Getting Wood, Cheaply...

[sa_20v]

Probably not the title to use if I want a sensible response, but anyway...

I've been quoted £100 for a cubic metre of firewood - this seems excessively expensive given I'm only going to burn it - does anyone have any wood they wish to offload (I'm in Essex), know of any burnable alternatives, or a cheap and reputable 'wood dealer' - I don't want my fingers burnt!

[pacman1]

Google pallet suppliers/menders, they'll have loads of waste wood.

[Simpo Two]

In a skip outside my house there are two chunks of chestnut tree, each about 4' long and 1' diameter - yours if you can lift them!

[stackmonkey]

Saw mills, timber merchants, tree surgeons and furniture manufacturers will all have off cute of various sizes etc that they need to get rid of, and usually have to pay to do so.
ask around and you should get some for free provided you collect it.

[clarkey]

£100 will be for kiln dried or very well seasoned wood. it seems expensive, but you get more heat per lump of wood as it doesn't have as much water to burn off. A lot of wood is as much as 70% water when cut and as low as 20% when seasoned. 'wet' wood is hard to light, spits and sparks a lot, and just doesn't get as hot.
I'd suggest doing a pepsi challenge, but for wood. Buy a bag of good stuff, and then try some cheap or free stuff, and see which you prefer....£100 isn't so bad, it'll last you quite a while.

[Bonefish Blues]

clarkey said:

£100 will be for kiln dried or very well seasoned wood. it seems expensive, but you get more heat per lump of wood as it doesn't have as much water to burn off. A lot of wood is as much as 70% water when cut and as low as 20% when seasoned. 'wet' wood is hard to light, spits and sparks a lot, and just doesn't get as hot.
I'd suggest doing a pepsi challenge, but for wood. Buy a bag of good stuff, and then try some cheap or free stuff, and see which you prefer....£100 isn't so bad, it'll last you quite a while.

What he said - it's like a different fuel completely: little or no smoke, lots of heat, lower usage.

By all means get your offcuts etc as suggested, but season it until next winter, then burn it.

[shakotan]

There's about 20 pallets downstairs which are broken and we want shot of.

You are welcome to collect, but we are the other side of London in Chertsey.

Edited by shakotan on Tuesday 3rd November 09:24

[Munter]

shakotan said:

There's about 20 pallets downstairs which are broken and we want shot of.

You are welcome to collect, but we are the other side of London in Chertsey.

Edited by shakotan on Tuesday 3rd November 09:24

A number of times I've been past big distribution sites etc and seen piles of broken pallets out the front with a sign saying basically "Take em if you want em". So might be owrth a quick "Google maps" around local industrial estates.

[Bill]

shakotan said:

There's about 20 pallets downstairs which are broken and we want shot of.

You are welcome to collect, but we are the other side of London in Chertsey.

Aren't they likely to be pine, so they'll clag your chimney up?


ETA I just got some from a tree surgeon who charged £100 for a trailer (5'x12') load of seasoned wood. It would be good value if it was all as seasoned as he claimed

Edited by Bill on Tuesday 3rd November 10:51

[Bonefish Blues]

Bill said:

shakotan said:

There's about 20 pallets downstairs which are broken and we want shot of.

You are welcome to collect, but we are the other side of London in Chertsey.

Aren't they likely to be pine, so they'll clag your chimney up?


ETA I just got some from a tree surgeon who charged £100 for a trailer (5'x12') load of seasoned wood. It would be good value if it was all as seasoned as he claimed

Edited by Bill on Tuesday 3rd November 10:51

Agree - in my experience season seems to refer more to the time of year than the state of the wood!

I bought 80 bags of kiln dried hardwood recently - moisture sub 20% and £3.65 a bag - worth every penny.

[Bill]

I'm looking at getting a dumpy bag from here to see me through this winter.

[Hobzy]

Its a bit "the good life" but we supplement our logs with paperbricks made from the shreddings I nick from work and a brickmaker we got from Amazon. One bin dustbin full of shreddings/water makes about 12 bricks. My 4 year daughter loves making them in the summer - doesnt take long.

Its also £50 for a pick up truck full of seasoned hardwood here, its not the most seasoned I've had but its not bad, and he stacks it in the garage for me bless him (he's about 70!)