Any value in the wood from a huge tree which has died?

pealy

We have a huge Horse Chestnut in the garden (100+ years old and probably 40 feet high) which has apparently died. Despite the fact that it's a terrible shame I need to think about felling and quotes are coming in at £800+ as it's right next to the road and will require someone suitably a qualified.

My question is whether I could get any of this money back by selling the wood. Although I'd love to keep it all fro burning I just don't have space and could really do with offsetting the cost. Any suggestions for how much, who might buy it etc? I thought a good place to start may be the people I buy wood for burning from but a rough idea would be great.

Any thoughts?

P.S We have had several people come to look at the tree in the hope of saving it but all have agreed it is dead.

Lotus-eater

I think, although I am far from an expert, that wood really only has value when it has been processed, ie dried and sawed.
I would think your best bet, is to save as much of the wood as possible for firewood. Especially if you buy firewood.

If you have enough space for a huge chestnut tree, I should think you have space to store the wood. Why do you think you haven't?

Davesnave

Chestnut is used to make fencing. Any local sawmills making chestnut palings?

Frudd

The wood is definitely not worthless, the problem is finding who wants it. A friend of my dad is a wood turner, they are always looking for wood. i suggest looking into local wood turning groups and craftspeople.

hethmar

We had a tree felled (sadly) last month but it was an ash so chestnut would be worth more in wood turning value BUT its finding someone who wants it at the time. The fellers told us that their friend would buy the long straight poles on the tree which would virtually pay for the work but then he decided he didnt want them In the end we got some chaps who charged a lot less as they just left the tree and branches in the garden for us to chop up as we want. We do have a wood burner so it will save us probably a couple of hundred quid at least in fuel.

pealy

Thanks for the responses, sounds like it might be difficult. We will definitely store as much as we can but it will mean building some covered areas and I'm just not convinced there's room for more than 25% of it - it's a big tree!

Lotus-eater

You don't need covered areas, you just need pallets to put the wood on, then cover the pallet with anything you can get hold of, tarpaulins work, but I prefer something solid like a corrugated metal sheet if I have it.

pealy

Lotus-eater wrote: »

You don't need covered areas

Thanks for the advice - like the pallets idea, may be useful at least as a short term thing.

Lotus-eater

I dry wood for at least a year out on pallets, then when it's dry enough, it can come in and go into a dryer store, ready for burning. I like to do the change around in early summer, so the very dry store is full up and can dry over the whole summer.
But anything else can just stay out on the pallets as long as you like.

redlady_1

I dont suppose you are in the SW are you??

hethmar

You need to store the wood chopped and raised but also have air circulating, so dont cover them too much! or put them in an enlosed shed or greenhouse.

OP, the tree is definitely not protected is it?