Alternate Home Heating

[Sugarphreak]

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[mr2mike]

Had a friend that lived in a run down duplex. From his work he was able to take the scrap lumber. Heated the house using that for the whole winter and had his gas shut off. Guess it sort of worked. He had fans to try to circulate the hot air but the upstairs was still cold.

A common wall probably helped his cause a little.

This was back when I was 20 and it was more of a bragging rights and to save $ for more alcohol.

[masoncgy]

I burned wood in my fireplace in the last winter I lived in my house in Sandstone and it was actually pretty decent.

The trick is to burn super dry wood... low smoke, low smell.

It didn't heat the house perfectly even as the living room over the garage would stay cool, but it did heat the portions of the house where we wanted the heat... baby's bedroom upstairs, bathrooms, etc.

I found it heated the side of the house (up and down) where it was located (basement rec room).

I had all the firewood given to me too... so it was a free heat source...

I'd definitely do it again too. My next house has to have a wood burning fireplace.

Current house in BC... electric baseboard heaters & an electric fireplace. Sucks major donkey balls, all around.

It's not that expensive, just the heat itself doesn't move around very good.

[sputnik]

I know someone who has a wood burning furnace in his house in rural Manitoba.

It does a pretty good job heating the house, but its incredibly inefficient since you can't exactly turn off a fire when your house is at the desired temp. As a result the fire burns and effectively heats the outside.

He enjoys the process of cutting and splitting firewood himself and says that on average he will go through 8-10 cords per winter. On cold days he says that he loads up the furnace once in the morning and then once again after supper.

[masoncgy]

Originally posted by mr2mike
Had a friend that lived in a run down duplex. From his work he was able to take the scrap lumber. Heated the house using that for the whole winter and had his gas shut off. Guess it sort of worked. He had fans to try to circulate the hot air but the upstairs was still cold.

How did he heat his hot water tank? They are usually natural gas if there's a gas furnace in the house.

[codetrap]

My Dad bought a pellet stove and installed it. He uses the furnace recirculating fan to move the heat around. No smell. It's hopper fed, so easy to use. I think he spent around 5K installed. 40Lb bag of pellets is about $4.49, and he uses about 2 a day when it's real cold. He buys them by the pallet, and says he goes through 145 bags a winter.

His overall impression is that it's not a very economical move right now when Gas is cheap. Right now a high efficiency furnace is probably a better choice.

[Sugarphreak]

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[mr2mike]

Originally posted by masoncgy


How did he heat his hot water tank? They are usually natural gas if there's a gas furnace in the house.

Hmm good question... I never bothered to ask. Maybe he was lying about having the gas turned off.
Or isn't there a loop hole where they must keep some minimal service to your house even if you can't pay the bill? I could be talking out my ass, never been in the situation where I'd need to do this.


If you were building your house specifically to do this, could you not have it setup to move the HVAC system to have heat pumped into the air ducts, then just need a fan to push the warm air.

[codetrap]

Always glad to help man. :)

(at least when I'm not trying to be a troll)

[Sugarphreak]

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[CapnCrunch]

Originally posted by mr2mike


Hmm good question... I never bothered to ask. Maybe he was lying about having the gas turned off.


He might have had an electric water heater. They're pretty common in Calgary.

My last house had a high efficiency wood burning fireplace that would heat the entire home (1900 sqft 2 storey). I actually had my furnace quit on me in -30 weather and it worked great.

I never worked out the costs of running it, but I did have to burn quality wood in it to keep the exhaust flue clean. (It had some smoke filter that would plug if the wood didn't burn hot enough, so I bought apple wood from BC $$$) I felt like a badass cave man when it was -30, the thermostat was reading 26 degrees and the furnace was hadn't worked in 2 days, lol.

[project240]

We heat only with wood. Our furnace is set at 18 to kick in just in case, but I haven't seen our thermostat drop below 21 degrees in a long time. We use a small fan at the end of our hall to help circulate the air to the bedrooms as well as a ceiling fan and it stays pretty even throughout the house.

Our stove has a thermostat built in so we can control the amount of heat output. One morning I forgot to dial it down before leaving and when I got back home our house was sitting at a balmy 26 degrees on one side and 27.5 degrees on the other side.

We have a 2500sqft ranch style house and I've been extremely happy with the stove so far (I just installed it this fall).

As someone else mentioned, dry wood is the most important thing. Let me know if you'd like to see some pics or have any other questions.

