Wednesday 30 December 2015

The wood stock.



We've just had our Chestnut wood delivered. I asked José and Laurence what quantity there was; they said they didn't know, and I'd have to measure it myself.... Typical! 

When stacked, it measured 1 metre 50 high, by 6 metres long. I told Laurence she could measure it with me if she wanted; but she said she trusted me. It came to 9 cubic metres in all.

It's all good dry wood, ready to use, and worked out at €225 (that's £164). Considering that the pile will probably last two years (if not more) I think that's quite reasonable.

Our Oak pile is slowly decreasing, which is why I wanted to supplement it with the above. Half Oak and half Chestnut on our evening fire is more economical.

No Winter here yet, but I'm sure it's on its way; some rain is forecast, and January is just a couple of days away.

p.s. How does €25 (£18) per cubic metre compare with where you live?



43 comments:

  1. Oops Cro - February? Gosh, have we slept through New Year and January....what was in that wine ???
    We don't use wood, so no idea how much a cubic metre costs here.

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    Replies
    1. Woops.... it's early hours. Thanks for pointing that out; I've now changed it to Jan.

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    2. Phew, that's a relief ! I didn't miss my birthday after all !

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    3. I thought it was to get to the end of winter quicker. Your wood is cheap. £125 for 3 cubic metres here.

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    4. Our Winter hasn't yet arrived. Some rain forecast for the coming week, but still no cold.

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  2. Oh I've got a picture of a great big pile of wood on my post today too. Great minds thinking alike and all that Cro. However instead of arriving at my place, mine disappeared off the premises. x

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    1. I'd have given you an old chair for that pile! Don't you have any fires?

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  3. Less than half our price!!
    And burning all the same wood is bad for flues...
    a mixture is recommended!
    Also, if you have a stove....
    or an insert...
    or, like ours, a big wood-fired boiler...
    it is necessary...
    nay, vital...
    as it can damage other parts as well!

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    Replies
    1. We have a stove in the sitting room, and a cooker in the kitchen. Both will take any good dry wood, but Chestnut and Oak are best. A LOT of cleaning out is required.

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    2. It is the mix... in the same burn... that is important.

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  4. We pay sixty euros per cubic metre in Normandy!

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    1. It'd be worth your while to drive down here with a van! €60 sounds a lot.

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  5. After stacking, sawing, taking upstairs to burn, removing the ashes we decided to finish with the woodburner and go for oil/electric exclusively. I miss the fire but not the work involved. Your price sounds less than ours would be - we paid by the 'brasse'= 2x 'staire'= 2 cubic metres but we only bought oak.

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    1. We buy by the same 'denominations', but I prefer to think in terms of cubic metres. Yes, it's quite a lot of work, but I see this as an advantage. It makes me go out and saw, and chop, and carry, and empty, etc, Otherwise I might stagnate. Our Oak costs €50 per cubic metre; quite a difference

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  6. Local prices here are about £55 per cubic metre, we sell a couple of builders bags a year to friends for £40 , hubby has a permit to collect fallen wood from forestry commission woodland the bit we sell covers his fuel and the cost of saw blades and the licence which makes the wood for our own use free our piles not as pretty as yours though

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    Replies
    1. That's quite a lot more expensive than here. We live in a heavily wooded area, so it comes cheaply.

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  7. Never mind the price of wood, just look at that blue sky!

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    Replies
    1. It's the same again today, Sue. You left too early.

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  8. That's a lot of wood, but no doubt burns really nicely. We are going to have to get rid of our mock coal gas fire abomination in the living room, and are toying with a wood burning stove.

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    1. It looks a lot, but burns quite quickly. At this time of year I use about 2 metre-length logs per evening, in Jan and Feb I would probably use 4 or 5 (cut into 3rds).

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  9. Replies
    1. It's actually a thing of more beauty from the other side!

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  10. We have twenty- one solar panels on our roof to help pay for the electricity we use on air conditioning to keep us cool !

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    1. At the barn we have just two, which heat water. I imagine yours make electricity which is stored somehow. It sounds like an expensive system.

