# CT Wood... Why So Expensive



## lostDuck (Aug 7, 2015)

So for all of the CT members has your purchase price for buying wood this year gone up? My previous wood guy has disappeared and up in the Windsor area people are wanting $200-250 a cord on CL... That is nuts for wood that will still need 2+ years to dry.

Even for green wood this year they want $200 a cord delivered. With oil so cheap (relatively speaking) I just dont understand why a premium on wood. 

I dont have a truck or a trailer so craigslist free wood chasing is something that I cannot do 

How have other been doing? I appreciate your input


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## begreen (Aug 7, 2015)

Wood prices out here can be nuts too. And they vary radically depending on the community. Wood in Seattle typically is selling for $250-$300 a cord where it is selling for $150-175 50 miles outside of the city. The market is getting charged for what the wood sellers know it will bear. If you are going to pay a premium and want good wood for this season, seek out kiln dried wood in your area. And consider mixing wood with a solid block fuel like BioBricks, HomeFires, or Northern Idaho Energy Logs (NIELs). For the solid fuel check with:
My Pellet Store
2 Mill St.
Enfield, CT, 06083
860-265-7944

I also see a product in your area that I haven't tried called Hot Bricks. They look like ECO bricks which are a decent fuel. There are lots of dealers for them in your area. http://hot-bricks.com/

For firewood maybe this guide will help?
http://www.firewoods.net/ne/CT.aspx


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## chazcarr (Aug 7, 2015)

I get acorn bricks.  Come in around $235 a ton.  Burn super hot.  Then I order log load delivery from local tree services.  Usually cost about 4-700 bucks depending on the size and works out to around $100 a cord when split.


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## Lakeside (Aug 7, 2015)

I have had OK results with Daniel Hollister , He is located in Connecticut but is close to the Mass boarder so you maybe within his range.

He has cut custom cords of 100% Black Birch for me , with reasonable results. He even topped off a cord that turned out a little short after stackin with just one phone call. As for his prices I am not sure as it has been a few years.

Reminder he who orders early gets better results. Good luck !


Hollister Firewood
12 Fairmount Lane Granby, CT 06035‎
Edit details
(860) 653-4950


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## MainePatsFan (Aug 7, 2015)

Here in Southern Maine near the NH border I am seeing seasoned cords for $320-$350 a cord.  Green firewood just felled last week is going for $250.

Definitely sticker shock.  Especially when I just saw an oil dealer advertising $2.09 a gallon for heating oil.  You would think that would mothball a bunch of woodstoves and bring down the price of cordwood.


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## STIHLY DAN (Aug 7, 2015)

It may next year. Although all the bio fuel plants eating up the wood and obuma cutting out coal plants, wood may forever be pricey.


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## billb3 (Aug 7, 2015)

I know two guys that usually get some cutting and hauling out in the Winter with their idle farm equipment and last Winter pretty much nothing got done after Xmas with all the snow and the year before was far too wet and they kept getting stuck and equipment breakages. Neither one has any wood right now except one has  logs sitting on the ground waiting to get hauled out.


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## bodhran (Aug 7, 2015)

Here,  birch is about the only hardwood that grows wild. It is really hard to get. People selling it are wanting about 165-175 a pickup load of junks.


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## lostDuck (Aug 7, 2015)

begreen said:


> I also see a product in your area that I haven't tried called Hot Bricks. They look like ECO bricks which are a decent fuel. There are lots of dealers for them in your area. http://hot-bricks.com/


Yea I used the hot bricks last year and I am looking at getting a ton from BT Pellet ... cheaper than a cord of wood right now and they burned really nice last year. I actually liked them for the shoulder season as they were less mess for those morning burns.


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## JTRock (Aug 7, 2015)

Tried to use him last year. Gave him my address and arranged a week in advance delivery. Then never heard from him and didn't answer his phone or call back



Lakeside said:


> I have had OK results with Daniel Hollister , He is located in Connecticut but is close to the Mass boarder so you maybe within his range.
> 
> He has cut custom cords of 100% Black Birch for me , with reasonable results. He even topped off a cord that turned out a little short after stackin with just one phone call. As for his prices I am not sure as it has been a few years.
> 
> ...