[project240]

Originally posted by sputnik

He enjoys the process of cutting and splitting firewood himself and says that on average he will go through 8-10 cords per winter.

I actually quite enjoy "processing" all of the wood as well. I use it as my excuse for never going to the gym, but still staying in shape. I predict this winter we'll go through about 3-4 cords.

[NRGie]

Do you never worry about the fire spreading? Especially leaving it to burn while your not at home.

[sputnik]

Originally posted by NRGie
Do you never worry about the fire spreading? Especially leaving it to burn while your not at home.

I wouldn't leave a fire burning in an open fireplace (not to mention that they are too small to keep a fire going for 6-8 hours).

But a woodburning stove or wood furnace is usually big enough to keep a long fire going and is sealed so that you dont have to worry about burning your house down.

[CapnCrunch]

Originally posted by NRGie
Do you never worry about the fire spreading? Especially leaving it to burn while your not at home.

I had a solid glass door on mine and all the combustion air came directly from outside. There wasn't any way for flames to get into the house.

[project240]

Originally posted by NRGie
Do you never worry about the fire spreading? Especially leaving it to burn while your not at home.

Do you ever worry about the fire spreading from your furnace?

Not exactly the same thing, but as long as your stove is properly installed, there isn't anything to worry about, just as you wouldn't worry leaving your furnace running while not at home.

[Sugarphreak]

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[CanmoreOrLess]

My parents had a wood burning fireplace in the main floor of a Lindel (sp?) home. Great for those on the main floor and upper levels (open ceiling) which caught all the rising heat. A bitch for those in the lower level as there was no heat, as the thermostat was on the main floor, all seemed well to the thermo, the lower floor level was very cold as the furnace never kicks in. The fireplace ended up being for special occasions.

My brother has a new home, geothermal heating and cooling. He says within 14 years he covers the cost of the full installation and forward it is money in his pocket. Works very well, something I would do on my next house in a second. Hate spending money on heating a home. My next house will be really small by Calgary standards, less is more when it comes to a home.

I lived in northern Japan for a couple of years, we used a kotatsu and less actual natural gas for heat as it was rather expensive. Closed off the room one is using with the sliding wall divider, a sweater and kotatsu, all were warm. Had to add an electric area rug which was really sweet. Far more comfortable overall than the Canadian alternative and lower costs overall.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotatsu

[project240]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
How much is a cord of good wood? Where do you get it from?

I'd never burn wood if I had to buy it. The prices here are so inflated.

I pick up most of the wood from an Arborist in town or buy a permit ($5.25) and go out to Kananaskis and cut there (up to 2 cords).

Doing this though you have to have a place to store the wood as it isn't seasoned. I'm picking up wood now for next winter...

I'll post a few pics later on

[Sugarphreak]

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[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
NICE!!

I don't know why.... but I want to go cut down trees right now!

The permit is for deadfall only. You aren't allowed to chop live trees.


My boss has a wood stove in his basement, and it heats the whole house. He still has nat.gas on, but sets the furnace to 10*C, so nothing freezes while he's at work.

He also cuts his own deadfall in Kananaskis. Supposedly only pays $50/month in gas in the coldest of months, but has to get up in the middle of the night to feed the fire.

It might seem cheap... but what's your time worth? My coldest months house gas bill is $200. So is $150/month worth your time of cutting deadfall, storing it, chopping it, feeding the fire every 3 hours, etc.?

[codetrap]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
It might seem cheap... but what's your time worth? My coldest months house gas bill is $200. So is $150/month worth your time of cutting deadfall, storing it, chopping it, feeding the fire every 3 hours, etc.?

Or walking to the closet, grabbing a couple of bags of pellets, dumping them into the hopper, closing the lid, walking over to the recycling bin for the bags, then going back to the couch to enjoy the fire in the stove while watching a movie...

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by codetrap


Or walking to the closet, grabbing a couple of bags of pellets, dumping them into the hopper, closing the lid, walking over to the recycling bin for the bags, then going back to the couch to enjoy the fire in the stove while watching a movie...

Yeah, but as you said, with a bag of pellets being $4.50 a bag, and 145 bags a winter... that doesn't make much sense (unless you're doing it for the ambiance, and not the cost savings).

A good wood stove will set you back way more than a high efficiency furnace install though.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok


Yeah, but as you said, with a bag of pellets being $4.50 a bag, and 145 bags a winter... that doesn't make much sense (unless you're doing it for the ambiance, and not the cost savings).

