🔥 Dry Firewood: How to Heat Efficiently

In short: To heat efficiently, you need dry firewood with a moisture content of up to 20%. In wet wood, part of the heat is used to evaporate water, and incomplete burning creates soot.

  • Firewood moisture up to 20%
  • Stack logs with air gaps and fill the firebox up to 2/3
  • Light from the top and don’t reduce the air while the wood burns with flames
  • Close the damper only after the embers have burned out
  • Tammaru Farm firewood is kiln-dried to 10–15% moisture
Kiln-dried firewood in green mesh bags at the Tammaru Farm warehouse

🌡️ Why should firewood be dry?

  • More heat: in wet wood, part of the energy is used to evaporate water. The drier the wood, the more heat reaches your home.
  • Less soot: dry wood burns hotter and more completely, so less soot builds up on the fireplace glass and in the chimney.
  • Less smoke: complete burning releases less smoke into the air.

Wood species compared: Firewood heat values and stove efficiency

🪵 How to dry and store firewood?

If you dry firewood yourself:

  1. Split the logs before drying. Split wood dries faster. This is especially important for birch, because its dense bark lets moisture out poorly.
  2. Stack the wood under a roof. The woodpile should be protected from rain but stand in a sunny and windy spot.
  3. Don’t stack wood directly on the ground. Use supports or pallets.
  4. Be patient. Drying time depends on the wood species, log size and weather. Outdoors, firewood usually needs at least one summer to dry.

Store dry firewood, including kiln-dried wood, under a roof in a well-ventilated place. Otherwise it will absorb moisture again.

✅ How to heat a stove or fireplace correctly?

  1. Bring the wood indoors 1–2 days before heating. The logs warm up and surface moisture evaporates.
  2. Remove excess ash from the grate so that air can reach the fire.
  3. Open the damper and air vents fully before lighting.
  4. Stack the logs with air gaps. Fill the firebox up to 2/3, as advised by the Estonian Rescue Board (Päästeamet).
  5. Light from the top. Put the larger logs at the bottom and the kindling on top. This produces less smoke when lighting.
  6. Don’t reduce the air while the wood burns with flames. If your fireplace has an air regulator, follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
  7. Add a new batch of wood when the previous logs have almost burned down to embers.

If your fireplace glass gets sooty, read: Why birch causes soot on fireplace glass and chimneys

⚠️ When should you close the damper?

Close the damper only when the embers have burned out and there are no flames above them, not even blue ones. If the damper is closed too early, carbon monoxide can enter the room. Carbon monoxide has no colour or smell, so only a carbon monoxide detector can detect it. The Estonian Rescue Board recommends installing a carbon monoxide detector in every home with a stove, fireplace, cooker or other solid-fuel heater.

📦 Where can you get dry firewood ready to burn?

You don’t have to wait for wood to dry: Tammaru Farm firewood is kiln-dried, and the 10–15% moisture is checked before packing. We sell alder, black alder and birch firewood. Log lengths are 25, 30 and 40 cm, in mesh bags of 20, 40 and 60 litres. We pack only straight logs without rot into the mesh bags. We deliver in Tallinn and Harjumaa, usually within 1–3 working days. You can also collect from our warehouse by prior arrangement: Tallinn warehouse, Veerme 23 (on the Nõmme border).

Orders: +372 52 388 52. We speak Estonian, Russian and English.

Sources: Estonian Rescue Board (Päästeamet)

Updated: 19 October 2026