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Squiner

Member
Hearth Supporter
Aug 22, 2008
201
Maryland
Pulling into my neighborhood after a crappy day of work I find a tree crew taking down a tree down the street from me. The guys load up the wood and dump it in my back yard. They say they can deliver wood until have no room left in my yard :)

It was a full tree crew truck. How much wood do you think I got?

Also, it was standing dead Maple I think. I need to get a moisture meter!

[Hearth.com] Free wood!
 
Soooweet! How can you beat that?
 
Looks like about a cord and a half. I hope you told them to fill up your yard?
 
Todd said:
Looks like about a cord and a half. I hope you told them to fill up your yard?
Click to expand...

You bet! I'm going to call tomorrow to confirm our agreement.

Anyone ever have this type of deal with a tree company? Would it be bad to say I only want hardwood?

Jim
 
Nice Score!! Will you FEDEX me a cord or two?? I'll chip in $20 for shipping..........lol.

I'd definitely have a 12-pack or so ready for them when they come back.....

Free wood delivered right to your yard--that's almost as good as being asked to fill in for the Playboy photographer who go the flu.........!!


NP
 
Squiner said:
Anyone ever have this type of deal with a tree company? Would it be bad to say I only want hardwood? Jim
Click to expand...

Yes and maybe. I would talk to them and ask how it would work best for them. Chances are, they are expecting you to only want hardwood but make sure you don't put stipulations on them that will give them second thoughts. Most likely it will be fine with them as long as you don't tell them you only want oak. They hate that!
 
wendell said:
Squiner said:
Anyone ever have this type of deal with a tree company? Would it be bad to say I only want hardwood? Jim
Click to expand...

Yes and maybe. I would talk to them and ask how it would work best for them. Chances are, they are expecting you to only want hardwood but make sure you don't put stipulations on them that will give them second thoughts. Most likely it will be fine with them as long as you don't tell them you only want oak. They hate that!
Click to expand...

That sounds reasonable. I actually wouldn't mind some softwood. I just don't want a ton of pine.
 
Very Nice.

I just cut down one of our maples too, in order to get some landscaping trucks closer to our house. The maple rounds weeped a syrupy secretion that the flies LOVED (I assume its a type of maple sap) that looks exactly like what you have in the round in the lower left of your picture.

I don't think this was "standing dead", if the sap was still flowing. Might take 8-12 months to season. Just my 2 cents.

Again ..... VERY nice score
 
Great score! It would be nice to hook up with a tree service that would drop wood at my house! I do enjoy the cutting more then the splitting/stacking though. I guess I could get over the cutting part if I was getting it dropped for free. :)
 
i love burning sugar maple nice coals and a long hot fire
 
That's awesome. And it sounds like you made a good contact...especially if they plan on delivering in the future. Now that's a good scrounge!
 
Skier76 said:
That's awesome. And it sounds like you made a good contact...especially if they plan on delivering in the future. Now that's a good scrounge!
Click to expand...
+1 Congrats!
 
Unless they have a bylaw or a HOA, I can't see how the town could have any right to say anything (although that doesn't mean they would still try of course)
 
Squiner said:
Todd said:
Looks like about a cord and a half. I hope you told them to fill up your yard?
Click to expand...

You bet! I'm going to call tomorrow to confirm our agreement.

Anyone ever have this type of deal with a tree company? Would it be bad to say I only want hardwood?

Jim
Click to expand...

It would not be bad to ask for only hard wood if you can accept some soft wood. All trees that drop their leaves are considered "hard" woods some would be considered "soft" where the fireplace is concerned though. The tree guys do have to find a place for all of the wood they have to get rid of. The difference is now you are asking them to sort out the soft wood for you. That's "extra work" that should be compensated if you want to remain in their good graces. It is already an aid to them to have a place to dump wood and an aid to you physically and ecconomically to have the wood dropped off at your place. They are working outdoors and probably go somewhere for lunch from time to time so ask where they like to eat and pick up some gift cards for them. They are saving you several tons of work (litterally) and time by giving you free wood. Your yard looks pretty big so I hope you're thinking of selling wood otherwise a lot of it will probably rot before you can burn it. I'd say you found a great wood score.
 
Cave2k said:
Your yard looks pretty big so I hope you're thinking of selling wood otherwise a lot of it will probably rot before you can burn it. I'd say you found a great wood score.
Click to expand...

Now that is a banner idea. At $300/cd, Squiner would be in a new fancy splitter in no time. Maybe then some stone for the processing area and a skid steer to push it around and load it into the dump trailer for delivery.
 
Congratulations on a good free source of firewood.

Before you fill your yard with wood, perhaps it might be good to make sure your neighbors don't mind; it appears you have plenty of neighbors close. We've seen some have neighbor problems with this and it would be a shame to load up on firewood to only have to turn around and haul it back out of there. Just cover all the bases and you should be fine.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Before you fill your yard with wood, perhaps it might be good to make sure your neighbors don't mind; it appears you have plenty of neighbors close. We've seen some have neighbor problems with this and it would be a shame to load up on firewood to only have to turn around and haul it back out of there. Just cover all the bases and you should be fine.
Click to expand...

That is good advice BS. For those of us that have to deal with realities of neighbors, free wood from tree guys adds up pretty quick on a small lot.
 

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Nice score! I've had tree guys offer big loads, but I can't take them. I only have 1/4 acre so I have to carefully manage how much wood I bring in and when. Looks like you have some space with easy truck access too. You're in!
 
Squiner said:
Todd said:
Anyone ever have this type of deal with a tree company? Would it be bad to say I only want hardwood?

Jim
Click to expand...

I have this deal with 2 tree companies and they know to only bring me Oak. At this point my guess is that I have 5 years worth of wood. If they can not find anyone else to take it they will have to pay $40 to dump it in the land fill plus the gas to get there and I am much closer. At some point I may have to cut them off completely. We talked about this and they understand it is difficult for them to find someone to take the softer woods. I would suggest that before you cut them off because you are getting too much you restrict them to Oak only. I will admit that fire wood if very easy to come by where I live.
Click to expand...
 
It sounds like you might have the makings of a nice side business. I can't see how selling firewood is worthwhile given all the work involved from start to finish, but in this case it's already bucked and dropped off in your yard! Take what you need and start selling the overage... it would work out well for everyone.
 
Nice score, I also vote for 1 1/2 cords.

my brother had the same agreement with a tree guy and it was great at first, then the guy filled his yard and wanted to fill the driveway and my brother asked him to slow down until he could catch up. The guy said if I slow down I will never be back. Needless to say he has not been back.
 
That is the problem with the tree guys unless you pick it up from their jobsites. Unless they know that they can dump the next load without notice or permission, they will find another site where they can. Even a smalltime tree guy is producing at least a few cords a week.
 
Nice score! what kind of maple is it? I just cut some that look just like that.
 
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