Heating Your Seattle Home With Wood.

In the early days, Americans relied on bountiful forest to provide fuel for all their cooking and Heating needs.  Wood was plentiful and accessible Fuel and could be found quite easily here in the Seattle area.  But what about Heating our Homes with Firewood  in this day and age? We find that many different media and other public information sources that cry out against Wood burning Stoves, Fireplaces, Chimneys and other methods of Heating our Homes with Wood.  They make the argument that Heating With Firewood is harmful to the atmosphere, and blame the carbon dioxide that is produce for global warming.  The other case that they try to make is, don't use Wood or Wood burning Stoves to Heat your Homes with because it causes air pollution and it will use up all of our trees that we need to keep the air clean.   With both of these arguments we are dealing with  half-truths, I suspect that most people have been confused by media and so called public information sources about the harmful practice of using Wood burning Fireplaces or Stoves to Heat your Homes.   The argument that they fail to talk about is that the amount of harmful chemicals that they release when they are burning coal and oil product to produce electricity.  Theses chemicals are not part of the natural carbon cycle that  Wood burning is, and they are way more dangerous to our health and environment then Wood burning.  So much of the confusion about the appropriateness of Heating with Wood has occurred because the public has not been exposed to the idea of the complete carbon dioxide cycle that trees and Wood are a part of, and remember that Wood and trees ara a renewable source and can improve our environment if they are properly managed.  I am not saying  that not everyone should be Burning Wood to Heat their Homes, but there is good reason to make at least one of  your Heating options a Wood Stove or Fireplace, as once in a while we do lose our power and lights here in the Seattle area.

 

Now  we know that it's not a sin to Burn Wood in your Fireplace  and Chimney when it is used in an environmentally and responsible way, let talk about some of the things that we can do to increase your enjoyment and the Burning efficiency of Heating our residential Homes with Firewood.   Most of us already know that when we want to Heat our home with a nice fire or just sit by one, we need to build that fire with good quality Wood.  Burning wet Wood is one of the top barriers to a pleasurable and efficient Wood burning Fire, and the other thing is a poorly built Fireplace or Chimney that does not work right.  To help you have a good Wood fuel supply, here are some things that you can do.  Number one your  Firewood needs to contain a moisture content of less them 20% for it to Burn clean and efficient, this can be achieve by the amount of time that you dry your Firewood and the method you use to stack it up.  Properly seasoned Firewood is not just cutting down a tree and throwing the rounds into a pile and let them sit for a year.  To properly season your Firewood you need cut, split, and stack your Firewood in a single file row so that the Firewood is exposed to sun and wind, most Firewood can be dried in about 6 to 8 months if it has been properly split and stacked.  However if you live here in the Seattle area a year will probably be necessary due to the amount of moisture that is in our air, Proper Wood Heating will provide you with many hours of enjoyable comfort as you relax by your Fireplace Hearth,

 

As a Seattle Masonry Contractor  we have built and maintain thousands of Chimneys and Fireplaces over the last 25 years or so, and we see all kinds of Fireplaces, Chimney and Wood Stoves.  you can almost tell from looking at them how they are being used.   Hear is one of the best tips that i can give you about your Fireplace.  USE IT ONCE IN A WHILE   So often i hear we really don't use it at all, i don't understand why it  having problems.   One of the best comparisons i can give you is your family car, what would happen to your car if you left it sit in the driveway for several years and never ran it,change the oil, or check the tires.  Your Fireplace and  Chimney is much like your car it needs a little maintenance once in a while, and by the way it cost just about as much as your car.  A new Masonry Fireplace start at $15,000.00  dollars to build.  When you use your Fireplace, Wood Stove, and Chimney once in a while the Heat from the fire will help the Masonry dry out and breath, and by using only clean dry season Firewood your fire will burn hot and clean.  This will up the efficiency of your Wood Stove or fireplace.  There are several other ways to up the efficiency of your Wood Burning Fireplace, If you would like to get the very top efficiency and still Burn Wood we can install a insert inside of the Firebox of your Fireplace, and up your Fireplace efficiency from 10% to over 85% efficiency yes i said 85% efficiency.  So if you think the time is coming when we might need to be a little more prepared for anything from a storm to a natural disaster, it might be a good time to think about Wood Burning Heat.  Please give us a call if we can provide you with any more information on Heating your home with Wood.

 

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