Ash Firewood Cost Calculator

Before ordering ash from a supplier outside your county, check your state forestry agency's ash quarantine map. Transporting ash across quarantine lines without a compliance certificate can result in seizure of the load at a checkpoint. You lose the wood; the seller keeps your money.

Buy local, or confirm your supplier has proper documentation before the delivery truck shows up.

Ash firewood pricing doesn't follow a normal supply curve right now. The emerald ash borer has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees and moves through new regions every year. That creates two opposite market conditions depending on where you live.

In regions where EAB just arrived, prices drop fast. Landowners, municipalities, and tree services are clearing dead and dying ash ahead of collapse, flooding the local market with cheap wood. Prices can fall to $150 per cord or below during these salvage surges.

In regions where ash was already decimated, it's simply gone. Local suppliers can't source it, and transport from an unaffected region may violate quarantine rules. As detailed in USDA Forest Products Laboratory research on ash wood properties, EAB-killed ash still burns well when properly seasoned, but the regional supply window is finite.

Check your state forestry agency's EAB quarantine map before ordering from any supplier outside your county.

White ash delivers 24.2 million BTU of heat content per cord, per USDA FPL Table 5-1. That's roughly 10% less than white oak (26.3 MMBTU) and about 15% more than typical mixed hardwood (around 20 MMBTU).

At typical prices, ash and oak land surprisingly close on heat value per dollar. Ash at $260 per cord works out to about $11 per MMBTU. Oak at $300 per cord runs about $11.40 per MMBTU.

Mixed hardwood at $220 per cord is also near $11 per MMBTU. The sticker price gap between ash and oak often disappears once you run the math.

For a side-by-side species comparison at your local prices, use the firewood BTU calculator. Change the cords input above to see how total heat output shifts with your purchase size.

Ash seasons faster than almost any hardwood. Six to twelve months from split to burn-ready, compared to oak's 12-24 months. That's a real advantage: buy in spring, burn that fall.

But "fast-seasoning" is also the most common phrase sellers use to justify delivering green wood. Green ash at 50% moisture content produces roughly 60% of the heat of properly dried ash. Three cords of green wood heats like two dry cords.

Target moisture below 20%. A $20-30 moisture meter confirms this at delivery. Check three splits from different parts of the pile, not just the top layer. The top always dries first; the interior of a poorly stacked cord can be months behind.

A full cord is 128 cubic feet of stacked wood, typically 4 feet wide by 4 feet tall by 8 feet long. A face cord is about 42 cubic feet, roughly one-third of a full cord.

Face cord fraud is the most common firewood complaint in every state consumer protection office. Pay $280 thinking you got a cord, get a face cord instead, and you've effectively paid $840 per actual cord.

Ask for the delivery ticket before the truck leaves. It should state the volume in cubic feet. If they can't produce one, photograph the pile with a measuring tape visible before you sign anything.

The face cord firewood cost calculator shows what a face cord should cost vs. a full cord at your price per cord.

Ash splits cleanly along the grain with almost no binding or interlocking. Compare that to elm, which fights back, or hickory, which requires a full swing on every piece. Ash is forgiving even for occasional splitters.

Pre-split ash costs $20-40 per cord more than rounds. If you have a splitting maul and the season to work through them, ash rounds are a legitimate money-saver. Buy rounds in March, split through April, burn in November.

For ash specifically, the "just buy pre-split" argument is weaker than for any other hardwood. The splitting effort is low enough that most homeowners can handle it without a log splitter.

Standard firewood delivery runs $50-150 flat within a typical 20-30 mile radius, plus $1-2 per mile beyond that. Use the firewood delivery cost calculator to see what delivery should cost at your distance.

Ash in quarantine zones can carry an additional $25-50 per cord surcharge when suppliers transport from outside your county. This is a compliance cost, not a markup. It covers the documentation and inspection requirements for moving ash across quarantine lines.

The cheapest ash delivery comes from a local seller within your county. That avoids the surcharge entirely. Toggle the delivery input above to see how delivery changes your total at the cord price you're comparing.

EAB doesn't stay. It moves through a region, kills the ash, and keeps going. In the 2-3 years after EAB arrives in your area, prices drop as landowners and municipalities clear trees ahead of collapse. After that window closes, ash firewood is gone from your local market permanently.

If you're in a region where EAB just arrived, the next few heating seasons may be the cheapest ash you'll ever see. Buying an extra cord or two and seasoning it is a reasonable hedge against both future scarcity and price increases.

Confirm the wood is from within your county to avoid transport restrictions. Local sourcing during this window is both cheaper and legally safer.

Ash at 24.2 million BTU works out to roughly $11 per MMBTU at the $260 per cord default. Propane math varies by state more than almost any other fuel. Massachusetts propane runs close to three times the national average per EIA weekly retail prices, making firewood a clear winner.

Ohio propane is near the national low, where the math is much tighter.

For your state's live propane rate and the full comparison, use the firewood vs propane heating cost calculator. The state selector pulls current EIA rates and runs the break-even at your cord price.

Step one: ask for the delivery ticket with volume in cubic feet before they unload. A reputable seller has this ready. If they don't, that's your first signal.

Step two: moisture-meter three splits from different parts of the pile. Pull one from the top, one from the middle, one from the bottom. The top dries fastest; the bottom of a poorly seasoned cord can be 10-15 percentage points wetter.

Step three: ash bark ID. Mature ash has a distinctive diamond-pattern bark. If the pattern looks wrong or the wood is unusually heavy for its size, ask what species it actually is.

Green ash (slightly lower BTU) is sometimes mixed in with white ash without disclosure, and both look similar once split.

EAB-killed standing dead ash is abundant in affected regions. Penn State Extension estimates DIY cordwood processing at about $50 per cord in equipment fuel and consumables, compared to $260 per cord delivered. The math is significant if you have a chainsaw and somewhere to stack.

EAB-killed ash that has been standing dead 1-2 years actually processes easier than live ash. It's partially dried, splits with less resistance, and seasons faster. The wood burns the same as any other ash once properly dried.

One hard constraint: don't transport it beyond your property or county line. EAB quarantine rules restrict ash movement. Process it on-site or within your property boundary. Season 6-12 months after splitting, and confirm below 20% moisture with a meter before burning.