How dry is too dry, deal or not?

[Adkjake]

My neighbor inherited the place next door from his uncle. Long story short is that it had been vacant awhile before it passed on to him, and the nephew has only visited the place a couple of times since he took ownership over a year ago. I've only met him twice in the last couple of months or so. I keep an eye on the place for him. Seems to be a good guy. He's now put the place up for sale, and was here recently to start cleaning up the place and to take home a car he wanted. The place is a bit of fixer upper and would need a good clean up of house and property.

There's a huge pile of firewood, maybe 2 or 3 cords, that's been there for several years. I looked the pile over recently and it is well seasoned very dry wood, and as I say, has been there awhile. In fact some of the pieces are so dry they don't seem to weigh much for a split that size, some, but very little of it is "punky". Not sure about species.

So I asked him if he had any plans for it, and would he be open to an offer. He replies, sure I have no use for it, and not knowing how long it will take to sell the place, what do you have in mind? Kind of stuck for an answer, I tell him, not sure what I'm getting in to, and how much of it is good wood or not, how's $50 for a cord. He replies, is that all you want? I replied let's start with that, but I'll take all the good firewood I can pull out, but anything punky I'll leave behind. He's OK with that, and I even offer to send him a check for the first cord, but he says, no problem, we'll settle up next time I'm up that way.

Seems like a win = win to me, he get's his property cleaned up. I get a deal, even if it isn't perfect firewood. FYI, I grabbed a few arm loads off the pile yesterday, seemed to burn pretty well. Wasn't like I was burning cardboard. Here are a few pix of the pile.

 

[CTYank]

Piled outdoors like that in the Adirondacks, it will not be "too dry." No way. In fact, down in the pile, it may be pretty moist.

I'd grab a pulpwood hook to pull pieces from the piles, and check them for punkiness (with the hook.) Right there, you can toss into your piles: keep/lose it.

Then figure what it's actually worth. And give it a chance to dry out.

 

[gzecc]

$50 is $50 too much. Your giving a service at no cost. should be free. He should be happy to get rid of some of it for free.

 

[benjamin]

$50 is $50 too much. Your giving a service at no cost. should be free. He should be happy to get rid of some of it for free.

I disagree. Though he probably would have gotten a better deal if he gave you the whole pile in exchange for getting rid of it all.

 

[Wood Duck]

There are probably some places out west where wood can get too dry, but in the Adirondacks, wood will never get too dry. Wood in a heap will not even get dry enough, except near the top.

 

[Phil_Marino]

My neighbor inherited the place next door from his uncle. Long story short is that it had been vacant awhile before it passed on to him, and the nephew has only visited the place a couple of times since he took ownership over a year ago. I've only met him twice in the last couple of months or so. I keep an eye on the place for him. Seems to be a good guy. He's now put the place up for sale, and was here recently to start cleaning up the place and to take home a car he wanted. The place is a bit of fixer upper and would need a good clean up of house and property.

There's a huge pile of firewood, maybe 2 or 3 cords, that's been there for several years. I looked the pile over recently and it is well seasoned very dry wood, and as I say, has been there awhile. In fact some of the pieces are so dry they don't seem to weigh much for a split that size, some, but very little of it is "punky". Not sure about species.

So I asked him if he had any plans for it, and would he be open to an offer. He replies, sure I have no use for it, and not knowing how long it will take to sell the place, what do you have in mind? Kind of stuck for an answer, I tell him, not sure what I'm getting in to, and how much of it is good wood or not, how's $50 for a cord. He replies, is that all you want? I replied let's start with that, but I'll take all the good firewood I can pull out, but anything punky I'll leave behind. He's OK with that, and I even offer to send him a check for the first cord, but he says, no problem, we'll settle up next time I'm up that way.

Seems like a win = win to me, he get's his property cleaned up. I get a deal, even if it isn't perfect firewood. FYI, I grabbed a few arm loads off the pile yesterday, seemed to burn pretty well. Wasn't like I was burning cardboard. Here are a few pix of the pile.

Wood can never be too dry. But, it can rot if it's sitting out in the rain for several years. That is probably what is happening here and why some of the pieces seem too light. It will probably still burn fine, but it has undoubtedly lost some of it's heating ability, and will eventually be too punky to be worth burning.

Phil Marino

 

[mayhem]

I would have offered to clear the whole pile out of the yard for free. You keep whats good and you are reposible for hauling out the punky crap. Just take it home and burn the junk outside and you're done. He probably would have jumped at it too because it would clean up a significant eyesore that is devaluing the property and making extra work for him down the road.

At $50 a cord, you're both losing money here. You're paying out cash needlessly and he's still stuck with a mess he has to clean up before he can sell the house.

 

[eujamfh]

Aree with mayhem but you are kinda stuck now with having made the offer. If you get there, and a good mess of it is punk, you could tell him that there is only a cord of god - but more bad. Tell him that since he is looking to sell, you will haul and get rid of it in exchange for the bits you can salvage. If he says no, then you are no worse off getting a cord for $50. If it is good wood, then $50 is ok, but I agree you probably could have had it (with the bad bits) for free.

If he is trying to fix to sell...spending a day hauling or burning punky wood will be a drag for him. You both would truly be getting a better deal out of it...

 

[Adkjake]

I hear on maybe I'm doing him the favor, etc. But, when I first talked to him about it, I kind of put it as, hey, if you want to get rid of that wood, I'd be happy take all that's still good firewood. His reply was make me an offer, so sounded like he was looking to make something off it. $50 per cord just kind of popped out. And, I'd previously asked him if I could borrow his 10 foot step ladder, as I'm putting windows in the screen porch

Still, $50 for a cord of wood that is split and seasoned is pretty cheap. And as noted, since I'm doing the picking, and then will be stacking, you can bet it will be a tight stack and I won't get cheated!

I'll show you what a full cord is.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Wood will not be too dry. No worries for that at all. However, it does not look too great to me. $50 might be okay but it depends upon what you want. What kind of wood is it? I think I see a bunch of popple in there; not good. Maybe some ash; good. If you can pick and choose, you might turn out okay. Good luck.