What Is The Best Type Of Wood To Burn?

All wood is created equal, right? If this is something you’ve always assumed to be true, don’t feel bad. Many Hoosier homeowners have made this same assumption only to learn that it isn’t the case. Specifically, there are best and worst types of wood for your fireplace. 

Burning the latter can lead to multiple problems in your home. Let’s take a closer look at what types of firewood are best and what the worst types are for your fireplace.

Seasoned vs. unseasoned wood

When one of our Chimney Solutions Indiana technicians visits a home for an annual sweep and inspection, they can sometimes figure out whether the homeowner used seasoned or unseasoned wood.

First, what is the difference between the two types? It’s actually quite simple: seasoned wood has sufficiently dried out enough that the moisture content is very low. Unseasoned wood, on the other hand, is usually freshly cut, greener, and with higher moisture in it. When burning the latter, it creates much more smoke than seasoned wood. 

The more smoke you have, the faster the creosote will build up. If we cleaned your chimney last year, and you have a considerable amount of creosote, the most likely cause is burning unseasoned wood. In terms of the best and worst types of wood for your fireplace, generally speaking, seasoned woods are better. Unseasoned woods are worse.

Hardwoods vs softwoods

However, it doesn’t stop there. The best and worst types of wood for your fireplace also include the type of wood. It doesn’t matter if you’ve allowed it to fully dry, a softwood will always produce more creosote than a hardwood. 

Hardwoods are better because their grain structure is denser. In addition, they often contain more resin, which helps them ignite faster.

Examples of hardwood include:

• Ash
• Beech
• Maple
• Oak
• Cherry

There are many others as well, and each type of hardwood can produce subtle differences ranging from more intense heat to slow-burning and more. Each of these can be considered the best, so what’s the worst type of wood for your fireplace? Softwood. If you want a double whammy, unseasoned softwood is a recipe for disaster.

Examples of softwoods include:

• Pine
• Cedar
• Poplar
• Douglas Fir
• Willow
• Sycamore
• Spruce

Minimizing the impact of the worst types of wood

In most cases, it’s a good idea to burn seasoned hardwoods in your fireplace and unseasoned softwoods in an outdoor fire pit. However, over time — regardless of the type of wood you burn — your fireplace will eventually need a sweep and inspection. Creosote will build up faster with unseasoned and softwoods, though it is an inevitable byproduct of burning any type of wood.

An annual cleaning is the best way to minimize this impact on your flue.

Keeping your home safe all year long

And this is where our team comes in! Our goal is to keep your home safe all year long. We offer many types of chimney services. If you’d like to schedule your appointment before cold weather shows up, let us know. Contact Chimney Solutions Indiana by calling us at (317) 757-6979 or through our handy contact form.