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## JTRock (Aug 7, 2015)

This year I got a cord from Alan Jackson out of Cheshire. Nice people $250 a cord. And I just arranged for 2 more cord from the owner of my companies brother in law for $225 a cord. I think I may get a ton of compressed wood bricks too.

And also 4 tons of pellets from Lowes being delivered tomorrow. . This year may be a repeat of last year's cold never ending winter. Not taking any chances


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## __dan (Aug 8, 2015)

Ashplund is on my street doing a big tree takedown program to clear power lines. They are taking down once a lifetime trees, 30-36" heirloom trees.

I have a written offer letter and I am buying the neighbors firewood after Ashplund cuts down it for $100/cord on the ground. I am on track to get ten cord or a three year supply. Lots of red and white oak, maple. Paying four or five neighbors so far. I cut and move it.

Ashplund is overly aggresive with their grapple truck and taking the huge tree trunks same day or day after they are cut. Trunks I had agreement to pay the owners for, my cash my tree trunks ...I'm a day behind them on my street and I lost two huge maple trunks and three huge pieces of white oak straight trunk I had plans to take to the sawmill.

If you're buying cordwood, pellets or bricks are probably the better value.

Call Ashplund and ask them if you can buy my tree trunks from them.


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## Jay106n (Aug 8, 2015)

Just about everybody ran out of wood this spring because of the long cold winter we had last year and were selling at premium prices at the end of the winter. I agree, it seems those high prices have prevailed into this seasons green wood. It is ridiculous. Might be better off filling up your oil tank now and again before prices go back up. If the prices stay below $2/gal I might not even burn this year and save my stock pile for a more expensive season.


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## claydogg84 (Aug 8, 2015)

Since when did $200/cord become excessive? It's been right around that price for years. I wouldn't expect much, if any fluctuation in price based on oil rates.


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## Lakeside (Aug 8, 2015)

JTRock said:


> then never heard from him and didn't answer his phone or call back



Oh well, sure beats paying then being shorted..  " Good help is hard to find , no it's Good cheap help is hard to find "


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## Fred Wright (Aug 8, 2015)

If you don't mind splitting it yourself, ask the local tree companies if they'll sell you a load of rounds cheaper than already split. We lucked out this year, found a local guy who will drop off a pickup load of hardwood rounds for $70.00. He loads that pickup full, too... the rear bumper is almost touching the ground.

It's green wood mostly and some has knots but that's OK. We got the splitter and we got the time.


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## Oldman47 (Aug 8, 2015)

claydogg84 said:


> Since when did $200/cord become excessive? It's been right around that price for years. I wouldn't expect much, if any fluctuation in price based on oil rates.


Come on, you know why it relates. If I can heat with oil for x amount per month or only spend a fraction of that for wood, I will burn wood. If wood costs me more than oil, my stacks will gradually disappear. From a supplier point of view you may not care the price of oil but from a burner point of view either the price comes down to meet or beat oil or only the weekend evening "romantic" fire folks will be buying.


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## claydogg84 (Aug 8, 2015)

Oldman47 said:


> Come on, you know why it relates. If I can heat with oil for x amount per month or only spend a fraction of that for wood, I will burn wood. If wood costs me more than oil, my stacks will gradually disappear. From a supplier point of view you may not care the price of oil but from a burner point of view either the price comes down to meet or beat oil or only the weekend evening "romantic" fire folks will be buying.



I've known a reputable wood seller that actually sells seasoned wood. His price was $200/cord delivered when oil was over $4/gallon a few years back, and his price is $220/cord now. Maybe justifying wood or oil would be considered when oil is low like it is now, but the actual price will not fluctuate for wood like it does for oil/gas, regardless of whether or not people are buying it - That's my point. Stop buying wood because oil is cheap if you'd like, but I'm willing to bet in 4 years it will still be right around $200 - $250 / cord.


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## mustash29 (Aug 8, 2015)

2 hard winters in a row, "unknown" for this year.  IMO we will need a year or 2 of cheap oil and warm winters to drive wood prices back down.

A guy near me last spring was advertising $200 for 200 cuft of green rounds (mostly red oak from forestry management) stacked in the truck (128 per cord) so I told him I would take 5 loads cut at 20 - 22".  He kept trying to peddle yard trees (mostly maple) cut at 14-16.  Now his add is for 200 per cord, green & split.