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    2. No storage yet I'm afraid, the extra electricity goes back into the grid. We try to do as much as we can that uses electricity ( washing, cooking, dishwasher, aircon) during the daytime.

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  11. You are well stocked. Though I hope Winter isn't long and miserable this year, if it is, you'll do fine.

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    1. We've got another 6 cubic metres elsewhere, so we should be OK. If it stayed like it is today, I'd be very happy. Glorious day!

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  12. In our new city house, there is a large fireplace with gas logs and gas fed. It looks like real burnt wood and ashes, exactly like a real wood burning fireplace. I am tickled about it as I don't like having to feed the fire all the time and bringing in all that mess. It is cold here and I am thinking of the ivy and lavender I am going to plant at the new house this spring.

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    1. We have something similar - a very modern wall mounted fireplace with faux logs, and ash, which we run from bottled gas - no piped gas here. As we are both getting on in years, we really didn't want the hassle that Cro describes, nice though a natural log fire undoubtedly is.

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  13. As someone who lives in an apartment overheated by hissing radiators once the outdoors air gets chilly, it was very interesting to learn more about heating one's home by burning wood.

    I can tell that a lot of work is involved, yet the fireplace concept does appeal to me. Last time I lived anywhere with a working fireplace was mid 1970s in Brooklyn. Radiators were the main heating source, but it was very pleasant to sometimes have a fire during the chilly winters. We'd buy small bundles of cut wood from the deli.

    Best wishes.

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    1. Very different to here Frances. Wood is my heating of choice. We have a few free-standing electric radiators, otherwise it's all wood here. The house is also about 300 years old.

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  14. They charge 10€ down the supermarket for an armful of firewood. But then the dutchies love to burn, burn, burn wood in a bucket, just filling the world with smoke and pretending to be all natural so I think they can pay for it.

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    Replies
    1. I've seen bundles of wood sold like that in shops; the price is exorbitant.

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  15. I remember being highly amused a while ago when you said in a post that your stoves are named Gilbert and George. Made me laugh.

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    1. They still are Judith. Everything has a name here, it saves trying to explain what we're talking about.

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  16. you are doing very well. A cubic metre of 12inch logs here can cost up to £90. Here by the way is Gloustershire.

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    1. I suppose if they're already cut-up into usable sizes then a lot more work is involved. Ours are always one metre long.

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  17. I know wood runs about $250 a cord here (plus delivery), so I worked it out: 128 cu ft in a cord = 1.95 per cu foot, times 35.3147 cu ft in a cu meter = $68.86 = about 63 euros.
    Fortunately my brother in law scavenges for every fallen tree for miles around. He has deals going with everyone he knows to take their wood, which he cuts and stacks. We use a lot.

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    1. Scavenging is the best, but you can't bring much home at a time. I believe (back in the UK) that people take a lot from skips, which sounds like a good idea.

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  18. We paid €160 for 4m3 of oak but it's cut twice ie 1/3 metre to fit in our stove. We also buy in thinner stuff of 1 metre, which OH cuts into four for our kitchen stove for cooking - we pay €70 for 4m3 which I think is a bargain, but I also give the guy boxes of persimmon for Madame to make confiture. Suits us!

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    1. It's bound to cost more if it's delivered in 33cms; I have to do that myself. I ate a pukka Persimmon for the first time this year, previously I'd only eaten locally grown fruits which are not the same. The big imported ones are really delicious.

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  19. Wow, what fantastic value. We get through about four loads of wood a year as we light the wood stove every day. Total cost is £320 for the year. It's all good dry well-seasoned hardwood which we store undercover. We are VERY envious of your wood delivery! We used to fell and cut our own wood supply so having it delivered is quite a luxury. A tree came down in the road this morning after a wild night. Himself was going for his chainsaw but someone got there before him!

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    1. After a night of strong wind I always put the chainsaw in the car; not to bring back any detritus, just to get through the roads. It's not uncommon here to find a tree across the road, and very few cars about.

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