dry. After then it can be a bit damp, more from being rained on.

I tend to use bits of untreated pallet and off cuts of softwood to start the fire and once burning hot pile up with dry logs. We generally use about 1m3 per month, burning everyday from 4-10pm, more on the weekends. 8kw running on half tilt.

First winter was spent scouting and collected free wood. TBH all I did in my spare time was wood. Now I just do 2 days OT, I work continental shifts, and that pays for someone else to do it.

rockhopper70 – Member

ours is the squarer version, as in less curves on the various cast parts. If I knew how to post a picture, I would.

Just checked, it’s a Firefox 5 classic cleanburn.

This one then … Very nice too. I like!

The generalist has spotted what I also used occasionally last winter. Those verdo logs burn quite well. Home bargains seem to have bought a stock up much to the annoyance of a local log dealer who was complaining that he has pallets of them that he now can’t sell at the rrp of £6 per pack.
The same dealer was talking about how Eco friendly they were, made from compressed wood chips from recycled furniture. His wood logs come from Lithuania I think, so perhaps not so Eco friendly,

160 for transit load – three builders bags, all 8 inch and seasoned

That’s the one! We like it. Clean shape and nice large fire box window.

Hi all, not a plug but I have a sideline firewood business.

Builders bags are 0.6m3 generally and not 1m3. Ours are £70 delivered. They are a ball ache.

We do a 1.2m3 load tipped on your drive for £105 if you’re within our std delivery area C10 miles. If you want us to stack and you aren’t in for example that will usually be an extra £15 per load.

Most people are genuinely surprised at the amount of wood in a std 1.2 m3 load.

Our is all barn stored and mixed hardwood – ash, oak, beech some birch and some sycamore.

I won’t post a link……

burko – where you based?

Here in sunny Glasgow expect to pay £75 per BB for softwood and up to £100 for hard wood.

This is my second year of buying 60 x 3m lengths of spruce. they were felled maybe 18 months ago so everything is circa 20% at the moment. They vary in size but I can man-handle them myself onto the saw horse…just! I usually team up with a pal to harvest / load / unload them all. I cross cut them all @ 200mm and then chop then on our wee hydraulic chopper thingy.

Total cost including hire of trailer is £75 per year + travel /saw petrol & my time. I’ve calculated I’ll get circa 10.5m3 from that lot which ‘should’ do us through the winter if it’s not too cold. I recon from start to finish it takes 35ish man hours to harvest / cross cut / chop and stack. If I were to buy this lot pre chopped / dried then I’d expect to pay between £650 – £750 + maybe 3-4hrs stacking time.

We light our 5kw stove mid afternoon most days as its the primary source of heating in the evenings so it gets a fair amount of usage.

2014 firewood. 60x3m lengths by Rosscopeco[/url], on Flickr

£95 for a seasoned mixed lorry load that equated to about 2m³.

Got it off a tree surgeon, so you get whatever he has cut down.

IIRC 165 or 180 for a full trailer load last year depending on supplier. About 3 proper cubic metres in there when stacked. Went through two of those last year. Plus about 450 of smokeless – mix of briquettes and welsh anthracite. Solid fuel is our only heat source.

TBH I prefer the smokeless. Its FAR less hassle, takes less storage space, banks down overnight. One of our loads of wood was soggier than a pastie in a river – completely useless.

I’d imagine this year we’ll only get one load of logs (soon!) and 2 ton of anthracite.

edit: should read 550 of smokeless – had a ton (350) + a half (200).

Something around 1 cube per stove KW / year seems to be thumb rule

Seems a pretty good rule.

We switched between our big 18kw monster with backboiler and the 7kw, but very rarely had both going. I guess we used 6 from our trailer loads of wood and the equivalent (going on price) of about 9 from the smokeless, so 15 total.