Where to buy firewood in Raleigh: every option around the Triangle, compared
Raleigh has plenty of firewood for sale and very little of it is dry. Here is every way to buy it around the Triangle, what each one really costs per fire, and how the kiln-dried stacks we deliver compare.
Raleigh is the first North Carolina market we opened, and the first thing I did was buy firewood there the way a customer would: a landscape yard, a tree-service truckload, a grocery bundle, and a delivery. The results explain why we came.
Short answer
Around Raleigh you can buy firewood by the pound at a yard, by the truckload from a tree service, by the bundle at a store, or by the stack delivered. The first three are almost always seasoned, which in the Triangle means somewhere between damp and dry. Kiln-dried wood delivered by the stack costs more per stack and less per fire that actually lights.
The landscape yard
Raleigh has yards that sell firewood by the pound, loaded by you. Kiln-dried there runs around 35 cents a pound, which sounds cheap until you weigh a stack: a third of a cord of dry hardwood is well over a thousand pounds, so the yard price lands north of $400 before you have loaded a single piece into your own truck. Green wood is cheaper by the pound and heavier per piece, because the weight you are paying for is water.
The tree-service truckload
This is where most Triangle firewood comes from: a tree company with a yard full of last year's removals, split and sold as "seasoned" by the face cord, delivered loose for $225 to $350. Some of it is genuinely dry. Most of it has sat uncovered through a Carolina summer, which dries the outside and leaves the core wet. The tell is the first fire: hissing, smoke, and a log that goes out when you stop feeding it kindling.
The grocery bundle
A 0.65 cubic foot bundle at a Raleigh hardware or grocery store is about $9. That is roughly six pieces, one evening's fire if the pieces are dry, and they often are not. A third of a cord bought in bundles costs close to $600. Bundles are fine for one night at a rental; they are the most expensive firewood in the city for a season.
Delivered, by the stack
We deliver kiln-dried hardwood to Raleigh for $50, and to Cary, Apex and Holly Springs for $60. A 4x8 ft stack, one third of a cord, is $360 for Mixed Hardwoods and $420 for 100% Oak. The driver stacks it where you say, texts a photo, and the wood lights off one starter because it came out of a kiln at a low moisture content instead of off a pile in a field. It is safe to keep in the garage because the kiln kills insects and mold.
What a fire costs each way
- Grocery bundles: about $9 a fire, if the bundle is dry.
- Seasoned truckload: $225 to $350 for a face cord that gives 40 to 60 fires when dry, and a frustrating winter when it is not.
- Kiln-dried stack: $410 to $470 delivered for a 4x8 that gives about 80 fires, every one of them a fire.
How to buy around the Triangle
- Buy in October. The Triangle sells out of dry wood by December; the Nextdoor threads every January are people looking for it.
- Ask for the moisture number. A seller who dries wood knows it. Under 20 percent is good firewood; a kiln gets well below that.
- Buy by the cord fraction, not the "load." A pickup load is whatever the seller says it is. A 4x8 ft stack of 16 inch splits is one third of a cord every time.
- Keep it covered. Carolina humidity will put water back into any wood left in the open. A rack with a cover, or the garage, keeps dry wood dry.
Every Triangle town has its own page with the delivery fee and covered zips: start at firewood delivery in Raleigh or firewood delivery in North Carolina.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I buy firewood in Raleigh?
Landscape yards sell it by the pound or the pile, tree services sell seasoned truckloads, grocery and hardware stores sell small bundles, and a few companies deliver. We deliver kiln-dried hardwood by the stack across Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Wake Forest, Durham and Chapel Hill for $50 to $60, stacked where you want it.
How much does firewood cost in Raleigh?
Seasoned oak around the Triangle runs about $225 to $350 for a face cord delivered, which is a 4x8 ft stack of 16 inch splits. Our kiln-dried 4x8 stack is $360 for Mixed Hardwoods and $420 for 100% Oak, plus $50 delivery in Raleigh, and it arrives dry.
Is a face cord the same as a third of a cord?
Usually. A face cord is a 4 ft by 8 ft stack of 16 inch splits, which is 42.7 cubic feet, one third of a full 128 cubic foot cord. North Carolina sells firewood by the cord or fraction of a cord, so we list ours as a 4x8 ft stack, one third of a cord.
When should I order firewood in Raleigh?
October. Raleigh's season runs November through February, and the seasoned-wood sellers around the Triangle sell out by December most years. Dry wood ordered in October is stacked and waiting when the first cold night comes.
Do you deliver outside Raleigh?
Yes: Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Morrisville, Wake Forest, Garner, Knightdale, Fuquay-Varina, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Durham, Clayton and the towns between, each with its own page and fee.
Clark started splitting and selling firewood on his family farm in Upperville, Virginia at age 11. Today Clark's Firewood delivers premium kiln-dried hardwood to homes across Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, and North Carolina, and Clark personally guarantees every order.
