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AMERICANFAMILYFARMSFIREWOOD.COM

For over a decade, we at American Family Farms Firewood have been heating and beautifying homes across the country.  There is no other way to set the stage of relaxation, beauty and romance than a roaring fire in the fireplace or backyard chiminea.  We pick only trustworthy, background-checked people to deliver seasoned, ready-to-burn firewood – in the exact amount of your order.  Take off the work of loading and unloading firewood off of you and let us do it!

ALL FIREWOOD IS NOT THE SAME!

Many times tree trimmers or neighborhood scavengers cut and split firewood within a few days after the trees have been cut down.  They sell this wet wood to people who must battle all season to light and maintain a fire taking away much of the pleasure of having a beautiful warm fire.  We sell seasoned wood that is easy to burn.  We have a variety of woods that are found in Texas and New Mexico.  All of our wood is split – unlike many others who sell whole pieces of wood which is nearly impossible to burn!

HOME DELIVERY ALWAYS INCLUDED

We deliver straight to your home and stack it where you want it.  We love the work and appreciate and lover our customers! Make a fire when they hit the schedule and order button!!!

OTHER SERVICES AND PRODUCTS

Kindling by the Bucket

Kindling by the Bag

Firewood racks – ½ cord/full cord

Chiminea Wood sizes by the bucket

WOOD TYPES  – HARD AND SOFT

Types of wood for best burning:

Oak – hard

Maple – hard

Hickory – hard

Aspen – soft

Willow – soft

Pines – soft

Although hard woods burn hotter and longer, many people and areas burn softer woods.  Pinion Pine is a wonderful fragrant wood that many people prefer to burn.

HEATING WITH A FIREPLACE

When heating with a fireplace, you get the warmth and beauty of a natural fire for everyone to enjoy on a chilly or cold day.  Nothing can be more relaxing and comforting than a fire in the fireplace.

HOW TO START A FIRE

Anyone can learn how to start a fire in your fireplace – it’s not difficult and you don’t have to be an expert in order to enjoy a hot, relaxing fire anywhere in your home – living rooms, bedrooms, patios, etc.  They are not a very efficient way to heat your home, but there’s something special about a fire in a fireplace that makes even cold nights seem cozy.

To truly enjoy your fire instead of spending hours trying to light it correctly, here are a few tricks that will help make the process so much easier and safer!!!!

Countless house fires occur each year and chimney fires are responsible for many.  Inspecting your chimney is a great way to prevent the damage from creosote buildup and burning wet firewood.  Be sure to take the time to have your chimney inspected before you light that first fire!!  It’s money well spent!

PREPARATION

Before your first fire, be sure to have your chimney swept.  It will accomplish two things – clearing out dangerous creosote and ensure there are no blockages inside your chimney.  Blockages such as animal nests, branches, leaves and other material can enter your chimney.

After cleaning the chimney, the next step is open the damper, a mechanism on the flue that opens and closes allowing you to prevent air from escaping up the flue when your fireplace isn’t being used and helps prevent heat loss.

Trying to light a fire when the damper is closed will fill up your room with smoke – anyone with a fireplace has probably made this mistake.

After opening the damper, check the air flow to be sure air is going up and not down the chimney.  The chimney flue will sometimes fill up with cold air when the damper is closed, especially when the chimney is outside the house.  The cold air will sink after opening the damper and create a downdraft.  Light a match inside your fireplace to check the air flow making sure it’s flowing up the chimney.  If there’s a downdraft, open the damper for about 15-20 minutes before lighting and it should warm up the flue enough to create the right draft.  If it doesn’t work, roll up a newspaper, light it and hold it up inside the fire place near the flue and that will warm it up enough.

BUILDING A FIRE

Be sure to clean all the ashes from under the fireplace grate.  Some people leave a small amount of ashes in order to insulate the fireplace and theoretically create a hotter fire but removing all ashes allows air to flow around the fire better and make it easier to light.

There are a few options for the next step – lighting with crumpled up newspaper or using a commercial/homemade firestarter.

Be sure to use only dry seasoned firewood!!! Using wet firewood not only doesn’t burn well but it will also smoke, sizzle and increase the chances of creosote forming inside your chimney.

Two methods that work really when building a fire in a fireplace are the log cabin fire and the top down fire, also known as an upside down fire.

The log cabin fire is constructed by laying the wood in criss-cross directions opposite of each other, layering each row with about 3-5 pieces of wood (depending on the size of the wood and fireplace) and stacking about 3-5 rows tall.

Add some crumpled newspaper below the grate and light it.  Adding a small row of cedar kindling on the top of the grate before stacking the firewood starts the fire even faster.

The top down method is also very effective.  It is lit from the top and as it burns, it slowly ignites the wood below it.  Layer the largest wood on the bottom and criss cross the rows with smaller wood as you go up.  Kindling is placed on top and since it quickly catches fire, it will eliminate the slow starting, smoky fires that could create creosote.

OVERALL

Starting a fire in your fireplace can be a fun experience to learn.  But before you just throw a match under the firewood, take a minute to prepare the fireplace and build the fire correctly.  This insures the fire is safe and enjoyable.