Man, wish I could say the same. Kept this house at 55 and used a ton of blankets, still used to cost about $400 to heat in each of the three coldest months.
I live in area prone to wildfires. I figure that these trees will burn one way or another so I might as well heat the house with them.
I grew up in the city (outside Wash. DC) in a 3 story duplex w /forced air gas heat. A fireplace, woodstove, and cutting wood seemed to be only a dream if not foreign to me. I always wanted a home with a fireplace. Fast forward after college/grad school I moved out to the PacNW. Met my wife out here who's family burned wood and I was hooked. In our second house we made sure to have a wood stove and have been burning since. For me it's been somewhat of a very practical, pragmatic dream come true. Running the saws and splitter and stacking wood is a great break from the office/cube world. Seeing stacks of wood in the shed is one of the most satisfying feelings I can get. Just that simple.
Started burning for the money savings. I used to go and cut for some friends from time to time because chainsaws are fun. They all said it's not fun when you have to do it. Well I have to do it now, and it's still fun. Cut down four dead ash yesterday for a buddy that broke his foot. He said he was out of wood and needed help. Loaded up four saws and hit the woods. I have tried to tell him about seasoning, even dead ash. He says his add a furnace doesn't need that like my old defiant does. I tried, he helps me stack mine up for a year+, I've showed him the mm readings. At least he's pretty good about sweeping his chimney. Sadly, I'm sure yesterday's trees are burning now.
I agree with most of the things already stated. If I had to pick the number one reason is to have more control of my life. There are so many things you have no control over: utility costs, taxes, the weather, job security, sometimes your health........etc. I have almost 3 years worth of wood CSS, no one can change that, except me.
I'd also like to add that when I just came in from plowing the driveway and warmed by the stove I am glad I cut wood. Furnace can't touch that level of quick warming.
Well...........Got to do something Also got used to some extra cash from logging buddy selling 20 or so cords a year that we get worked up. Wish I could get out more to work on it.
When I see my kids all huddled by the fireplace early on a cold morning. ......that ices the cake for me. All the money that we save in a heating season was the primary reason I started cutting wood, now it has become a rewarding lifestyle for our family........keeps me busy and in shape too! And no matter WHAT they claim, it's still the greenest method of heating your home, so long as you properly season the wood.
Something I always wanted to do. Growing up we never had a fireplace or wood stove, made sure the first house I owned had a stove. Even worried about having wood before we bought the house but had no clue about how crucial seasoned wood was until talking to many of the guys on here and other wood sites. I could go on forever but the warmth of a wood stove is huge, family LOVES it, and guests are always complimenting on how good the heat feels. Also getting away from my everyday work and the stress relief is amazing. I love very part of wood heat, from felling, cutting, splitting, stacking, and going in the stove.
I can't really remember ever not cutting wood. My parents heated their place with a wood stove and wood furnace. Both were very hungry combined to torch about 8 cord / year. I took a break from burning during college and at my first house for a total of about 9 years. I still cut a lot of wood for my parents, but never burned for myself. I bought my current house about 4 years ago and started back up again, mostly for $ reasons. The previous owners were an elderly couple that kept the house at 78* using an old propane furnace. They were using about $600 a month, on average. I decided to get the stove that came with the house in working order and hoped to get my heat bill down to about $300 per month. Fast forward 4 years and I have over 20 cord of wood, a pro chainsaw, splitter, etc. I don't think I've spent $300 total on heat in those 4 years. There's a lot of value for me in a lot of things, but if I had to rank them: 1. Saving $ 2. Teaching my kids how to work hard, take care of tools, use tools safely, and be self sufficient 3. Getting outside (have a desk job now) 4. Using a chainsaw / power equipment 5. Getting exercise
I can quit any time I want. I've quit for months at a time. Well, maybe weeks. OK, it was a long July weekend and they locked me up in a rubber room for running around the neighborhood excited about finally having a humongous stash of red hard oak. Why everyone was so inordinately focused on the lack of clothing I'll never understand.
Until we moved to the area we live in today, I never cut wood in my life other than a few trees that happened to be blocking the sun from getting to our pool at the old house. Once we bought the property I cut on, we bought the wood stove. Since then it seems like the majority of my time is spent reclaiming what Mother Nature puts down, it's more work then I ever thought it would be but I like working in the woods. I think the last oil delivery (I'll check) was December 2008, we received a letter from the oil company (Jan 09) that said, because you're not using enough oil we're taking you off automatic delivery but if you need oil just call, that call hasn't been made. 1. To cut our oil usage 2. Save Money 3. Power Outages in the winter
The main things that keeps me at it are my wife's happiness as she means the world to me and friendship, warmth and money savings. I also like to play with saws! Going to the woods with a buddy is a great bonding thing and also a lot of fun if it's the right person. There are 3 guys I cut with regularly all though not all together and they have become my best friends! Waking up to a hot stove and making my coffee and breakfast on it just feels right to me and I don't think I could live any other way again and be happy....
I grew up with wood heat. My dad had an old smoke dragon furnace in the basement that was a hungry beast, and he burned whatever he could find, be it properly seasoned or green as grass. I was out in the woods stacking what my dad cut by about age 7 or so, and running a small saw around 11-12. Fast forward to 2001, bought a house with three open fireplaces, put an insert in one of those, burned not so seasoned wood the first couple years, then learned the proper ways to burn. As far as "why", it gets me outside, I get to play with power equipment, swing a maul and forget about "real life" for a while. And save a few bucks on oil at the same time.
I love to burn firewood. But I'm reluctant to admit that, honestly, I don't necessarily like cutting it.
For me, I love heating with wood and cutting firewood. It's a labor of love. It also forces me to exercise and I need that as I have a desk job. I have an H.E. natural gas furnace, so it's not a financial savings per se...although I am certainly warmer with wood.
