The Beginner's Guide to Buying Firewood

Pros of buying firewood in bulk bags

• Bulk bags are often one of the cheapest ways to buy Ready to Burn firewood, especially if you get them from a local supplier.
• You can buy all the firewood you need for the season in one go, so you won't run out.

Cons of buying firewood in bulk bags

• Whilst bulk bags are often cheaper long term, you'll need to pay for a lot of firewood upfront.
• It's difficult to know how much firewood you're really buying as the logs being loose loaded means there is a lot of air. You might only receive 0.6m3 of firewood in a 1m3 bulk bag.
• Bulk bags are hard work and you need a lot of space - you'll have to empty all of the firewood out into your log store and bring it inside in small quantities as and when you need it.
• Bulk bags aren't recyclable, so ask your firewood supplier if they will take it back for re-use. If not, you'll be disposing of a lot of plastic!

Pros of buying firewood in boxes

• Firewood boxes are easy to store and don't take up much space if you don't have a big log store
• There's none of the hassle of bulk loads of firewood where you have to load your log store and bring logs inside every time it gets cold
• The boxes are recyclable - and if you buy Love Logs, we even use plastic-free tape to seal them
• You can buy just as much firewood as you need that week/month rather than paying for a whole season's worth of firewood in one go
• Delivery to your doorstep is easy. At Love Logs, we use DPD so you know exactly when your boxed firewood will arrive

Cons of buying firewood in boxes

• Boxed firewood is generally more expensive than buying in bulk or in nets, especially if they're good quality, strong cardboard boxes

Pros of buying firewood in plastic bags/nets

• Firewood in nets/plastic bags is generally cheaper than boxed firewood
• Handy if you run out or forget to order your firewood - you can pick up a single net at most petrol stations

Cons of buying firewood in plastic bags/nets

• As plastic bags and nets are designed to be a cheap firewood solution, the wood itself is often cheap, imported and not great quality - we've seen bags of softwood labelled as hardwood which means it burns faster and you end up using more!
• Plastic bags don't allow any airflow which can make the wood 'sweat' and start to grow mould
• Plastic bags, and especially nets, are unrecyclable and really bad for the environment - we've all seen the pictures of marine life caught in and injured by nets!

Pros of buying firewood crates

• Easy to store outside if you don't have a log store
• Wood is stacked, so you know exactly how much you're buying
• Firewood crates tend to be cheaper than smaller quantity firewood

Cons of buying firewood crates

• Kerbside delivery can be a problem as you'll need to move the crate to the place it's going to be stored on your property
• Like with bulk bags, it can save you money long term, but you'll need to pay for a lot of wood upfront.

Pros of buying wet wood

• The cheapest way to buy firewood if you have the space to store it

Cons of buying wet wood

• Since May 2022, wet wood can only be sold in quantities greater than 2m3, so you'll need to buy a lot at once
• You can't burn the wood until it's been properly seasoned to below 20% moisture which will take 1 - 2 years depending on species and thickness of the wood
• You need space to stack and cover the wood, somewhere with good airflow
• If the wood is not already cut into logs, you'll need an axe to split the wood before drying it