Firewood Consumption Check-In - Pre-Seasonal Order - August 2026

It might be August, but I'm starting to think about firewood.  And, putting together my order for the year.  Like I've done in the past few years, I wanted to take an inventory of what we have on-hand (and what we've burned thru) and get an idea of how much we need to order.  

I did this type of post last year and showed that I had about 150 pieces left.  And, I ended up ordering three facecords (Birch, Oak, Cherry).  Most estimates say that a Full Facecord has between 200 and 275 pieces.  Let's call it 250 for easy math.  That means that I started with 150.  Added 750.  Ended up with 900 pieces of firewood.

I stashed them on the various racks.  Inside the screened porch.  Out on the side stoop.  Under the cover in the sideyard.  And, a new place for last year:  under the pizza oven.  

Here's how the racks look today.  After a full Winter of burning indoors.  And, a bunch of pizza oven burning over the past year. 

Indoors the racks are mostly bare. The photo on the left shows Oak on the top and Cherry on the bottom.  The photo on the right shows Birch.  Slim pickin's, right?

Below are the two outside racks.  On the left is Oak.  On the right is Cherry.

Up on the side stoop is this metal rack.  This is Birch.  

And, under the pizza oven is a mix of wood.  

Just eye-ballin' it, I count around 115(ish) sticks left behind.   

900 - 115 = 785 burned.  

If a Facecord gets me 250 each...ordering three will provide similar coverage.   I'd like to order MORE, but I don't have room to store it.  I'd have to store in the garage (which I've done in the past).   That's not ideal.  But, neither is running out of firewood.  

The past few seasons, I've exclusively bought kiln-dried firewood from The Grove Firewood and Mulch in Sugar Grove.  You can see their firewood options here on their site.  They deliver to Downers Grove and they usually have nice quality, kiln-dried wood that is CLEAN, dry and of good size.  A mix of bigger splits and some smaller ones.  Here's my delivery from 2022.  And the same dump of firewood on the driveway in 2023.  Here is three facecords in October 2024.  

Another thing that jumps out with these photos is that before I order, I need to straighten-up the sideyard racks (they're sinking).  And, get together a plan for the doors on the oven.