Firewood

Home Fire Safety

Campfire Safety

Clockwise from top left: The Woodpile at Reds, logs, Reds Garden Center.

Firewood from

Nothing can take you back so quickly to your childhood years as a roaring campfire and some marshmallows to toast. It's all a part of that great experience you should be sharing with your own children now. And the great thing is … you don't have to go out to gather firewood, you can just pick up a nice selection right here at Reds.

At Reds we stock only premium seasoned firewood, kindling, and fatwood fire starter in amounts ranging from bundles to multiple cords. Firewood is available for pickup or we can deliver to most surrounding suburbs; please call us for scheduling and pricing. Whether you need enough firewood for a summer camping trip, weekend barbecue, or to heat your home during the winter, Reds can light your fire year-round.

Reds firewood is certified by the Illinois Department of Agriculture to be free of emerald ash borer, an exotic tree-killing beetle that was discovered in southeastern Michigan in the summer of 2002. Infestations have since been confirmed in Kane and Cook Counties in Illinois.

Types of Firewood

There are many types of wood sold for firewood, and it is possible to burn any wood. Pound for pound, all varieties of wood have approximately the same heat content, about 6400 BTU. Woods burn differently, however, because of differences in density. Here at Reds we have oak, cherry, hickory, maple, and birch as well as the piñion wood recommended by chiminea owners for its pleasant pine aroma that helps repel mosquitoes and other flying insects.

Folks often ask us, "What's the best type of wood?" There's no one answer. Everyone seems to have a favorite firewood just as everyone has a different way of lighting and running a fire. Below is a comparison of five types of wood. We suggest you try all five types and decide which one best meets your needs.

FIREWOOD COMPARISON CHART
Heating with Wood	OAK	Long, slow burning, low flame. Very hard wood with a rough brown bark.
	BIRCH	Long, quicker burning, high flame. Semi-hard wood excellent for starting your fire.
	MAPLE	Long, medium burning, high flame. Very hot fire, smooth gray bark.
	CHERRY	Quicker burning, high flame. Soft wood, very sweet-smelling. Crackles and pops; a fire screen is recommended.
	HICKORY	Long, slow burning, medium to low flame. Very hard wood, very aromatic.

The size of firewood pieces affects the rate of combustion. Larger pieces ignite and release their energy more slowly than small pieces. Smaller pieces are better for short, hot fires while larger pieces are preferable for extended burning.

Storing Firewood

When you get your wood home, stack it in neat loose piles off the ground in a sunlit location away from buildings. Plastic sheeting or closer stacking of top pieces will protect firewood from rain and snow. Firewood put in a shady corner near buildings or surrounded by shrubs deteriorates faster than wood stored in an open, sunlit location, reducing the fuel value.

Don't treat firewood with pesticides. Storing firewood away from the house and bringing in only a day or two's worth at a time should prevent dormant or pupating insects from warming up and emerging to become pests inside your home.

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