Is a standing dead or storm-downed tree already seasoned and ready to burn?
No — and in Brevard, with 80-plus inches of rain a year, it's emphatically no. A storm-downed trunk lying in Transylvania County's wet woods draws moisture up out of the soaked ground faster than it can dry. Standing-dead wood is barely better. Split it, get it off the dirt, and give it months before you trust it.
The rainiest corner we serve
Brevard catches more rain than almost anywhere in Western North Carolina — the same 80-plus inches that cracks chimney crowns, spalls brick, and rusts dampers is working on any wood you leave outside. A tree down on the forest floor here doesn't season; it rots. The sapwood goes soft and punky while the core stays stubbornly wet, and by the time you burn it you're feeding the fire mush. Standing dead is only marginally better, because the sealed bark holds moisture in against all that humidity for a very long time.
Cabins and propane make wood the real backup
Out toward Connestee Falls, Sherwood Forest, and the cabins, propane runs the gas appliances and wood carries a lot of the heating load — which is exactly why the wood has to be right. Buck it to length, split it so the inner faces open, and stack it off the ground on pallets under a roof with the sides left open. A tarp wrapped all the way around a pile traps our humidity and rots it from the inside; cover the top only and let the wind do its work.
Proof before you burn
Don't go by looks in a climate this wet. Split a piece and read the fresh face — lighter in the hand, gray-brown rather than bright, cracked at the ends — and a moisture meter should read under 20 percent. Wet wood plus a cold flue means creosote, and creosote is where a chimney fire begins. If you heat with a wood stove or insert, have the chimney inspected before the season, and we pull the Transylvania County permit on installs. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Brevard
We install and service fireplaces throughout Brevard and the rest of Transylvania County — just 40 minutes southwest from our Asheville-area showroom.
Related questions
- Does seasoned firewood go bad or rot if it's stored for several years?
- Should firewood be split before it's stacked to season, or can whole rounds dry out?
- Is it cheaper to buy green firewood in spring and season it myself?
- Is it safe to burn rhododendron or mountain laurel cleared from my property?
- Will a wood-burning insert cut down on how much firewood I go through compared to my open fireplace?