Is a standing dead or storm-downed tree already seasoned and ready to burn?
No — and in Fairview, where wooded lots and propane make wood heat the norm, this is a question worth getting right. A standing-dead or storm-downed tree isn't seasoned. Around Cane Creek, unseasoned wood is what feeds the creosote that starts chimney fires. Cut it, split it, and stack it off the ground for months.
Wood heat is the default here
Fairview's large wooded lots put propane on the gas side and a woodstove or insert at the center of a lot of homes — and with all those trees, there's always one down or dying. It's tempting to treat that as the winter's heat already handled. It isn't. A tree that died on the stump is a sealed system holding thirty to forty percent moisture, and the dense heartwood you actually want dries slowest of all. A trunk lying on the ground wicks water back up from the soil. It's firewood only after it's bucked, split so the wet faces open, and stacked to breathe for months.
Creosote is the local chimney-fire cause
Around here the leading cause of chimney fires is creosote building up when the fall sweep gets skipped — and burning wet wood is what accelerates that buildup. Unseasoned oak or maple smolders, throws little heat, and lines the flue with the sticky, flammable stuff faster than any dry fire would. On the heavily used woodstoves common in Garren Creek and the Cane Creek valley, that's a serious risk, not a nuisance. Dry wood and a yearly sweep are the two habits that keep a wood-heated home safe.
Prove it, then keep the flue clean
Split a piece and read the fresh face — light in the hand, gray-brown, cracked at the ends, and knocking with a hard, hollow ring rather than a dull thud; a meter should show about 20 percent or under. If you heat with a wood stove or insert, have the chimney inspected and swept before the season, not after the first hard fire. We install and service wood stoves and inserts, pull the Buncombe County permit, and we're fifteen minutes east of our Asheville showroom. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Fairview
We install and service fireplaces throughout Fairview and the rest of Buncombe County — just 15 minutes east 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?