Here at Goodwood Fuel Drogheda we retail and wholesale dried firewood. Lots of our customers ask us how dry the wood is, how it’s dried, why does it have to be dried to such a level and multiple other questions in relation to the seasoning of firewood so we thought we would write a blog post to answer some FAQs. While all our logs are either Kiln Dried or Sun Dried, one thing they have in common is that they are all below 16% moisture. Well-seasoned firewood typically falls between 15-20% moisture, while it is not uncommon to see store bought logs in Ireland have moisture contents above 25-30%. The higher the moisture content the more difficult the wood is to light, the less heat it will provide to your home and the more unwanted materials will be deposited in your chimney. The sizzling sound often heard when putting wood on the fire is a clear indicator that the wood is 25% or more and this is something you will never have with Goodwood. Of our most popular firewood Hornbeam, White Oak and Silver Birch are kiln dried while Olive and the other fruit woods are sun dried, these 2 different methods of ensuring the wood is appropriately seasoned may take different amounts of time but they both achieve the same end goal, beautifully dried firewood for our customers here at Goodwood!
The Irish Government is bringing in an initiative that will require all firewood sold from 2026 onwards to be below 20% moisture content, so we here at Goodwood are already 5 years ahead of the curve! Wet firewood produces more smoke and harmful byproducts, meaning it has a higher potential to pollute, this is one of the key factors behind the government’s decision. An added benefit to our kiln-dried and/or sun-dried logs is that because they’re sufficiently dried, they burn hotter for longer for our customers, meaning less wood needs to be cut, transported etc. making it even more of a greener alternative than it already was. We also source our wood from sustainable suppliers as well as being an official East Coast Tree Project partner, which you can find out more about on our homepage.
We hope this blog post helped to answer some of your questions in relation to wood and how dry it should be, but don’t forget if you have any other questions feel free to call down to us at 24 North Strand, Drogheda, Co. Louth, A92 HE4X or give us a call on 0876695984 as we deliver nationwide!