Can I burn wood from trees cut down in my own yard?
Yes — yard trees make perfectly good firewood, as long as you season them first and stick to the right species. A tree that came down last month is green wood; it needs six months to a year-plus of drying, split and stacked, before it burns clean. Avoid anything treated, painted, or rotted, and keep resinous softwoods out of a slow indoor burn.
"Down" doesn't mean "dry"
A tree that came down last month — even in one of our big mountain storms — is still green wood. Living trees are full of moisture, and cutting one doesn't dry it; only months of seasoning does. Weight is your quick tell — green wood is startlingly heavy with water.
Split those yard rounds and stack them the same as any firewood, and give oak a year or more, faster species six to eight months. The exception is a tree that died standing years ago and dried on the stump, but even then you should split and meter a piece before trusting it.
Pick the right species
Yard hardwoods make excellent fuel — oak, hickory, maple, ash, and cherry all burn hot and long. Pine and other softwoods burn hot and fast, which makes them great kindling and shoulder-season wood but poor for a long overnight burn — and like any wood, they have to be well seasoned first, since it's wet wood, not softwood itself, that packs a flue with creosote. Dense mountain scrub like rhododendron and mountain laurel burns hot but is slow to season and awkward to split.
What you never burn is treated, painted, or pressure-treated lumber, anything with vines like poison ivy on it, or punky rotted wood that's more mold than fuel.
Season it like anything else
Once it's split, your yard wood plays by the same rules as a bought cord: off the ground, single row, sun and wind, top covered. After a big blow, plenty of folks around Asheville and Weaverville end up with oak on the ground — that's a free winter of heat if you split and stack it now for next year rather than trying to burn it green this season.
Meter a fresh-split face before it goes in the stove. Call (828) 545-0525 if you want a hand figuring out what's worth keeping.
Related questions
- Is a standing dead or storm-downed tree already seasoned and ready to burn?
- Is it safe to burn rhododendron or mountain laurel cleared from my property?
- Is it OK to burn pine in a fireplace or wood stove?
- What should I never burn in a fireplace or wood stove?
- How long does it take to season firewood?
- How do I know if my house has natural gas or propane?
Still deciding? Talk to a real installer.
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