Half Cord of Wood Cost Calculator

The delivery fee math almost always favors the full cord. Suppliers charge a flat $25–$75 to deliver regardless of quantity. On a half cord at $150 plus $50 delivery, your effective cost is $400 per cord equivalent.

On a full cord at $280 plus the same $50 delivery, your effective cost is $330 per cord. Same truck, same fee, twice the wood.

Buy the half cord when you have limited storage, you're testing a new stove or fireplace for the first time, or you need a mid-season resupply. Buy the full cord when you know you'll burn it and you have 4×4×8 ft of dry, covered storage available. To compare your specific numbers side by side, use the Firewood Cord Delivery Cost Calculator.

Half cord is 64 cubic feet of stacked firewood, typically 4 ft wide, 4 ft tall, and 4 ft deep when split lengths run 16 inches. That's exactly half of a full cord (128 cubic feet). In practical terms, a half cord fills roughly one-third of a standard parking space, stacked waist-high.

Most half-cord deliveries use 16-inch splits. If your delivery uses 12-inch splits, the same 64 cubic feet holds more pieces but still represents the same volume of wood fiber. Weight runs 1,000–2,000 lbs depending on species and moisture content; green oak can top 2,500 lbs per half cord.

One face cord (also called a rick) is roughly 42 cubic feet, not 64. It's 4 ft tall, 8 ft wide, and one split length deep, typically 16 inches. A half cord is 4×4×8 ft, or 22 cubic feet more.

If a supplier says "face cord" when you asked for a half cord, you're getting 34% less wood for roughly the same price.

Suppliers don't always use these terms consistently. Before agreeing to a price, ask: "Is this a full half cord, meaning 64 cubic feet?" If they hedge, use the Face Cord Firewood Cost Calculator to check what you're actually getting priced per unit of volume.

Mixed hardwood half cords run $100-$250 in most markets, based on market estimates. The range is wide because you're buying BTUs, not cubic feet. According to the USDA Forest Products Laboratory Wood Handbook, white oak holds about 26 million BTU per cord; white pine holds about 15 million BTU.

Half cord of oak delivers roughly 13 million BTU; a half cord of pine delivers about 7.5 million BTU.

That BTU gap is why oak commands a $50–$100 premium over mixed softwood on a half cord. If you're heating, the premium is usually worth it. For occasional fireplace ambiance, mixed hardwood or even pine works fine.

Delivery fees don't scale with quantity. Whether you order a half cord or a full cord from the same supplier, the flat delivery fee is the same, typically $25–$75. That fee effectively doubles in per-cord terms when you buy half the wood.

Here's the math: a half cord at $150 plus $50 delivery totals $200, or $400 per cord equivalent. The same supplier's full cord at $280 plus $50 delivery totals $330 per cord. You pay 21% more per cord by buying half.

Enter your supplier's flat delivery fee in the delivery input above. Our calculator shows your effective per-cord cost instantly so you can decide whether a full cord makes more sense this season.

For supplemental or primary heating, ask for oak, ash, or hickory by name. These dense hardwoods pack 22–28 million BTU per cord. Mixed hardwood from local mills often blends maple, ash, and beech, which performs well for heating.

Change the species dropdown above to see how a half cord of oak compares to pine in total cost before you call.

For a fireplace used mostly for ambiance, pine or mixed softwood works fine and costs $30–$60 less per half cord. Pine ignites faster and produces more visible flame; it also creosotes faster if your chimney runs cool. Burn pine regularly and clean your chimney every season.

To compare heat output by species before you order, use the Firewood BTU Calculator.

Green wood (above 30% moisture) burns poorly, produces excess creosote, and shortchanges you on BTUs. It's $15–$30 less per half cord than seasoned wood, which sounds like a deal until you realize it won't burn well until next fall. If you need heat this winter, green wood is worth $0 as fuel.

Seasoned wood (under 20% moisture) is the standard. Kiln-dried (under 10%) costs $25–$50 more per half cord and burns the night it arrives. A $20–$30 moisture meter confirms what you received.

Stick it into a freshly split face: above 25% is green, 20–25% is marginal, under 20% is ready. Do this before the truck leaves.

The Maine DOER Weekly Heating Fuel Price Survey tracks cordwood prices across the Northeast, where seasoned hardwood regularly runs $300–$450 per full cord, or $150–$225 per half cord before delivery. Connecticut's consumer protection office cites $220–$300 per cord as a typical in-state range, or $110–$150 per half cord.

Rural Midwest markets run lower, closer to $150–$250 per cord ($75–$125 per half cord) for well-seasoned hardwood from local suppliers. Coastal cities and resort areas often carry a 30–50% premium over those rural baselines, especially during peak demand months. If your quote is above the regional ceiling, get a second price before committing.

Late summer is the best time to order. Firewood split in spring finishes seasoning by July and August, which is when supplier inventories peak and demand is low. Most markets price summer orders $20–$50 per cord lower than November rates. On a half cord, that's $10–$25 in savings, modest on its own.

For buyers planning multiple half cords across a season, the timing difference compounds. Ordering two half cords in August versus October can save $40–$100 total and guarantees you get the species you want. By October, suppliers in cold-climate markets start rationing inventory.

December orders often mean emergency pricing and whatever species is left on the lot.

For a recreational fireplace (two to three fires per week), a half cord of mixed hardwood typically lasts two to three months. For a wood stove running three to four evenings per week in a moderate climate, expect four to six weeks. As a primary heat source in a cold climate, half a cord runs out in two to three weeks.

Most first-time wood buyers discover after one season that they need a full cord. A half cord is a sensible test quantity if you're new to wood heat or trying a new stove. To plan a full heating season, use the Wood Heating Cost Calculator to estimate how many cords your home actually needs.

Recreational fireplace users care more about price than species. Pine or mixed hardwood at the low end of the market is fine. The fire looks good, it smells good, and you're not relying on it for warmth.

Buying bundles from a box store costs $500–$700 for the equivalent of a half cord, so a local supplier wins by a wide margin either way.

Supplemental and primary heaters need to care about species, moisture content, and split size. Oak, ash, or hickory seasoned under 20% moisture, split to 16-inch lengths, is the standard for efficient stove operation. If you're supplementing electric heat in Massachusetts, where EIA data shows electric rates near $0.29 per kWh, wood at current prices cuts your heating bill noticeably.

The Firewood vs Propane Heating Cost Calculator shows that comparison with live fuel prices.

Half cord stacked tight fills a 4×4×4 ft cube, or 64 cubic feet. That's three to four rows of 16-inch splits, 4 ft wide and 4 ft tall. Before the driver leaves, ask them to stack it or confirm the measurement. Most will oblige if you ask before unloading.

If the wood is dumped loose, stack what you can and assess the pile height and footprint. A pile that stacks noticeably less than 4 ft tall, or covers less than 32 sq ft of 4-ft-tall rows, is short. Photograph the pile with something for scale and call the supplier immediately, before the truck is out of the driveway.

Connecticut's state consumer protection agencies require wood to be sold only by cord or fraction of a cord. A truckload or "pile" is not a legal unit of measure. If a supplier quoted you by the load and delivered short, you have standing to dispute it.

Ask for the fraction of a cord in writing before you hand over payment.