A good wood stove will set you back way more than a high efficiency furnace install though.

You're probably right on this. They also spend another 5K to have 2 high efficiency furnaces installed, along with a bunch of duct work repair.

But, then again, how much is getting your dick su... I mean the ambiance worth to you?

[Sugarphreak]

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[project240]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok


He also cuts his own deadfall in Kananaskis. Supposedly only pays $50/month in gas in the coldest of months, but has to get up in the middle of the night to feed the fire.

It might seem cheap... but what's your time worth? My coldest months house gas bill is $200. So is $150/month worth your time of cutting deadfall, storing it, chopping it, feeding the fire every 3 hours, etc.?


If you have a larger stove you don't need to "feed it" every couple of hours. We have a fairly large blaze king stove and it easily puts out good heat for 12 hours and can go for up to 20 hours on low. When it gets really cold I load it 3 times/day.

We also have a smaller wood insert which we will probably use on the days where it gets down to 30 or lower. This one only puts out good heat for 3-4 hours.

As far as the gas bill goes, I just got our bill for November at it was $57.76, but we have 2 gas fired hot water tanks, a gas stove (kitchen) and a gas radiant heater in the garage, plus $32 is admin fees. I found a bill from the previous owners from February 2009 for our house and they paid $380 that month.

For us, it easily saves us $1500+ over the winter months and our home stays much warmer.

Again though, the work isn't for everyone. I probably wouldn't bother if I didn't enjoy the work.

The only downside is that along with wood/ash comes a bit of a mess, so every now and then I have to spend a few minutes cleaning. Also, our house tends to be a little drier because of the stove, so we have to run a humidifier as needed.

[Guillermo]

Originally posted by masoncgy


How did he heat his hot water tank? They are usually natural gas if there's a gas furnace in the house.

my parents have an outdoor wood-burning furnace that provides heat and hot water for the house. i beleive it sends hot water to the house and there is a heat exchanger for the air, but i'm not sure as they installed it just a few years ago, and they live in Missouri LOL

[AndyL]

Well those econuts beside me - are off grid - other than the phone... They don't have a pile of wood in the yard, but they do have a ~8x8 solar hot water heater... Since I don't see them wearing coats in the house - I'm guessing they get enough out of it even in the middle of winter to keep relatively liveable... :dunno:

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i277/cgyreefer/004.jpg
Yep that fugly blue thing in the middle...

[codetrap]

Honestly, I'd love to go off the grid if I could, but the cost is just so prohibitive, and the payback is FAR too long into the future for me at this location.

We'll probably examine it a lot closer if we decide to move to an acreage and build from scratch.

One thing I think we could do inside calgary though, if they're available is reshingle with those Solar Shingles from Dow should they ever become available...

http://www.technologyreview.com/business/24383/

[Sugarphreak]

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[Tomaz]

The house my parents bough when I was a kid used a German coal furnace, and used styrofoam panels over the windows. They have a 3100sqft home, so it never really worked. It would work in a smaller home, but it is far more cost effective to run a High Efficient gas furnace in our situation.

The new ICF house they were designing used geothermal, solar, wind, and a furnace for cold days. They would never make the money back, but it would be a self-sufficient system.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
One hailstorm though and you'd sure be out a lot of cash!

Think so? I figured they must be coated with lexan or something like that. Glass simply wouldn't make sense.

[drtoohotty1]

Originally posted by AndyL
*snip*

haha i know exactly where you live, also those econuts are batshit crazy....

[lilmira]

Originally posted by AndyL
Well those econuts beside me - are off grid - other than the phone... They don't have a pile of wood in the yard, but they do have a ~8x8 solar hot water heater... Since I don't see them wearing coats in the house - I'm guessing they get enough out of it even in the middle of winter to keep relatively liveable... :dunno:

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i277/cgyreefer/004.jpg
Yep that fugly blue thing in the middle...

Scenic Acres? I think I have been in that house.

http://www.businessedge.ca/archives/article.cfm/world-beating-path-to-sustainable-home-3356

[schocker]

Originally posted by lilmira


Scenic Acres? I think I have been in that house.

http://www.businessedge.ca/archives/article.cfm/world-beating-path-to-sustainable-home-3356
Yes, it is at the three way stop by stoney. Ugly ugly house :rofl:

[lilmira]

Haha, they are architects.

[Sugarphreak]

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[ddduke]

Originally posted by project240


I'd never burn wood if I had to buy it. The prices here are so inflated.

