Wood burning stoves -what do you pay for logs ?

BirnamBear

Wondered if there is regional variation in log fuel prices.Tend to pay £80 in the Glasgow area for a builders bag.
I wondered if that was good,bad or indifferent.

fishybusiness

£90 per cubic metre of hardwood logs last winter - North Lincolnshire.

Three weeks and they were gone - not a cheap way to heat a room!

beat_the_utilities

From what I can tell, there's a fairly significant degree of variation not only between regions, but within them too. There are also quite a few rip off merchants, but £80 for a builder's bag is by no means the worst I've seen.

My advice (if it's feasible for you to do this) is to get to know a local tree surgeon, or arborist. I've got a workmate who does a bit of this on the side and he delivers me a load of logs (basically all he can fit on the back of his redneck pick-up type truck) for £25, plus a couple of quid for his diesel. I have to stack and season them (so had to start a year in advance), but even I consider that time well spent. When he first started, my mate was only too happy to find someone to take what was basically a waste product off his hands, but due to the popularity of multifuel and wood stoves he's now got more demand than he can satisfy. If you can find someone like that in your area and have the space/inclination/time to stack and season, that's probably your cheapest option.

alhermette

We pay £30 per bulk bag for mixed logs. From memory a local oak sawmill charges around £70 per bulk bag. Kiln dried logs from specialist suppliers seem to be about the same. The biggest problem is that bulk bags vary in size so price comparisons are difficult.

lostinrates

Cheapest i can find for hard wood is 70 a single cubic metre. We buy 4 cubic m,at a time, not in a builders bag, for 270. We stack it ourselves, which means we have to be there when it is delivered and it steals an afternoon, but also keeps price down and minimises wasting space.

John_the_Boy

£75 for 1.5 cubic meters here in Shrewsbury.

PaulF81

Free. We keep chopping down trees on our smallholding, drying out and using. Pine, the works and we have had no issues with creosote, as long as its perfectly dry when used. Burns hot as well!

A._Badger

The trouble is working out how much they are selling. Just this week I was quoted "£130 for a trailer load". That's pretty meaningless as it depends how big the trailer (in this case it was the back of a pickup truck), how deeply it's filled and so on. And that's even before you consider the quality of the wood.

Buying wood is a tricky business.

beat_the_utilities

A._Badger wrote: »

The trouble is working out how much they are selling. Just this week I was quoted "£130 for a trailer load". That's pretty meaningless as it depends how big the trailer (in this case it was the back of a pickup truck), how deeply it's filled and so on. And that's even before you consider the quality of the wood.

Buying wood is a tricky business.

Very true. Almost impossible to get a true, like-for-like comparison (unless you're talking cubic metres) and as you say, there's the quality/species of the wood to consider as well. I have to take whatever's going (basically whatever my arborist mate has just felled or trimmed). This has been variously apple, cherry, sycamore, plane, silver birch and ash. All have different burning rates/qualities and probably season at different rates too, but at his prices I can't afford to be choosy. Given the prices quoted by others, I suspect I'm getting a good deal, but then I'm not getting nice, kiln dried logs which are ready to burn immediately. Swings and roundabouts.

justjohn

Was paying 60-75 for 1 cube

lol however now get a full transit 90 pound. Load it myself and its full too the brim. hard and soft. (mwb transit)

Don't buy from a log seller, buy from an tree surgeon.

Debt_Free_Chick

A._Badger wrote: »

The trouble is working out how much they are selling. Just this week I was quoted "£130 for a trailer load". That's pretty meaningless as it depends how big the trailer (in this case it was the back of a pickup truck), how deeply it's filled and so on. And that's even before you consider the quality of the wood.

Buying wood is a tricky business.

Agreed. Often sold as a "load"

How much is that then?