How to buy firewood

Those Amish folks in northwestern Pennsylvania really had me spoiled. When you purchased a cord of firewood from them, it was a true cord (4’ x 4’ x 8’), clean and seasoned, all hardwood with plenty of heating power.

Unlike a nearby Massachusetts town, were a roadside pile of split firewood looked very attractive, but there must have been another pile in the back that they used for chumps like me. When delivered, it was dirty and wormy and split small with lots of odd 8” chunks, far short of a full cord. Yuck.

Maybe the difference is that the Amish around Spartansburg, PA, believe in the ethical dictum of value offered for value received. Whatever the case, we must be more careful here. And for once the Commonwealth is on your side.

Massachusetts General Law Chapter 94, Section 298, controls the sale of firewood and prescribes the standard units of measure to be used for advertising and sale. (If your state doesn't have a law like this, perhaps it should).

There is a lot of confusion in terminology regarding firewood. A full cord is 128 cubic feet, measured as a closely stacked pile four feet high by four feet wide by eight feet long (4'x4'x8'). A face or stove or furnace cord is 4’ x 8’, but less than 4’ wide. Because of the potential confusion, MGL 94.298 requires that firewood be advertised and sold only in cubic feet, not in any variety of cord. In fact, the law specifically requires that “the terms ‘cord’, ‘face cord’, ‘pile’, ‘truckload’ or terms of similar import shall not be used in the advertising and sale of cordwood or firewood.”

Further, Massachusetts requires that firewood be “sold only in terms of cubic feet or cubic meters which will be construed as indicating the closely stacked cubic foot or cubic meter content to be delivered to the purchaser.” When you see an advertisement for a cord or half-cord of wood, it is unlawful in Massachusetts. Even when specified in terms of cubic feet, a description of “bulk loaded” violates the “closely stacked” requirement.

So what’s the poor consumer to do? Here are a few suggestions.

• To optimize the heating value of your wood, request seasoned hardwood (typically oak).
• Require a written receipt giving the following information:
  

a. Name and address of seller and purchaser
b. Date of Delivery
c. Quantity in terms of cubic feet
d. Price of quantity delivered

• Write down the license number of the delivery vehicle.
• Stack the wood closely – cross-stacking is not acceptable for determining the quantity delivered. If it measures less than the contracted amount, contact the seller before burning any of it.
• If the seller does not make good on the shortage, contact the Massachusetts Division of Standards:

Division of Standards
One Ashburton Place, Room 1115
Boston, MA 02108
(617) 727-3480

There is nothing more comforting than a crackling fire in your fireplace or woodstove, especially when a blizzard has knocked out your furnace. But please make sure that you got what you paid for.