How Much Is Half A Cord Of Wood
When buying firewood, its hard to find out if you are getting a good deal unless you leave your seat and head off to the lumber yard.
Just like buying any kind of commodity, you need to purchase firewood on your own simply because its hard to see if you are getting a cord of wood or less.
Here is a guide to help you find out what a cord is as well as other firewood measurement counterparts.
Half a cord is what?
Half a cord is simply half of what a cord is. A cord is a measurement to refer to a quantity of wood. It is a pile of wood with 128 cubic feet or 4 by 8 by 4 feet. A half-cord is half this amount or 64 cubic feet. A half cord is basically the amount it takes to fill an 8-foot pickup truck bed. This amount is from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension considering that wood is stacked in a neat pile. Cords and half-cords are the most basic ways to measure firewood and are often used by firewood suppliers.
How many trees to make a cord?
If you have a large backyard where you are free to cut trees for firewood or you have a recently felled tree then you might want to know how many trees will it take to make half a cord. To do this, you must first measure the diameter of the tree trunk with a measuring tape. This should be done at breast height , which is about 4.5 feet off the ground. A tree with a DBH of 16 inches will have half-cord of wood. If the tree is about 10 inches DBH, you need at least two to three trees to make half-cord.
Double Check The Amount
To make sure you’re getting what you paid for, be sure to stack the pile of wooddelivered to you before you pay for it.
Unfortunately, some retailers will stack thewood loosely, making it appear like a full cord of firewood even when it isnt.
Whether the firewood supplier stacks it for you or you have to do it yourself, double-check the firewood measurements so you’re not getting ripped off.
Your supplier should be fine with this happening because its a very common request.
If your supplier is against stacking it up before completing the transaction, that is a sign that they may be dishonest.
How Big Is A Cord Of Wood
The cord of firewood is one of the most common ways of measuring wood it is also the official measurement of wood recognized by both the buyers and sellers. The cord of word is associated with many terms like face cord, running cord, or stove cord. However, the cord of wood is the legal term acknowledged by the US and Canada.
Generally, a cord of wood measures 4*4*8 meaning 4 feet wide, 4 feet high and 8 feet long. The cord has a volume of 128 cubic feet. This is the standard measurement used by many buyers and sellers. However, some terms like a stack of wood or Sheldon cord can be confused with the cord of wood. Stack of wood has a measurement of 4 feet high, 8 feet long and 16 feet wide. To avoid confusion when buying firewood, also confirm the actual terms used in the measurements.
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Valuing A Cord Of Firewood
Now that you know how to measure a cord of firewood, its time to learn more about the valuation process while buying/selling firewood.
Before looking at the numbers, its important to understand each type of firewood is unique. Its the same with almost any other resource because the quality and/or quantity can differ. For instance you need to take into account:
- How dry the firewood is
- How clean the firewood is
- How thick the firewood is
- How uniform the logs are
All of these play a vital role in the cost of the cord. You also need to take into account the season as youll pay more in the winter months. On average you can expect to pay $150-$200 for a cord of wood. During winter months you may pay an upwards of $400-$500 a cord.
When looking for a cord of wood, its best practice to shop around and see what wood sellers are charging. Compare their pricing and determine an average.
Whatis A Full Cord Of Firewood
Afull cord of firewood is a cord of firewood in which the length of the logsfill the full 4 of space, meaning that a full cord of firewood will have only onestack of logs.
A full cord of firewood is essentiallyanother term used to describe a cord of firewood. A full cord of firewood willtherefore typically be 4 high by 8 wide by 4 deep.
Finding a full cord of firewood on offercan be less common for household buyers because logs 4 in length wouldtypically be too large for the majority of fireplaces and stoves.
A full cord of firewood can also bereferred to as a bush cord.
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How Many Cords Do I Need For Winter
This is a case-by-case situation, and will vary depending on a number of factors, including the type of wood stove, insulation, and type of firewood being used.
But in my experience, you can typically expect to burn 1.5-3 cords of wood during the winter. A full cord of wood typically lasts 6-10 weeks when used as the primary heat source for a home.
As a word of caution, you should always be prepared with more wood than you expect to need. Its better to have too much than to run out during a blizzard!
You can learn more about estimating the amount of firewood youll need for winter, including a real example, in this article.
How Much Is A Cord Of Wood
If you want to have a brilliant way to heat your home, a full cord of wood is a great choice. Wood can be a renewable resource and burns for a long time. The cord of wood dimensions is about 4 feet high , 4 feet wide , and 8 feet long . You can enter the dimensions in the Cord of Wood Calculator to know how much is your Cord of Wood. Also, it is easy to calculate with more cords.
