How much firewood you need

In short

• A stacked cubic metre (also called a stere) is 1 × 1 × 1 m of stacked wood. It is not the same as a solid cubic metre or a loose cubic metre tipped from a bag or trailer. In the US and Canada wood is sold by the cord (3.62 m³ stacked).
• Dry wood (under 20 % moisture) gives roughly twice the heat per kilogram of freshly felled wood.
• Hardwood (hornbeam, beech, oak, ash) gives about 2,000 kWh per stacked m³, spruce and fir about 1,400.
• What you need depends on the house and the stove: the same house with an old stove can burn up to half as much again.
• Keep stock for two seasons: one drying, one burning.

What's inside

Chapters

1. Measures: stacked, solid, loose and the cord
2. Wood species and heat
3. Moisture steals heat
4. How much heat the house needs
5. The stove decides how much heat you actually get
6. The calculation step by step
7. Cooking, hot water and the rest
8. Wood from the homestead
9. Buying wood without being short-changed
10. Stock and reserve
11. Common mistakes
12. Printable checklist

Worksheets

• Firewood needs calculator
• How much heat you have in stock
• Measuring a stack and a trailer
• Winter consumption log
• The firewood year calendar
• Comparing offers and shopping list