Is a standing dead or storm-downed tree already seasoned and ready to burn?
No — and in Candler, tucked into the Hominy Valley bowl, wet wood is a neighborhood problem as much as a heating one. A standing-dead or storm-downed tree still holds moisture and burns smoky, and the valley traps that smoke. Dead isn't dry. It seasons only after months split and stacked off the ground.
The Hominy Valley bowl holds smoke
Candler's Hominy Valley sits in a natural bowl, which is why cleaner-burning sealed appliances are so popular here — the terrain traps smoke and haze on still, cold mornings. Unseasoned wood is the opposite of clean-burning. Burn a standing-dead or storm-downed tree before it's ready and it smolders, throws smoke instead of heat, and adds to the very haze the bowl holds onto. Your neighbors downwind notice, and so does anyone with breathing trouble. And it isn't ready: a tree that died on the stump keeps thirty to forty percent moisture behind sealed bark, and a fresh trunk on the ground dries painfully slowly. Firewood is seasoned only after it's cut, split so the faces open, and stacked airy for months.
Growing subdivisions, real wood rules
A lot of Candler's fast-growing subdivisions came with basic builder-grade fireboxes, and gas mains reach the Enka-Candler side while propane and woodstoves serve the more rural Hominy Valley stretches — so plenty of folks here do burn wood. Do it right: stack off the ground on pallets, keep rows single for airflow, cover the top only, and check a fresh split face before burning — light, gray-brown, cracked at the ends, under 20 percent on a meter. Wet wood also packs creosote into the flue, a fire risk worth a pre-season inspection. If you want a cleaner-burning sealed wood or gas insert, that's our work, permitted with Buncombe County and inspected, fifteen minutes west of our showroom. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Candler
We install and service fireplaces throughout Candler and the rest of Buncombe County — just 15 minutes west 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?