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How Much Is A Pickup Truck Of Firewood
A small 1/4 to 1/2 ton pickup truck can haul about half a cord of firewood. Larger trucks and trucks with racks around the truckbed can haul one to two cords of wood.
However, its also important to consider the terminology thats used in the real world. If youre buying firewood, then its really common for firewood sellers to call however much firewood they can pile in a truck a face cord.
That means that the actual amount of firewood will depend on the size of their truck, and how they stack or pile the wood in the truck bed. This is usually just out of convenience, and not out of any ill intentions on the part of the sellers.
Face Cord Of Wood Vs Full Cord Of Wood
Face cords are a pile of wood where you cannot know exactly how much wood you will get. Every person does not measure the face cord in the same way. Sometimes the equivalent may be cord, but it will depend on the person measuring the Cord of Wood.
So one pile of wood should be 4 feet high and 8 feet long. In fact, face cords often have measured 4 feet high, 8 feet long, and 16 inches deep. However, you still do not know the length and depth of the pile, which will make it challenging to find out how much wood you will get.
So, when buying a face cord, the dealer will decide how much wood you need to get based on the length of the piece. The face cord in which the sellers assembled the shorter parts is less wood than the full cord where the pieces are longer. We have the following examples if the pieces are 16 long, that is, a cord, when it is 12 long, then it is a ¼ cord, and if the pieces are 24 long, then you have a ½ cord.
We usually measure a full cord of wood dimensions as 4 x 8 x 8 or 8 x 4 x 4. So, we measure the number of pieces of wood that we stack on top of each other. The size of the pieces is typically 2 x 4 x 8. A face cord of wood will be enough to heat a small house. These measures mainly apply to two full trucks, so the timber dealer should stack up to the top of the trucks side.
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A Full Cord A Face Cord And A Rick
A cord is defined as 128 cubic feet of wood. This measures approximately 4′ high x 8′ long x 4′ deep.
Some places that sell firewood might advertise a cord of wood while selling you only a fraction of a cord.
This sometimes happens when they offer you what’s called a face cord. Like a full cord of firewood, a face cord measures 4′ high x 8′ long, but face cords can vary as to how deep they measure. Face cords often measure 4′ high x 8′ long x 16″ deep. Yes, that’s 16 inches.
This means that your typical face cord contains only one-third the amount of wood as a full cord. If you find a face cord that measures 4′ high x 8′ long x 24″ deep, then you’re getting a half-cord of wood.
One way to tell if you’re looking at a full cord of wood is to count how many rows of wood are stacked together. Firewood logs are often cut 16″ long, so a stack of firewood that contains three rows of 16″ logs is likely to be a full cord. As long as the stack still measures 4′ high x 8′ long, that is.
Additionally, you might hear some sellers refer to a rick of wood. Don’t be alarmed by the extra terminology. Some people use the term to refer to a face cord of wood others use it just to describe the amount of wood that can be loaded into a pickup.
The use of different names isn’t always done maliciously. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of confusion. To avoid confusion, be sure to measure before you buy .
How Much Firewood Will A Typical Pickup Truck Hold
If youre planning on movinga cord of firewood on your own, you should know that it wont fit in the backof your truck.
Thestandard full-size pickup with a full box will only hold about a half cord of wood if it’s stackedtightly.
This is anotherimportant consideration if youre having the cord delivered directly to you.
If your supplier shows up with apile of logs in the back of the truck facing every direction and says it’s acord of wood, stack it before buying to avoid being scammed.
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How Much Is A Rick Of Wood
A rick of wood is an informal measure of firewood, and its typically 1/3 the size of a cord. A typical rick would be a stack of wood measuring 4 ft. X 8 ft. X 16 in., with a volume of roughly 43 cubic feet. The exact size does vary though because its a general term. The typical price of a rick is $50-80.
How Big Is Your Home
It takes a lot more wood to heat a 2,000 square foot farmhouse, than it does to heat an 800 square foot home. The bigger your place, the more wood youll need.
Youve probably thought of this one already, but it will probably help you to compare the square footage of your own home, to the example below .
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Face Cord Vs Full Cord
People that use firewood to heat their homes know that a 48 or 4 ft log wont fit very well in their wood stove or fireplace. For these situations, the firewood is cut into what is known as a furnace cord or a face cord.
