Best Wood to Burn for Fireplace Comfort

When considering fireside warmth in winter, what are the best woods for fireplace comfort? Since the weather tends to keep us inside so much, it’s nice to have that campfire experience to evoke the pleasures of the outdoors. Making sure your chimney is unobstructed and your flue is intact are among the first steps in safety. For getting the most out of fireside enjoyment, your choice of firewood is where the rubber meets the road. How to obtain your optimal burning experience depends on which attributes you are looking for in a fire. All pertinent information follows.

Seasoned Wood

Hardwoods and softwoods are the two types of wood, but there is another consideration that comes first. Whatever wood you burn, it is essential that the wood is seasoned. Wood is seasoned and burns efficiently when it has a moisture content below 20%. If the moisture level is higher than that, combustion is inefficient, evidenced by the high level of smoke produced; heat output is reduced; and there is an increase in the amount of creosote buildup in the chimney liner.

Hardwoods

Hardwood trees are deciduous trees. They have higher density and slower burning properties than softwoods. As a result, hardwoods produce longer-lasting heat. There is higher energy content in each log, making hardwoods perfect for enjoying sustained warmth.

Examples of hardwoods are oak, hickory, maple, cherry, beech, ash, and birch. Birch bark makes excellent tinder. Alder is a soft hardwood. So, it burns more quickly than others. Balsa wood is the softest of the hardwoods.

Softwoods

Softwoods are conifers or evergreen trees. They are more resinous than hardwoods. Softwoods dry out more quickly than hardwoods. Cedar and other softwoods make excellent kindling because they catch fire rapidly. Softwoods burn more quickly and produce large, splendid flames with all kinds of spark and crackle. If, for you, fireplace comfort means a fire that burns hot but then also dies out quickly, softwood is the type of firewood to choose.

Softwoods used for firewood include cedar, pine, larch, poplar, and spruce trees.

Firewood that Produces Fragrant Aromas

If you love to burn firewood that fills your home with fragrant aromas, hardwoods and softwoods may be the best woods for fireplace comfort.

Fragrant Hardwoods

Cherry is a hardwood that fills homes with pleasant smells when burned as firewood. The bark of sassafras trees smells like cinnamon. When burned in the fireplace, sassafras trees emit a light fruity smell. Hickory is a very popular type of firewood because it burns longer and hotter than other hardwoods. But hickory also produces a subtly sweet and savory aroma comparable to fresh-baked ham.

Fragrant Softwoods

Softwoods known for their perfumery include pleasant-smelling cedar. Pine produces a nice but sometimes overpowering scent. The crackling fires of cedar and pine also produce pleasant sounds.

Call the Us for the Best Kind of Fireplace Comfort

Your big question may be what are the best woods for fireplace comfort, and we hope the information above has provided plenty of help with that. For the CSIA-certified chimney technicians at Chimney Saver Solutions, we take pleasure in providing a different type of fireplace comfort. When our professionals handle your chimney inspections, chimney cleaning, masonry repair, chimney cap installation, and all other chimney services, you can enjoy the comfort of peace of mind. Safety is issue number one when it comes to fireplaces, and we have the expertise to help with that.

Give us a call today to schedule an appointment or, if more convenient, fill out our online form.