I'm moving house. Should I move my firewood?

I know this is a question yall can't give me a definitive answer to. What I'm hoping is that you guys may ask some questions or give some thoughts that help me clear this up in my head.

I have checked the state DNR's site and it referred me to dontmovefirewood.org to list the restrictions for my state. As far as I can tell, both my old place and my new place are in the same quarantine areas so the state does not ban transport.

At the old place, the firewood is all stored in IBC tote frames, which hold 1/3rd of a cord each. It's all split and dried for years. I am not there to count, but I recall having either 4 or 5 totes remaining (1-1/3rd cord or 1-2/3rds cord). The big gotcha is that I think these are the totes that came from felling two giant standing-dead ash trees that turned out to be fungus-ridden even before we split them and they all grew massive amounts of fungus in the totes before the dried fully. I have burnt wood like this before and it didn't have much heat in it because it only weighed about 40% of what it should have. So I'm not sure if these are totes are even worth worrying about.

Here's where I get into the head scratchers.

The new house has only a wood burning insert, not a freestanding wood stove. I don't like it. I used it a little this year and it went poorly. It required the electric blower to run to get any meaningful heat into the house and it never felt truly warm like the freestanding stove at my old place. It's also hard to control. Then there's the issue that my health and my wife's health have really gone downhill in the 15 years since we started processing firewood and got our stove at the old place. I'm pretty sure that we don't have it in us to produce enough firewood to last a winter anymore. This means that burning firewood likely isn't realistic in the long run which makes bringing those totes up here feel kinda silly.

Weighing against all that is the feeling like I shouldn't give up something that could possibly give me some energy independence if natural gas prices spike or if the pipelines stop flowing.

I just really don't know what to do. What do you all think?

 

How far? I’d lean to move some/most. A guy gave me wood years ago, he was selling his house & the realtor thought the firewood should be gone for the listing. Not sure if that’s a deal for selling.

 

50mi. Takes about an hour and 10 minutes.

 

Move it. Especially if you're loosing sleep over it.

 

I would move it. Or at least enough to get you by until you have more css and dry.

I have at least 50 cord of hardwood and several FULL semi loads of doug fir. I would move it all. I have a bobcat, a truck, a trailer, and my brothers are both truck drivers. I also have a contact at penske truck rentals. One way or another, it would get moved. I would leave enough for any new owner to have heat for at least 3 years if they wanted to burn wood.

 

Yes, move your firewood. Sure beats having to start all over with the seasoning time frame.

When I bought this place about 5 years ago, I moved the firewood I had.

99 lbs still will make comments and laugh about it because I had the firewood moved even before I signed for the purchase!

It was funny because the realtor asked if I would be leaving the firewood at the old place......

"No, not gonna happen" was the answer I gave him.

He even mentioned it once again asking about leaving some a couple days later. I told him what the value of the wood was and would it be added to the purchase price?

I did end up leaving about a face cord for the new owners.

 

I guess it depends on how much time you have and how much you like to drive. That kind of distance would most likely be a no for me unless I was headed that way with an empty truck for some reason.

 

The wood hoarder police are not easy on slackers!

 

I would move the wood. You could potentially get a different kind/style wood burner and wish you still had the stash that you worked hard to attain.

 

I supposse I'd ask myself the following questions if I was in your position:

- Economically: if you can move it yourself, so the economics of moving only boil down to the gas you spend on that 1 hour and 10 minute trip, I'd move it. However, if you can't do it yourself and require additional economic efforts to move it maybe it is not worth the effort. Alternatively, you may also think about selling it.
- Ecologically: if all that wood is going to waste, by all means take it. Nothing worse than wood going to waste. If you don't take it, perhaps a grateful neighbor can make use of it.
- Physical: is moving all that wood worth your time and all the physical effort that it requires?

If all the above doesn't help and I've just plagued you with more uncertainty, just ask yourself a simple question: would it give you joy to move it? (you cut it, seasoned it, it is the result of your work) If the answer is yes, ignore everything else and move it. Joy beats everything.

Hope this helps!

 

Is there a neighbor that would want it at a bargain price? You get something and they get a deal.

 

If he leaves it, he has to cut and split more so hardly slacking

 

It'd take you a LOT of trips to move your hoard Joe. Just sayin'

 

I moved a bunch of mine when we moved. Just started dumping wheel barrow loads into the empty u haul.

 

Ya can fit more in U-Haul truck if ya stack it
cords baby

 

I know Ctwoodtick was facing this dilemma a few years back but never did move.

 

If the majority of that wood is punky and ridden with fungus and really not producing much heat I am not sure it's worth it IMO unless you have machinery and means to move it.

The time and effort to move it and or cost of getting someone to move it could be spent towards harvesting or buying better heat producing wood.

Maybe sort through what's the best and clean pieces and take those.