Should I stock up on firewood before winter, and how early should I order it?
Yes — and in Asheville the move is to order green wood in spring and let our long, cool summers dry it. At 2,134 feet, nighttime lows sit in the 20s well into spring, so the burning season is long and honestly seasoned wood gets scarce by October. Buy early and you own the drying window.
What your Asheville home was built to burn
Historic Montford and North Asheville houses came with original masonry fireplaces — big, open, and handsome, but they send most of their heat up the flue and go through wood quickly. Feeding one of those all winter means ordering generously and early. Newer South Asheville construction leans toward sealed, efficient units that sip fuel by comparison. Either way, buy green in spring: split and stacked through an Asheville summer, hardwood drops to a clean-burning moisture level by fall, and you skip the tight, gamble-on-a-seller's-word October market. If you're weighing a heat-losing open firebox against an EPA-certified insert, our showroom at 629 Emma Rd is minutes away.
Stacking on a city lot
West Asheville and Montford lots don't leave acres for a woodpile, so stack smart instead of sprawling. Keep it to a single row, up off the ground on pallets or rails, with the split faces turned toward the sun and the prevailing breeze. Cover only the top; leave the sides open so air keeps moving through the pile. A tarp thrown over the whole stack traps moisture and grows the punky, hissing wood that smokes and glazes your chimney with creosote.
Have the flue checked before the first fire
Over a warm Asheville off-season, spiders and dust settle into a fireplace and last winter's creosote just sits there. Dry, well-stacked wood does its part, but a clean, sound flue does the rest — and after a multi-day outage like Helene, a working hearth and dry fuel are what actually keep a room warm. Book a pre-season inspection before you're leaning on it. Call (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Asheville
We install and service fireplaces throughout Asheville and the rest of Buncombe County — we're headquartered right here.