I pick up most of the wood from an Arborist in town or buy a permit ($5.25) and go out to Kananaskis and cut there (up to 2 cords).

Doing this though you have to have a place to store the wood as it isn't seasoned. I'm picking up wood now for next winter...

I'll post a few pics later on

My company wholesales wood and there's a reason why prices are inflated and it's shipping cost. Most people who heat their house with wood prefer a quality hardwood. Most of our clients wont even burn white birch from Alberta so we have to ship in yellow birch from BC. Our cost for 16 cords is over $5000, then we have our advertising costs, fuel and the biggest thing is having a place where we can stock anywhere from 50-100 cords at a time so if you want to be in the business and be successful you NEED a huge peice of land.

Do the math on how much gas it costs to go up to Kanaskis, then you have the whole day you waste to cut and process a cord (there's no way you can process more the a cord in a day) and on top of that the most you'll fit in a regular box is only a half cord so you need a trailer just to bring back a full cord. I don't know how much your time is worth but I would never process any wood because it's just not worth it. We used to have a processor that would cut 40ft logs to length and then split them with just the push of a button and we even skidded that whole process because it just wasn't worth the time to split.

Also, the only wood you'll find in Kananaskis is Pine, Spruce and Poplar which are all junk and can be had for very cheap from one of the local business. There's a reason why my company sells well over 500 cord per winter and over 95% of that wood isn't locally grown, because everything around here is JUNK.

[project240]

Originally posted by ddduke


My company wholesales wood and there's a reason why prices are inflated and it's shipping cost. Most people who heat their house with wood prefer a quality hardwood. Most of our clients wont even burn white birch from Alberta so we have to ship in yellow birch from BC. Our cost for 16 cords is over $5000, then we have our advertising costs, fuel and the biggest thing is having a place where we can stock anywhere from 50-100 cords at a time so if you want to be in the business and be successful you NEED a huge peice of land.

Do the math on how much gas it costs to go up to Kanaskis, then you have the whole day you waste to cut and process a cord (there's no way you can process more the a cord in a day) and on top of that the most you'll fit in a regular box is only a half cord so you need a trailer just to bring back a full cord. I don't know how much your time is worth but I would never process any wood because it's just not worth it. We used to have a processor that would cut 40ft logs to length and then split them with just the push of a button and we even skidded that whole process because it just wasn't worth the time to split.

Also, the only wood you'll find in Kananaskis is Pine, Spruce and Poplar which are all junk and can be had for very cheap from one of the local business. There's a reason why my company sells well over 500 cord per winter and over 95% of that wood isn't locally grown, because everything around here is JUNK.


Obviously if you are in the firewood business you know what you're talking about, but I disagree with several things you said. I believe you about shipping costs, I know last year I looked into buying a truck of log length fir/birch and was quoted about $4500 for 16-18 cords.

As far as processing goes though, I can easily cut, buck to length, haul and unload 2.5 cords in a day (6-8 hours). It takes me another 5-6 hours to split and stack everything once I get it home. Also, this is doing everything just using a Fiskars axe, I don't own a splitter. I do however have a 6x10 tandem trailer and live only 20 minutes from Kananaskis where I cut. I don't consider it a waste of time at all because I enjoy the work. With that being said, I'd never process wood to sell and probably enjoy it because it only takes me a couple days of hard work to have all my wood ready for the following year.

Personally, I'd much rather burn dry pine/spruce/aspen rather than unseasoned birch (I'm not saying you, but unless you're bringing in wood and splitting/stacking last year to sell this year, it's not seasoned). Last winter I contacted several sellers and none of them actually had seasoned wood... all of it was cut/split 2-3 months ago. As far as I'm concerned any unseasoned wood is the JUNK you are referring to.

Sure I would prefer to burn oak, locust, maple, birch, hedge, etc, but as you know, we don't have that around here. I'm perfectly fine burning the softwoods we have and yes that means I only get 8-12 hours on a load of pine rather than 12-14 on a load of birch, but then I'd have to spend $500+/cord which to me negates any cost savings related to wood burning.

I'm guessing most of your customers aren't "serious woodburners" and buy/burn more for the ambiance of a fire. Personally, I don't know why anyone would bother heating with wood at $500+/cord when they could just use their furnace.:dunno:


Edit. I shouldn't say I can easily process that much, it's very hard work, but I can do it.

