Firewood Cord Calculator

Firewood Cord Calculator

What a full cord is — and why it’s the only legal unit

A full cord is the only firewood unit with a legal definition in most US states: 128 cubic feet of tightly stacked wood, traditionally a pile 4 feet high, 4 feet wide, and 8 feet long. The statutes are specific. Maine’s Title 10 defines a standard cord as wood “ranked and well stowed” measuring 4 × 4 × 8 feet or its equivalent, and California’s code makes the 128-cubic-foot cord the only lawful measure for fuel wood sales. “Ranked and well stowed” matters: pieces must be stacked parallel and touching, and inspectors deduct any void big enough to hold an average-size piece from the pile. Terms like face cord, rick, rack, or truckload have no standardized legal definition, which is why states such as New Jersey require sellers to quote in cords or fractions of a cord. When you use the calculator above, it divides your stack’s cubic footage by 128 — the same arithmetic a weights-and-measures inspector uses when a buyer files a shortage complaint.

Face cord math: 16-inch logs = exactly one third

A face cord is a stack with the same 4 × 8-foot face as a full cord but only one log deep, so its volume depends entirely on log length. The calculator’s log-length input handles this: a 4 × 8 face times 16-inch (1.33-foot) logs is 42.7 cubic feet, and 128 ÷ 3 = 42.67, so a 16-inch face cord is exactly one third of a full cord. Cut the logs to 12 inches and the face cord shrinks to 32 cubic feet — a quarter cord. At 24 inches it grows to 64 cubic feet, half a cord. Sellers love the ambiguity because a “face cord” price sounds comparable to a cord price while delivering a third of the wood or less. To compare offers, convert everything to dollars per full cord: a $160 face cord of 16-inch logs is really $480 per cord — often more than the same seller’s full-cord price. “Rick” is the same idea with even less definition; Wisconsin is a rare exception that gives the face cord a legal definition, and even there sellers must state the piece length.

What a cord of wood costs in 2026

Nationally, a delivered full cord of split, seasoned hardwood runs about $275 to $400 in 2026, inside a realistic overall range of $150 to $575 depending on region and species. Oak typically brings $300 to $500 per cord; softwoods like pine and spruce sell for $175 to $275. Kiln-dried and premium hardwood can pass $600 per cord in mid-winter when demand peaks — buying in spring or early summer routinely saves $50 to $100 per cord on identical wood. Extras add up too: many sellers charge $25 to $100 for delivery beyond roughly 15 miles and $20 to $80 per cord for stacking. Region moves the price more than anything else. Heavily forested areas like inland Maine or Idaho can see cords near $200, while metro areas and states with little local hardwood often top $500. Enter your quoted price per cord in the calculator and it prices your exact stack — useful when a seller quotes a partial cord, a face cord, or an odd-sized truckload.

How many cords a household burns per season

If wood is your primary heat source, plan on roughly 3 to 6 cords per season; occasional fireplace use may need 1 cord or less. A common sizing rule for cold climates like New England or the upper Midwest is 2 to 3 cords per 1,000 square feet of heated space, so a 1,500-square-foot house there typically burns 3 to 4.5 cords over a winter. In milder Mid-Atlantic and Southern climates, 1 to 2 cords per 1,000 square feet is usually enough. Stove efficiency matters as much as climate: a modern EPA-certified stove running at 70-plus percent efficiency burns far less than an open fireplace, which sends most of its heat up the chimney. Species matters too — a cord of oak carries roughly 60 percent more heat than a cord of pine, so softwood burners need proportionally more volume. Whatever your estimate, experienced burners put up 10 to 25 percent extra, because running short in February means buying at peak winter prices. Use the calculator’s reverse mode to turn your target cords into stack dimensions.

Seasoned vs green: 20% moisture and the BTU gap

Firewood is ready to burn at 20 percent moisture content or below; freshly cut “green” wood can hold 50 percent or more water, which wastes heat boiling it off and coats your chimney in creosote. Most hardwoods reach 20 percent after 6 to 12 months split, stacked off the ground, and top-covered; dense species like oak and hickory need 12 to 24 months. A $20 to $40 moisture meter settles any argument — probe a freshly split face, not the weathered outside. Energy content varies widely by species: a seasoned cord of oak delivers roughly 24 to 28 million BTU, hickory about 27 million, while pine yields only 15 to 17 million. That gap is why oak sells at a premium and why a cheap softwood cord is not always the better deal per unit of heat — at 16 million BTU versus 26 million, you need about 1.6 cords of pine to match one cord of oak. Buying green wood in spring and seasoning it yourself is the classic money-saver, but only if you have covered storage and a full year of lead time for oak.

Measure on delivery: how buyers get shortchanged

The only way to know what you actually received is to stack the wood and measure it — length × height × depth in feet, straight into the calculator. Do it before or immediately after the truck leaves; a shortage claim is hard to prove once the pile is half burned. If the wood arrives loose-dumped, use the standard conversion: about 180 cubic feet of loose-thrown 12-to-16-inch wood settles into one 128-cubic-foot stacked cord — a figure written directly into Maine’s firewood statute (longer 24-inch pieces need about 195 loose cubic feet). Get a receipt stating the quantity in cords, the price, and the seller’s name; that receipt is your evidence with the state weights-and-measures office. Red flags include prices quoted only per “truckload,” refusal to state log length or stack dimensions, and stacks criss-crossed with large voids — inspectors deduct any gap big enough to hold an average piece. A stack measuring 4 feet high and 8 feet long but only 14 inches deep is 37.3 cubic feet: 29 percent of a cord, whatever the invoice calls it.