neiln

I've read/seen on YouTube loads of times that blowing cool air toward the stove top displace the warm, is more effective than blowing the warm. Presumably because it's denser. Also to stop stratification in a room, a large floor fan pointing upwards will mix the air up in just a few minutes. I use the stove fans, I've had a valiant but it's no better than £20 or less ones from eBay. I think they help get heat out of a tight fireplace but not much more. Likewise I'd love a Stirling engine fan but they are too tall for my available space.... And a bit costly.

A couple of cube from a transit tipper massively over weight with hard wood, a bit more if it's softwood.. Maybe 3. That's rough estimate based on my experience. Varies a lot though.

Try the search function it just scroll down a bit. The question had been asked quite a lot over the past 6 months.

Splitting logs yes, the exercise helps, but splitting kindling I find a chore

As Steve said, the tip site directory can be good. Also contact all your local tree surgeons and ask if they want to tip wood. The logs are basically a waste material which they need to dispose of quickly and easily. So you need to make it easy for them, it helps of you've space for them to tip their truck loads, you need to take it when they've got it and often with little notice, and it really helps if you can take big logs and small (do you have a chainsaw, and a more powerful one to deal with large logs), if you aren't fussy about softwood that also helps. If you've the space to store lots that is good for you as you'll find it's not a steady supply, feast and famine is the norm. Don't expect to burn any this coming winter, you need to season it for at least a summer, ideally a year or more (drying varies greatly with wood type, log size and location)

I saw that prediction pop up on my phone...I took it with a pinch of sensational journalism salt as it was the express, plus predictions they far out are guess work. I'm not saying it won't happen though. The expected £4k figures for this winter are going to cause huge problems. I also finally saw an article from the stove industry alliance promoting stoves to keep homes warm in the event of black outs. Not sure it's the best or only way to promote stoves but mainly I'm surprised I've not seen much more from the industry.

Fr Jones, husqvarna premium mineral chain oil, 5L, £11.64 before vat. Although with vat and shipping is just over £22 if only buying one. I'm lucky jonesy is local and can collect from the store.

Let's assume the house is a between the wars suburban build, so ~100. The garage probably younger but let's say 40. Both less then the acorn that led to this great oak, yes. But both were built many years before the sensibly sized for a suburban garden, tree, extended its roots to trespass into the neighbours property and desicate the soil near the foundations causing the subsidence. So no, the building came first. Ok I'd possibly argue different if the house were built in a forest where you could expect a tree to grow large, but I'd say it is unreasonable to allow a tree to grow so large in a small suburban garden setting and hence I don't think it's like moving to the country and complaining of the smell. No you won't get heave. Not if my assumptions are correct. If wrong and the garage is so recent that it were built on soil already desicated, then removing the tree woild lead to the soil recovering to a moisture and swollen state higher than the intended place for the foundations... And heave. But in my scenario, no, the soil can only recover to where the building wants it to be. In short, heave only possible for structures built on predicated soil. Take the tree down.

oh and this years drought will cause more damage than normal...and droughts such as this are becoming more common, there is a ticking timebomb of subsidence claims coming over the next few decades.

because I've been the homeowner with subsidence caused by neighbours large oak in south london, and the *&*^&%& wouldn't take his tree down for years and years and years despite arborist reports, engineers reports, testpits, bore hole soil samples with roots from his tree and showing desiccation at depth, years of crack monitoring, years of level monitoring. So i know a 20+m oak in london on its shrinkable clay, will cause trouble for any and ALL nearby structures. the neighbours garage, the neighbours house, other neighbours houses and the OPs house too. I know the stress caused by a belligerent tree owner. sorry OP, not you, if you listen! I like trees, honest, but unfortunately a20m+ oak is too big for pretty much all suburban gardens. its inappropriate. that size tree does not fit there. the roots are tresspasing and causing damage. if the OP doesn't remove the tree, eventually the neighbour or his insurer will take him to court for the damage caused. When i did this, my neighbour removed the tree finally. So my best advice for the good of everyone, OP, remove the tree but ask the neighbours insurers to pay for it to be done. they will i suspect.

take the tree down.

i was visiting family at ormskirk this week and one day the smell was strong of pigs muck spreading on the nearby fields. i didnt think that was common practice these days, or is it just i've not been in the country at the right/wrong time for a while?

its definitely the 70s all over again. kate bush at number 1, general strikes, double digit inflation and the real threat of nuclear armageddon with Russia and NATO toe to toe. power cuts and a really harsh winter will complete the feel. I just hope Spurs continue their decent form ....they were awful for most of the 70s!