[AndyL]

Meh, my address has been on beyond for years :) Not really worried about it, I'm no baller :rofl:

Solar HWHs are pretty efficient; and pretty much unbreakable - short of a tree going through em (I've seen that one get nailed by baseballs and rc planes/heli's).

Problem with off grid living - is - banks... You can't get a mortgage for an off-grid house; and if you do - you wont get insurance... For some reason both of them require at least electrical connection; gas or a lpg tank...

Solar makes sense for heating water - and would probably be a great way to heat a garage, and maybe supplemental heating for the house...

[zarge]

Yay to Nelson, chord delivered, split and stacked in the back wood shed for $150. Alberta blows.

[ddduke]

Originally posted by project240



Obviously if you are in the firewood business you know what you're talking about, but I disagree with several things you said. I believe you about shipping costs, I know last year I looked into buying a truck of log length fir/birch and was quoted about $4500 for 16-18 cords.

As far as processing goes though, I can easily cut, buck to length, haul and unload 2.5 cords in a day (6-8 hours). It takes me another 5-6 hours to split and stack everything once I get it home. Also, this is doing everything just using a Fiskars axe, I don't own a splitter. I do however have a 6x10 tandem trailer and live only 20 minutes from Kananaskis where I cut. I don't consider it a waste of time at all because I enjoy the work. With that being said, I'd never process wood to sell and probably enjoy it because it only takes me a couple days of hard work to have all my wood ready for the following year.

Personally, I'd much rather burn dry pine/spruce/aspen rather than unseasoned birch (I'm not saying you, but unless you're bringing in wood and splitting/stacking last year to sell this year, it's not seasoned). Last winter I contacted several sellers and none of them actually had seasoned wood... all of it was cut/split 2-3 months ago. As far as I'm concerned any unseasoned wood is the JUNK you are referring to.

Sure I would prefer to burn oak, locust, maple, birch, hedge, etc, but as you know, we don't have that around here. I'm perfectly fine burning the softwoods we have and yes that means I only get 8-12 hours on a load of pine rather than 12-14 on a load of birch, but then I'd have to spend $500+/cord which to me negates any cost savings related to wood burning.

I'm guessing most of your customers aren't "serious woodburners" and buy/burn more for the ambiance of a fire. Personally, I don't know why anyone would bother heating with wood at $500+/cord when they could just use their furnace.:dunno:


Edit. I shouldn't say I can easily process that much, it's very hard work, but I can do it.

Fair enough, you may be able to process 2.5 cords and then split them in under 2 days but most people can't. Most people also don't own a tandem trailer or live 20 minute away from Kananaskis. You're obviously more experienced then the average person, but what I was getting at is that the average person would take 5 times as long as you to get any wood out of the bush and it really would not make sense to do.

You just have to be more picky with who you deal with. We don't split anything and wait for it to be seasoned, we buy wood that's already be cut and split. When the truck shows up we do a test burn of random peices and check the moisture level to make sure it's ready to burn. It really all depends on who you deal with.

Lots of our clients burn in stoves that heat their homes and that's why they don't use local soft woods. The wood's dirty, clogs your system, causes fires and pops all over your living room. Most people who burn in their stove will throw on one birch log at night and it'll burn the entire night away, you can't do this with pine. You also don't get the heat content out of the wood cut down locally.

[C_Dave45]

I use 2x4's and 2x6's! Free! :rofl:

[project240]

Originally posted by ddduke

Lots of our clients burn in stoves that heat their homes and that's why they don't use local soft woods. The wood's dirty, clogs your system, causes fires and pops all over your living room. Most people who burn in their stove will throw on one birch log at night and it'll burn the entire night away, you can't do this with pine. You also don't get the heat content out of the wood cut down locally.

As a wood seller, you can't actually believe this...??? Do you? Aside from the wood popping (rarely) the rest is complete garbage. Unseasoned wood is what "clogs your system" not burning softwoods. How is the wood grown locally any more "dirty" than what is grown in BC or anywhere else in the world??

Also, nobody throws "on one birch log at night and it'll burn the entire night" maybe 5 or 6 and it will burn for 8 hours if they have a large enough stove. And again, I get 10-12 hours burns with pine heating a 2500sq ft house. My house sits at 21-22 degrees in the morning. Google Blaze King Princess stove. Here's mine.

