Why I'm thinking of firewood, I have no idea, I don't have a fireplace (although my next house will surely have one).
A former co-worker heats part of his house in the winter with wood and we were talking about how big a cord of wood is. I tried to tell him that it was 4' wide, 4' high, and 8' feet long. He disagreed; He told me "all the people I buy wood from call it one log wide (16" ish) by 4' high by 4' long" or some similar dimension. I was in no mood to press the issue so I let it go.
I also remember talking to Audient about this last year when he blogged about buying wood. Then I also said a cord is 4' x 4' x 8'. I think he told me the people he was buying from were calling a cord something smaller.
Well today, I was looking at CL for no good reason. I saw an ad for firewodd (I know its misspelled, look at the ad here), and the fella selling the stuff wrote "I sell by the rick so there is no complaining about 2 or 3 rows per cord" and that got me to thinking about what a cord really is. Incidentally I e-mailed the guy to ask what he considered a cord, I'll let you know what his response is.
I decided to turn to the internet for some guidance. I googled "cord of wood" and found all sorts of stuff. Wiki, woodheat.org, and all manner of sites explaining what a cord is. Most were in agreement that it is a stack of wood which equals 128 cubic feet, typically measured at 4' wide, 4' high, and 8' long. That is all well and good I thought, but there has to be something official. A little more poking around and I found this, the Ohio Administrative Code, which clearly explains what a cord of wood is, 128 cubic feet. Interestingly it also prohibits terms like “face cord,” “rack,” “pile,” “rick,” and “truckload.” There are a few other things that the code outlines, but the part about firewood starts in paragraph C.
I also found some info on the Lake County Auditors website, a page explaining the definitions of measurement, and a cord of wood is referenced in the volumetric section.
So to my old co-worker and Audient, I hope you get shorted on your wood buying no more. I imagine this law isn't enforced very much, but if you've really been burned (pun intended) it might be worth a call to your County Auditor to report somebody.
Stay warm this winter!
1 comment:
I bought quite a bit of firewood two years ago, and I still have enough that I wasn't planning on buying any more for this season. I don't burn it every day of anything.
I do remember learning back then there there were certain terms that people often use (rick, cord, etc.) and that certain terms were actually prohibited by law because they are not actually certain amounts.
Small time guys might get away with it, though.
I don't think I got swindled last time. Indeed, I still have quite a bit of wood to use up.
Post a Comment