Funny thing with oil.....as prices slowly dropped this summer diesel was still above gas around me.  Just this week diesel dropped below gas.


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## Poindexter (Aug 12, 2015)

One consideration I haven't seen in this thread: how many months of heating oil cany fit in your tank, and how many months of wood can you store in your yard?

Probably partly supply and demand too.  Up here a bunch of folks got laid off lately and took up woodcutting in our plentiful forests.  So huge supply of wood, many cutters in competition, I can have splits delivered for about the price as felling my own out in the state forest.

It's a no brainet for me to buy delivered splits this year.


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## BigCountryNY (Aug 14, 2015)

Supply and demand plays a big role in my area.  Tree services can sell logs for lumber or to be processed into pellets or wood chips around here very easily.  Because of that, they can keep their prices higher for firewood because if no one wants to pay their price they have other revenue streams.  Additionally, with the high oil prices we had been seeing, there were a lot more people burning wood, also keeping prices high.  My tree guy tells me he sold 550 cords last year and over 100k board-feet of lumber.


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## HowieSubGuy (Aug 14, 2015)

Jay106n said:


> Just about everybody ran out of wood this spring because of the long cold winter we had last year and were selling at premium prices at the end of the winter. I agree, it seems those high prices have prevailed into this seasons green wood. It is ridiculous. Might be better off filling up your oil tank now and again before prices go back up. If the prices stay below $2/gal I might not even burn this year and save my stock pile for a more expensive season.


Crude and shale forcasts for the remainder of this year and 2016 say that gas will be $2.50/gallon due. Sounds like cheap oil is here to stay, IMO.


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## Oldman47 (Aug 14, 2015)

Yes the crude prices are predicted to stay low the rest of this year. Refined prices around here just jumped 60 cents for gas at the pump because a nearby refinery did an emergency shutdown. I don't buy heating oil but I bet it saw about the same jump in price. It is not crude you are burning. Crude oil is still being predicted to rise in price next year. If I was paying for wood, I would burn oil this year and stock up on wood for the future. That would be a way to benefit from the temporary lower prices.  OTOH, there is no refining in natural gas so it probably won't move much.


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## sportbikerider78 (Aug 14, 2015)

I lived in CT for 6 years.  I thought everything was more expensive.  
Taxes, insurance, housing, gas, beer, food...you name it...it was more expensive in CT.


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## billb3 (Aug 14, 2015)

Natural gas does not come out of the ground pipeline ready. It has to be processed and cleaned of water, CO2 and H2S. Some seperation is done right at the well head with multiple pipes to  a processing plant. Propane, helium, methane, butane and slew of otherhave to be removed along with a long list of contaminants .

A high percentage of HHO and diesel/gas  supplies New England from rather large crude processors in Pennsylvania and New Jersey which as far as I know haven't been adversely affected by some of the pipeline leaks that are plagueing some  refineries backing up supplies in Canada.
Today's HHO lowest retail price  here is 1.799 whichis where it was Monday despite going up too 1.819 on Tuesday or Wed.
Gasoline has been $2.33 all week.

Current supply problems haven't raised prices here yet but may have  put a hold to price dropping.


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## Newwave (Aug 15, 2015)

Firewood prices here in Central Jersey are sky high this year.  Got prices of $190 per cord, $210 per cord and $230 per cord from three different suppliers.  The lowest was from a supplier I have used for years.  Each charges $35 for delivery, none will stack.

Not many storms this past year so not much wood available.  I normally buy wood from a garden center that takes logs from tree services locally.  Wood is in short supply and at a premium price.

Fortunately I have three years on hand ready to burn.  I can afford to wait another year to add to stacks.  Will we have bad storms this fall and winter with accompanying tree fall?  We'll see.


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## BigCountryNY (Aug 15, 2015)

Newwave said:


> Will we have bad storms this fall and winter with accompanying tree fall?  We'll see.



It's fairly likely I'd guess.  El Nino is going to give the Northeast a wet winter according to the weather guessers, so we will see what comes to pass...


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## killie11 (Aug 16, 2015)

I am not sure what prices you expect up here in central maine it was 230 for the last 6 or more years.


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## sportbikerider78 (Aug 17, 2015)

I was just looking at local prices around here.  Face cords seasoned and unseasoned range from $50-65.  