A standard full cord of firewood measures 4 x 8 x W. In this case W = 48
However with fractions of a cord, you can get 1/4, 1/3, or 1/2 face cords.
- A face cord of 12 lengths is a 1/4 cord or 32 cubic feet.
- A face cord of 16 lengths is a 1/3 cord or 42.7 cubic feet.
- A face cord of 24 lengths is a 1/2 cord or 64 cubic feet.
You should avoid terms like rick as it isnt a legal term for firewood sales. Websters dictionary defines a rick as a pile. Weve seen this term be used for a face cord, but some wood sellers like to use it to mean a pickups worth. Since the length of a trucks bed and the way the wood is stacked affects the overall volume, its unknown how much wood youre actually getting.
The Importance Of Buying Local
Buying local firewood helps keep invasive species of plants and pests out of your local forests. Pests often travel in firewood. Beetle kill pine is often used as firewood since its already dead and partially seasoned. However, when it travels over a distance, its likely to introduce those pests into a new wooded area.
Always buy locally sourced firewood whenever possible.
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Hardwood Vs Softwood For Firewood
Hardwoods are more expensive but they also contain more energy and thus burn longer and hotter. A quality hardwood will also produce less smoke which is an important factor to consider. Here are some good choices for wood species when choosing firewood.
Hardwoods:Almond, alder, black/white ash, red/white oak, beech, hickory, maple, pecan, dogwood, apple, eucalyptus, maple, mulberry, walnut, birch, pecan, soft maple cherry, birch.
Softwoods are ideal if you want a fire that heats up quickly and burns out fast. Softwood produces medium heat and produce more smoke and sparks than a hardwood. Youll also have to feed the fire on a more frequent basis when using a softwood.
Some good softwood choices are:
Softwoods: Spruce, larch, juniper, spruce, southern yellow pine, red cedar, fir, pine, balsam, tamarack.
Unique properties of softwood trees:
- Softwoods come from gymnosperms trees, specifically conifers.
- Softwoods have needles instead of leaves.
- Softwoods are unique they dont lose their needles.
- Softwoods grow faster than hardwoods and therefore less expensive to buy.
- Often used as building material.
- Softwood trees grow tall and straight making them appropriate for manufacturing. Ideal to cut long straight planks of wood from.
Utah State University has some useful information on the qualities for a wide variety of firewood. Its not a complete list but it still has some common tree species often used for firewood: Tree Species Characteristics
- Snow Blowers for Wet Snow
Whatis A Face Cord Of Firewood
A cord of firewood can more commonly besold as a face cord of firewood.
Aface cord of firewood is typically a stack of firewood measuring 4 ft. high by8 ft. wide by 16 inches deep. The depth of a face cord of firewood is typicallya third of the depth of a full cord of firewood.
4 may not be a suitable size of log forthe majority of homeowners, as the logs would have to be split down further tobe used in a typically sized fireplace or stove.
A cord of firewood can therefore be morecommonly sold as a face cord of firewoodin which the length of the logs is reduced down to 16 inches rather than 4 feet.16 inches is exactly a third of 4ft meaning that although a face cord offirewood has the same width and height, a face cord of firewood will typicallybe a third of the depth than that of a full cord.
Depending on the seller, a face cord offirewood can also be sold as having the same volume of firewood as a full cord,meaning that there would be three stacks of 16 long logs to complete the fullcord.
You may also find that the length of thelogs in a face cord of firewood can vary between 16 inches and 18 inches.
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Face Cord Vs Full Cord Firewood
The two most common ways to measure firewood is by the “Full Cord” or “Face Cord”. The difference between the two is that a full cord of firewood is an amount of wood that fills a space equal to eight feet long by four feet high by four feet deep. A standard length for firewood in a full cord is 16″ long and most of the time a full cord of firewood will consist of three rows stacked four feet wide and eight feet long.
A face cord of firewood is equal to a single stack of firewood that measures four feet high by 8 feet long by however deep the depth of the firewood is. Log length in a face cord of firewood varies and there isn’t a standard length.
We’ve calculated our firewood storage options in both full cords and face cords to make choosing a firewood storage rack or shed easy. Deciding which firewood storage option is best suited for you will depend on the amount of firewood you wish to store. For example, if you wish to store enough firewood for a few single wood burning sessions or for maybe a weeks worth of firewood at a time, a firewood rack would probably be the best option for you. If you wish to store enough firewood to last throughout the entire winter season, a firewood storage shed would be best suited for you.