A sustainable heating choice
Our increasing awareness of the environmental damage caused by fossil fuels has led to a growing interest in wood as a sustainable, renewable, low-carbon alternative. There are tens of thousands of tree species worldwide, and when it comes to firewood, the most notable difference between them comes down to two categories: hardwood and softwood.
This guide walks through the difference, how to season and store your firewood properly, and how to get a fire going that lasts. If you are stocking up for the season ahead, our yard in Backwell supplies seasoned hardwood firewood, ready to collect or delivered across Bristol and the South West.
Hardwood or softwood?
The right choice depends on how you plan to use your firewood. An occasional evening fire has different requirements to a wood burner used as a main heat source, and burning characteristics such as heat output, coaling and how easily the wood lights should all factor into the decision.
Hardwood has traditionally been the default for wood-burning stoves and open fires, though softwood has been gaining ground. Weight for weight, the two give off a similar amount of heat, and modern stoves and burners handle either type well, or a mix of both.
Why choose hardwood firewood?
Hardwood comes from trees that lose their leaves in winter, oak, ash and beech among them. They grow slowly, taking 80 to 100 years to mature, resulting in dense timber. That density is what gives hardwood its long, steady burn: a hot fire with a low, consistent flame and comparatively little smoke or sparking.
The dense wood also retains heat after burning, producing hot coals that radiate warmth for hours. That makes hardwood the better choice for overnight heating, since there is usually enough left in the morning to restart the fire without much effort. The trade-off is seasoning time, typically 1 to 2 years to dry out properly, and the fact that hardwood takes more effort to light than softwood. Our hardwood firewood is seasoned, below 20% moisture and ready to burn as soon as it arrives.
Why choose softwood firewood?
Softwood, from trees like pine, larch, spruce and Douglas fir, grows much faster (25 to 30 years to maturity), so the timber is less dense. It burns hot and fast, with big, crackling flames and sparks, leaving fine ash rather than much in the way of coals. That quick, easy ignition is exactly why softwood works so well as kindling, and it is a great choice for campfires and open fireplaces, or mixed in with hardwood to revive a fire that has burned down slowly.
Softwood is also cheaper and more widely available, and dries in around six months, compared to the one to two years hardwood needs. Kiln-dried softwood, meanwhile, is drier, cleaner and free of the insects and debris that can come with green wood, so it stores better and lights more easily.
It burns cleaner and hotter, too, with less soot on the stove glass and less spitting in an open fire, all of which add up to a safer chimney and a better-looking fire.
Getting the moisture content right
Only ever burn dried, seasoned wood. Buy it ready-seasoned, or season it yourself if you would rather. The aim of seasoning is to bring the wood's moisture content down to a level that burns cleanly.
Current rules are strict: firewood sold in volumes under 2 cubic metres must meet the government's Ready to Burn certification, which caps moisture content at 20% under the Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020. Wetter wood burns less efficiently and releases more of the fine particulates the rules are designed to cut down on.
Legal requirement aside, firewood with moisture under 20% simply performs better: more heat from the same amount of wood, and a cleaner chimney and burner to maintain.
Bringing your firewood indoors for a few days before burning helps further reduce their moisture content, which is particularly useful in winter when firewood has been stored outside. All firewood we sell, hardwood or softwood, is supplied seasoned and ready to burn.
Storing and stacking your firewood correctly
How and where you store firewood affects performance almost as much as the wood itself. Keep it raised off the ground so it is not sitting in dampness, and cover the top while leaving the sides open so air can still circulate and complete the drying process.
Stacking against the house should be avoided, too, since it blocks airflow through the pile and can prevent moisture from escaping your walls. Whatever you are stacking against, build proper corners: a woodpile collapsing in the middle of winter is a job nobody wants. It is also worth splitting a range of sizes as you stack, so you can control how big or small a fire you build later on.
A dedicated log store can be an essential investment. Ours are built from pressure-treated timber, raised off the ground and designed with open sides for airflow, so firewood seasons properly instead of sitting in their own damp.
Getting your fire started
A reliable fire starts with a criss-crossed stack of dry softwood, shredded newspaper mixed through the centre (avoid anything glossy, like magazines, which do not burn cleanly), and a couple of thin, split pieces of hardwood on top. Leave the air intake clear and keep ash under a couple of inches deep so oxygen can still reach the fire properly.
Smaller, thinner pieces of kindling light faster than a few large pieces of firewood, simply because there is more surface area for the flame to catch. If you are reviving a bed of coals rather than starting from cold, pile them together near the air intake rather than spreading them out, then build your kindling on top.
Good kindling and a reliable firelighter make this whole process easier. Our Flamers natural firelighters are wood shavings dipped in wax, a cleaner option than paper and just as effective for getting softwood kindling going before the hardwood goes on.
A well-built fire, of course, is only half the job: the chimney needs looking after too. HETAS recommends sweeping at least twice a year when burning wood or bituminous house coal, which cuts the risk of a chimney fire and keeps smoke and particulates down.
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