Buying firewood can feel like a guessing game. Sellers often use terms like “truckload,” “rick,” or “face cord,” but in the eyes of the law, firewood should be sold by the cord. If you don’t measure your stack upon delivery, you might be paying for wood you never received.
Use our Firewood Calculator to verify your delivery. Simply measure the height, width, and length of your neatly stacked wood to see if you have a full 128-cubic-foot cord.
Firewood Cord Calculator
How to Use the Firewood Calculator
- Stack Length: The total horizontal distance of your woodpile in feet.
- Stack Width: The length of the individual logs (usually 16 or 24 inches, enter in feet, e.g., 1.33 ft).
- Stack Height: The vertical height of the pile in feet.
- Wood Type: Select the species to estimate the heating potential in BTUs.
Why We Built This: The “Rip-Off” Detector
The “Secret Sauce” of this tool is the Cord Verification Logic. Most buyers are scammed because they don’t realize a “face cord” is only one-third of a “full cord.”
A legal cord is 128 cubic feet (usually stacked 4’x4’x8′). Our tool flags deliveries that fall short of these dimensions, giving you the data you need to dispute a “short” delivery with your vendor.
Educational Guide: Hardwood vs. Softwood BTUs
Not all firewood is created equal. The weight of the wood determines its energy content. Hardwoods like Oak, Hickory, and Locust are dense and provide long-lasting heat (approx. 24-28 million BTUs per cord). Softwoods like Pine, Spruce, and Cedar burn fast and hot, making them great for kindling but poor for overnight heating (approx. 14-16 million BTUs per cord).
Always ensure your wood has a moisture content below 20% using a moisture meter. Burning “green” or wet wood wastes nearly 50% of its energy just evaporating the water inside the log.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the difference between a Face Cord and a Full Cord?
A: A Full Cord is 128 cubic feet. A Face Cord is a stack 4 feet high and 8 feet long, but only as wide as a single log (usually 16 inches). It takes three face cords to make one full cord.
Q: How many BTUs are in a cord of wood?
A: It depends on the species. Hardwoods average 24 million BTUs, while softwoods average around 15 million BTUs per cord.
Q: How much space does a cord of wood take up?
A: A standard cord is 4 feet wide, 4 feet high, and 8 feet long. When stacked, it occupies 128 cubic feet of volume.
