Seasoned Firewood | Everything you need to know about…

What Is Seasoned Firewood?

We all know that green wood doesn’t burn... Newly cut wood is extremely difficult to light, hard to burn and causes a huge quantity of smoke. On top of the extra smoke, potentially carcinogenic toxic resin called creosote can build up in the chimney. This type of smoke is also worse for the environment, and it takes a lot of extra work to remove creosote. All of this can be avoided by using seasoned firewood.

Why should you use it?

A newly felled tree consists of 50% water, and needs to be dried to the point where it is between 15% and 20% moisture before it’s ready to burn. This is a process called seasoning. Any moisture levels above 20% will result in low efficiency, as well as rather cross neighbours! There are two types of seasoned firewood:

Seasoned Firewood

Seasoned wood is wood that has been properly dried for the correct amount of time in a dry environment. It may be locally sourced from your garden, or from forests where you have permission to fell trees. If you have time to wait, it needs to be cut up by chainsaw and put in a dry place at the end of the winter season, to allow 6+ months to dry before it can actually be effective firewood. You will need to build a metal rack to keep the wood off the ground, allowing the free flow of air. Ideally it would be an open sunny spot, covered by a roof, with a tarpaulin on hand in case of heavy snow or rain.

However, if you don’t have all that time, you should consider using Finest Firewood Bristol! Our wood is supplied fully seasoned, ready to burn. We offer firewood delivery to Bristol, Chepstow, Forest of Dean and nearby areas, please contact us if you are unsure if we cover your area.

Finest Fire wood season all of their firewood the natural way. Our logs are stacked in porous bags to maximise airflow. Bags are stacked in dry barns with great airflow. Logs are given time to season naturally saving on wasted energy. The final product is a well seasoned firewood log that burns long, hot and clean.

Finest Fire wood source our firewood locally, nothing is imported. We work with local tree surgeons and estate management around the Forest of Dean area to source local wood. We have complete control of our splitting and drying process which ensures the final product is of the highest quality.

Reducing Fire Wood Emissions

It’s really important that you don’t try to save money buying cheap wood! As well as being less efficient, it will create more carbon emissions and burn faster. It might not be ethically sourced wood either, meaning you have no idea where it came from.
Keep your chimney cleaner by using properly seasoned wood, and service it at least once a year. This will also reduce the chances of chimney fires, and potential house fires.
Don’t be tempted to burn any kind of rubbish in your fire. This will cause horrible emissions, as well as creating a toxic mess inside your chimney.

Make sure your wood burning stove is working efficiently. Call a stove maintenance engineer out once a year to maximise performance efficiency, thereby reducing your carbon footprint, using less fuel and creating more heat.