At that price, I'm not sure it is worth my effort to split my own!  LOL


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## begreen (Aug 17, 2015)

If I could get good wood at that price I would definitely be stocking up on several cords, even if unseasoned.


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## illenema (Aug 17, 2015)

Price out here is Crazy, for Oak  $350 a cord, split  and seasoned. Thats Las vegas        ( Full cords)


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## lostDuck (Aug 18, 2015)

At the end of the day a lot of good points but if you can buy compressed logs for less than wood. Why buy wood? They are dryer, burn hotter, and easier to carry around.

On that note I did get two cords of log length green for $200 it was just very hard to find this year. Good stuff for 17-18 season. 

I guess with the money I would have spent on wood this year I will get the oil boiler fixed up.


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## Jay106n (Aug 26, 2015)

Oil prices have continued to drop. For the CT,NY,NJ,PA,RI,MA,MD guys, here is a site I use that works well to get cheaper oil prices. http://www.cashheatingoil.com    I have used it several times and it works great. I can usually get better deals there than what the local guys can offer.


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## jfournier (Aug 26, 2015)

Hey @lostDuck whereabouts in Windsor are you?  I'm by Poquonock Elementary.  If you have a winch with a really long cable you can come suck logs up out of the hollow behind my house, and some of my neighbors, too.  Once the leaves are down I might bother building some stairs so I can carry rounds up and out. I have some trees down since the October snow storm that are up off the ground, so probably in good condition for burning.

That being said, I have yet to find a good, honest firewood supplier around here.  Most of them have told me they have seasoned oak, and I can just ask for the length I want and they'll buck it and split it to order, and I always say 'no thanks'.  I was much happier ordering 3 tons of bio bricks a couple years ago; once the wood piles were buried in snow I just used the bio bricks stacked in the basement.


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## Frank625 (Aug 26, 2015)

lostDuck said:


> So for all of the CT members has your purchase price for buying wood this year gone up? My previous wood guy has disappeared and up in the Windsor area people are wanting $200-250 a cord on CL... That is nuts for wood that will still need 2+ years to dry.
> 
> Even for green wood this year they want $200 a cord delivered. With oil so cheap (relatively speaking) I just dont understand why a premium on wood.
> 
> ...




The amount of work and expense is the same for green wood or seasoned wood. I sell wood and only do a small discount for green wood. I would say $200/cord delivered is a pretty good deal in your area.


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## edge-of-the-woods (Aug 26, 2015)

chazcarr said:


> I get acorn bricks.  Come in around $235 a ton.  Burn super hot.  Then I order log load delivery from local tree services.  Usually cost about 4-700 bucks depending on the size and works out to around $100 a cord when split.



A guy in Bethany was telling me about these.  They didn't burn too hot for you?


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## chazcarr (Aug 27, 2015)

edge-of-the-woods said:


> A guy in Bethany was telling me about these.  They didn't burn too hot for you?



The trick is to pack them together tight.  Then you have this one solid wall where the edge burns but not all the bricks at once.  
They also work great to mix in with mostly seasoned wood.


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## BigCountryNY (Aug 27, 2015)

I burned nearly a ton of BioBricks at the end of last season. After getting a burn started, I'd reload with 8 bricks at a time in my insert and would get a great burn with a lot of heat. I have three bundles left over this year if I need to toss one or two in,but my wood that I had CSS'd last fall is nice and dry for this season.


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## edge-of-the-woods (Jan 6, 2016)

chazcarr said:


> I get acorn bricks.  Come in around $235 a ton.  Burn super hot.  Then I order log load delivery from local tree services.  Usually cost about 4-700 bucks depending on the size and works out to around $100 a cord when split.



Where do you get your acorn bricks?  Bethany Supply in Bethany CT is asking $310/ton for them (not delivered).  They want $290/ton for the bio bricks.  I found a place in Torrington that's asking $270/ton for acorn bricks, but....then I have to schlep up to Torrington


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## chazcarr (Jan 12, 2016)

edge-of-the-woods said:


> Where do you get your acorn bricks?  Bethany Supply in Bethany CT is asking $310/ton for them (not delivered).  They want $290/ton for the bio bricks.  I found a place in Torrington that's asking $270/ton for acorn bricks, but....then I have to schlep up to Torrington



I get it from CT Pellet.  They have a spring sale, and I can share delivery with my neighbor who gets pellets.


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