Energy cap prices have risen by 12% last October, 54% last march, predicted to rise 78% this October and then further in January. That's 309% October to October. Most users were on deals well below the cap but with supplier firms going bust and fixed price deals ending, most users are now on the cap so factor that rise in too and users will have seen 350-400% rise in the cost of gas and electric with more to come. While log producers haven't seen cost increases of anything like that you have seen cost increases and like everyone a cost of living increase of 10 ish % I'm suggesting a rise in the cost of logs 150% less than that for gas and electricity is fair as log producers have had very low margins and profit, deserve more, costs up so need more, and energy costs all round are up, but balancing against price gouging by a much lower increase than elsewhere in the energy sector. Log producers are not charities after all so profit is not a duty word, they deserve to earn a living too. Although I could make an exception for some 😉

Wishing? Not me. I don't sell and don't want to see anyone in fuel poverty. I had to turn down logs least week though, so a drop in demand for tip site use can be catered for. Some customers don't need to agree, but those that have alternative heating do. If they think logs are costly they don't buy surely.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62318376 I fear that you guys selling wood have undersold and continue to. £200/m³ hardwood would be a decent deal, £250 still not bad. Trouble is getting your competition and your customers to agree, but with gas, electricity and presumably oil up by of the order of 400% in 12-18 months, a 200-250% rise to logs would seem very fair.

I had a need for a pruning saw recently, wanted a non folding that I could put on à broom handle or long extension. I got a bahco, and a telescopic pole that went out to about 8 feet for about £25 all in. Sliced through the neighbours tree where it over hung the boundary up above the shed very easily. My experience of bahco had always been decent, but I don't doubt a silky would stay sharp longer. If it's just a little job or occasional use bahco will earn it's price ok.

That's my understanding, the worker wasps die off, the old queen and nest dies off but a batch of new queens head off at the end of the summer, hibernate over winter and start a new nest in the spring if they can. Not quite sure where the boys come into the cycle exactly. As you say they are docile and don't seem any more awake if they've been in the house for days now hours (I've had a few fly ontop of the kitchen cupboard and emerge a few days later) I have young kids though and don't want one standing on a wasp on the floor and being stung. Although summertime somebody stood on one last winter without noticing... The wasp must have been very sleepy to not sting as it was squished.

Don't mind the spiders, shield bugs, wood lice by the bucket load or the occasional ear wig. I do object to the wasps. Not had bats although I've seen them flying about, have found a couple of mouse nests

Probably more likely 16" logs. It's not an agreed definition but a lot go on 3 face cord makes a cord, so 16" logs. Plus that'll for l fit in any us stove but bigger than 18" would be too long for many. $700 per cord is well over double what many are used to paying over there, but just as here, gas, electricity and oil is up, wood is following

Use of hydrocarbons only seems to be mentioned in 2 posts if you count your own Andy. I always thought most/all kiln setups used wood and the RHI payments were very valuable.

I didn't ask why producers kiln dry, I get space, throughput of material and even rhi are compelling. I asked why we need it. We bring the consumer and referring to how a lot of marketing from stove manufacturers, the wider industry and of course producers using kilns push kiln dried as essential. I'm not grinding any axe for any producers btw, just musing as a consumer. The title was meant to suggest that if hotter/drier/sunnier weather becomes more reliable then perhaps quality air dried logs become more reliably produced and bought. That's straightforward for me in the South doing my own anyway, all my logs dry at least 2 summers some 3.

Because I'm hot and bored.

Solar kiln will work in Scotland. A few years ago I few guys on hearth.com made solar kilns and a fit up in Canada, or a very cold bit of birth America, was getting green hardwood logs down to 12% in 2-3 months. He really perfected his set up.

Try re reading my post Andy. I have a meter and the oak will be 2 years seasoned!