jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's what I'll have to do here - scour the property for wood. As a matter of fact some of my furniture is pretty old and not in great shape. : )

fuminous Loc: Luling, LA... for now...

Absolutely right... coming in from the cold and backing my chubby butt up to and against that hot iron is one of my most favorite things... don't stay against it too long though! One Fairbanks night, power went out... so cold propane wouldn't flow to the cook stove... no sound in the house at all except the occasional 'pop' from the wood stove... and rattling of tin foil after fishing a couple taters out of the coals... that was a really, really good evening...

marine73 Loc: Modesto California

My 1 1/2 cents. When we moved out of the apartment we were renting, we had a wood burning stove for heat. I only bought 1 cord of almond wood in the 3 years that we lived there, for the last year we burned oak scraps that I would get from a cabinet shop. Boy did that wood stove put out the heat and it would heat up a two story house. Most of the time we were not at home (work, school etc.) so the amount of heat required was minimal. My current home is single story with fire place which I have not built a fire in due to a band on wood fire burnings and can only burn on certain days which is usually a warm day and a fire is not needed. My primary heat is through my AC system. Winter time I turn it from AC to heat. It might use natural gas since I have gas for my tankless hot water heater and cooking stove.

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

Three times or more, one when you cut it. once when you split and stack it and one when you burn it.

mebert72 Loc: Plainfield, IL

Actually a face cord is 1/3 of a cord, or a stack 4' by 8' by 16". Out by me in the SW Chicago suburbs they are trying to get $150-200 for a face cord! A few years ago I would balk at paying more than $75/face cord...

Leo Perez

Are you saying a 2 x 4 x 6 is no longer a 2x4.

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

I chop and split my own firewood. Costs for chainsaw fuel but definitely not $300/cord. Local price is about $75/cord.

And with Canada's ridiculous Carbon Tax the ever increasing cost of heating with natural gas more than ever justifies heating with wood!!

bwa

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

80 to 90% of the heat a wood burning fireplace produces is sent up the chimney. You would be much better off getting a wood pellet insert and burning that instead. A good pellet stove will burn 97% efficient. A full day of burning will produce about a teacup of ash. Some people like burning corn instead. It produces more heat per lb. of material than pellets but I'm not sure of the efficiency of corn. I doubt it could be better than 97%.

John Hicks Loc: Sible Hedinham North Essex England

It was interesting to read of you guys best g your houses using wood.
I love in a three bedroom flat which has double glazing and the roof is insulated with twelve inches of lagging we use electric storage heating for heating and got water so we get cheap rate electricity between midnight and seven am, we don't have to put the heating on until it gets down to zero degrees as the insulation of the flat is very good. Our electricity bill for heating, cooking, water heating, lighting and power is Eighty two pounds per month which we are ok with. The coldest it has got in our location is is minus seven degrees but I know it gets a lot colder in the states.

RainierView Loc: Eatonville, WA

We have more firewood than we can handle. We are on 6 1/2 acres of mostly tall trees. I'm burning most of it in our burn pit. Never sold it, just give it away to those that need it. I live in the Pacific NW, tree country.

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

I grew up in a house heated with wood and supplemented with a small gas heater. Our wood came from our land. There were numerous trees which lost limbs or the tree died and fell on it's own. I often helped gather the fallen limbs and dead fall trees which were then cut using an ancient tractor with a power take-off connected to a 20 inch circular saw blade. They wood was thrown into a dump truck and deposited near our home where I frequently stacked (sometimes needing to split larger pieces) it. That was a spring and summer into early fall process each year.

RainierView Loc: Eatonville, WA

Most of our firewood is from downed trees on our property. Some we keep cutting down so they don't block our view of Mt Rainier. We love living in the country.

All this firewood and I have a 35,000kw propane ducted fireplace because of my asthma. It cooks us out of our 3500sq' 3 story house if on high when in the teens. But I have lots of large bonfires in our burn pit. Plus lots of wood for camping trips.

chikid68 Loc: Tennesse USA

My point which you have chosen to ignore is the fact that their operation expenses are declining therefore they have the funds to live on but obviously you are one of those who feel like you are entitled to a bigger piece of the pie just because you want to have more

RonD Loc: Topeka, KS

I cut small jags of wood from my mini farm. we can sell by the pile but I always use the 128cu. ft for pricing. I usually make about $10 p/hr. I provide wood, cut, stack, buy a saw, maint. Yea I'm really getting rich.

stanikon Loc: Deep in the Heart of Texas

I respectfully disagree. Their operating costs are not decreasing. Most of it, of course, is in gasoline for the truck and chainsaw and, if they have one, a gas-powered splitter. Where is the price of gas going down? Which of their "operation expenses" is declining? And how, exactly, do you know they have the funds to live on? And what, pray tell, do you feel is their rightful standard of living? Who, exactly, are you to dictate what that standard of living should be? Their living expenses are going up just like everyone else's and they have to cover that. The people I see out trying to sell firewood are not living in fancy houses and are not driving nice, top-of-the-line trucks. They are out selling the result of their hard work to people who either cannot or will not put in that hard work and I say they have a right to charge whatever the market will bear.

As for me being "one of those who feel like you are entitled to a bigger piece of the pie just because you want to have more" you should do some research and ask a few questions before shooting your mouth off. I am retired and on a fixed income. My "piece of the pie" is fixed. Would I like to have a bigger income? You bet. It would be nice to be able to have and do some things that I cannot now afford, but I certainly do not feel like I am entitled to it. So please tell me: when was the last time you turned down a raise in pay?