Heating With Wood
Who doesn’t love to cozy up next to a warm fire? I’d be lying if I said the huge stone hearth isn’t what sold me on our home. A real fireplace has always been a must for us and there’s something about tending and cooking over it that speaks to my old soul (yes, I cook over my living room hearth). Little else is more comforting than dozing off to warm embers and waking to the sweet smell of woodsmoke.
It’s been a beautiful experience heating our home this way, and feels like a much better choice to my personal values than using fuels like propane. We’ve made great memories in front of the fire, like roasting chestnuts and reading holiday stories, rocking babies to sleep, cooking, boiling teas, and my kids’ favorite…taking fireside baths in the old-fashioned copper tub. *Safely* warming towels, clothing, and blankets by it is just the sweet medicine one needs in deep Michigan winters.
It also helps stoke my relationship with the fire element, and gives new reason to offer thanks to the trees who gave their long lives to warm us. Meditating on the reality of this uncovers deep gratitude and self reflection on our effect & place in the web of life.
I have a strong connection with the Tree People, as my native ancestors referred to them, and thus an ethical problem with taking tree life to warm my bones. So I’m sure to choose respect and reciprocity by taking only what’s needed, leaving new growth to prosper, finding mostly dead wood or already fallen logs, planting new trees, and leaving gifts for the forest like certain herbs, favorite feathers, seeds, and crystals. I often bring my singing bowls into the woods and play for them too. I always, always, leave the large, old, grandmother trees alone.
There are a few things to know about heating your home with wood, like what kinds of woods you can burn indoors, how to store it & how much it takes, as well as some important safety factors.
How much do you need to heat a home?
When talking about woodpiles, it’s generally measured as “cords”. One cord of wood is roughly 128 cubic feet, and to keep a house warm during winter usually requires about 3 cords per 1000sq feet. This may vary slightly depending on how well the home is insulated. For example, our upstairs is a newer addition and runs an average of 10-15 degrees warmer than downstairs. Yea. We also don’t have a basement so our foundation rests right on Mama Earth and stays pretty cool all year round. My boys run pretty cold blooded, preferring to run around without shirts no matter the season and kicking off blankets all night long (much to my chagrin). That being said, we keep our house on the cool side, around 65 degrees. We went through 4-5 cords of wood this winter, which means a lot of left over wood ash (article on uses for wood ash coming later).
What kinds of wood can you burn in the fireplace?
When choosing what kind of wood to burn indoors, it’s important to pick the right kinds as some can pose safety hazards. They run in two generals types; hardwood and softwood. Hardwoods burn long and hot, making them an ideal choice for heating in winter. These include most deciduous trees like oak, beech, ash, and teak. Apple smells delicious and is wonderful for cooking over. These are all safe choices.
Softwoods light easily and burn quick but mostly include coniferous trees such as pine, spruce, fir, and cedar, which have a very resinous sap that can cling to the chimney and present fire risks. However, poplar and alder are also considered softwoods and make acceptable indoor firewood.
How to store it
This one might seem like a given, but if you’re new to chopping or storing wood, “seasoning” wood might be new to you. Most woods won’t burn in the hearth while alive because of their water content, so it’s necessary to season them first. After chopping and splitting, most woods need to sit in the sun and wind for around 6 months to thoroughly dry and be viable for fire. The length of seasoning depends on the species, some reaching up to a year.
After the wood is seasoned, if it’s stored outdoors it should be covered to keep dry. Just a single cord of wood is a lot to store in the house, but garages are also nice options. Ours is stored outside the kitchen with an overhang/covering built onto the house. You can bet your boots that this mama is trudging outside in subzero temps to haul wood inside!
Other safety precautions
My final words are ones of caution. Heating with wood has been so rewarding and memorable for the kids, and building a roaring fire is one of my favorite things to do first thing in the morning. But it is ESSENTIAL to ensure your chimney is properly ventilating. When smoke builds up in the house, it runs the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning which, of course, is lethal. We haven't had any issues with this because it really just calls for making sure your chimney is clean and unblocked. Though very occasionally, when wind directions shift, gusts blow down the chimney and fills the house with smoke. If the fire isn’t hot enough, the heat won’t be powerful enough to pull smoke up and out. The last thing that might seem obvious is to build the fire bigger, but that has always solved the problem, along with opening windows to clear the air.
That’s really the bulk of it! I hope this article has been helpful if you’re looking to start heating your home according to old ways.
Happy hearth & home, readers!
Love,
Mother Woods