Before (Previous Owners) and After (completed this Fall)...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/project240/C3431737_901_17.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/project240/StoveHearth007.jpg


Yellow Birch only contains about 30% more BTUs per cord than White Pine does and White Birch only about 20% more. What do you charge for a cord of Birch? $5-600? If I was buying, I'd much rather take 2-3 cords of pine for the same price.

If softwoods were as bad as you say they are, you wouldn't be selling them, would you?

"Duke Developments is offering Calgary and surrounding area the highest quality fire wood for your hard earned dollar. We will be offering Spruce, Cherry, Birch, Pine, Cedar, Fir, Apple, Poplar and many more woods. "

All things being equal, I agree hardwoods are superior, I'm not arguing that. But do I think they are worth triple the price? No. Double? No. Maybe 1.5 times, which would put the price of a cord of birch around $250-300, but you and I both know the prices are at least double that.


Originally posted by C_Dave45
I use 2x4's and 2x6's! Free! :rofl:


:rofl: I wonder how long a lift of 2x4s would last me:rofl:

[ddduke]

Some of them are junk, I'll admit pine is pretty good, but spruce or poplar which tons of people burn around here are just shit. The only reason we sell either of those is because some Calgarians live and die by them and that's all they'll buy. You're arguing that burning poplar on a regular basis won't clog your system potentially causing chimney fires?

The price difference between our pine and birch isn't that huge and what I'm saying is it's worth the extra money. The average person isn't going out to the bush like you to get their own wood. We charge $60 more for a half cord of Yellow Birch then we do for a Pine, which in my eye IF YOU ARE BUYING ANYWAYS is well worth it. In the end it really makes no difference what you buy to me anyways, I make the exact same profit whether it's apple, birch or spruce.

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by project240



:rofl: I wonder how long a lift of 2x4s would last me:rofl:

Lol. Oh yeah, my fireplace is the old fashioned wood burning, double sided see thru. Highly inefficient. An armful of KD lumber lasts about 15 minutes lol. It's strictly for ambiance and I usually only use it over the Christmas break. Meh..the lumber I pick up from the job sites is free. I can fill my van and then "buck" it all up with the mitre saw in about 30 minutes. That will last me a good couple of weeks burning every day. The odd time I'll grab some firewood from Burnco.

I LOVE the smell and feel of a house with wood for its heat source. Plan on H and I knocking on your front door sometime over the Christmas holidays for a cup of hot chocolate. We often head out there for a wintery drive.

[project240]

Originally posted by ddduke
You're arguing that burning poplar on a regular basis won't clog your system potentially causing chimney fires?

The price difference between our pine and birch isn't that huge and what I'm saying is it's worth the extra money.


Correct. As long as the poplar or spruce you are burning is dry, it won't cause any more creosote than birch or maple. Chimney fires are the result of people burning wood that hasn't been properly seasoned.

I clean our chimney twice/year and hardly ever have any build up because I make sure the wood I'm burning is around 14-16% MC. About 70% of the wood I burn is pine/poplar, the other 30% is mayday, elm, maple, birch that I pick up from an arborist.

If I was buying wood and birch only costs 25% more than pine, yeah, I'd buy it. But, the point I was arguing is that it makes no sense for people to buy firewood around here because of the inflated costs if they actually plan to heat their home with it. Who in their right mind would spend $500/cord, then have to store it and tend to the fire constantly if it's cheaper to just turn on their furnace. At $200/cord it makes sense, but not at Calgary's prices. I'm not doubting the quality or quantity of wood you sell, I'm just saying I'm sure most of your customers buy it for the ambiance of a fire on a Saturday night and not to heat their homes.

[project240]

Originally posted by C_Dave45


Lol. Oh yeah, my fireplace is the old fashioned wood burning, double sided see thru. Highly inefficient. An armful of KD lumber lasts about 15 minutes lol. It's strictly for ambiance and I usually only use it over the Christmas break. Meh..the lumber I pick up from the job sites is free. I can fill my van and then "buck" it all up with the mitre saw in about 30 minutes. That will last me a good couple of weeks burning every day. The odd time I'll grab some firewood from Burnco.

I LOVE the smell and feel of a house with wood for its heat source. Plan on H and I knocking on your front door sometime over the Christmas holidays for a cup of hot chocolate. We often head out there for a wintery drive.


Haha. I believe it.

I really enjoy it as well. Please do stop by... I guarantee the house will be nice and toasty warm. You're welcome to load up some wood while your here to (you know, for the ambiance). With the amount of wood I have, I probably wouldn't notice if you filled your van 5 times :rofl: