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You cut it, split it, and stacked it. Now it sits through summer and fall and you pull from it all winter. Simple enough. Except a lot of men spend real time processing firewood and then lose a third of it to rot, pests, or moisture because they did not pay attention to how it was stored. Wood piled wrong does not season. Wood stored wet does not burn well. Wood stacked directly on the ground in the back corner of the yard is doing something, but not what you want it to do. Here is how to store firewood...

The thermostat is one of the great conveniences of modern life. You push a button. The furnace runs. The house gets warm. You did not think about it, plan for it, work toward it, or understand it. It just happened. Heat, on demand, no effort required, delivered by a system of pipes and wires and contracts with a company that will send you a bill at the end of the month for the privilege. There is nothing wrong with that. Most people live that way and it is fine. But there is another way to heat a house, and the...

Running out of firewood in February is one of those situations that feels like bad luck but almost never is. It is almost always a planning problem, usually compounded by burning wetter wood than you should be, running a stove that is less efficient than you assume, and starting the season with less wood than you counted. Here is the actual math, explained plainly, so you can do it for your situation and stop guessing. What a Cord Actually Is A full cord of firewood is a stack measuring 4 feet wide by 4 feet tall by 8 feet long,...

Creosote: What It Is and How to Keep It Under Control If you heat your home with wood, creosote is not something you can opt out of. It forms every time you burn, in every stove, in every chimney. The question is not whether you have it. The question is how much you have, what stage it is at, and whether you are doing the things that keep it from becoming a serious problem. The guys who have chimney fires are almost never surprised by bad luck. They are surprised by the logical conclusion of burning wet wood, running smoldering...

Most people who heat with wood are burning last year's wood this year. A smaller number are burning this year's wood this year, which means they are burning wet wood, which means they are working harder to get less heat and packing their chimney with creosote at the same time. The guys who have it figured out are burning wood they split two years ago, or three. They cut in the spring, split through the summer, stack before fall, and by the time the cold comes they are reaching into a pile that has been sitting since before anyone was...