Winters in Chicago are long enough that firewood is a primary heat source for many households rather than an occasional fire. Order early: local yards sell out of seasoned hardwood well before January.
Quotes by the face cord, so ask the cut length before comparing with a full cord price. Kiln dried mixed hardwood at $225 a face cord and premium at $290. Defines its own seasoning claim as split open more than nine months.
Face cord prices by species from $249 for a hardwood mix to $309 for hickory. All kiln dried, and it publishes the process, 255 degrees for 36 hours to 6 percent moisture. Delivery terms are not stated anywhere on the site.
Kiln dried cherry, hickory, oak, mixed hardwood and birch below 20 percent moisture. States the dimensions of each unit it sells, a face cord as 4 by 8 feet and fractions of it, which is the disclosure to look for. Prices on request.
Every yard here was checked on the date shown, and what it says about delivery and prices is what its own site publishes. Some are based in surrounding towns rather than Chicago itself, which is normal: firewood is delivered on a radius of 20 to 30 miles, and the yards nearest the wood are rarely in the city centre. Note that yards quote in different units, some by the full cord and some by the face cord or rick, so get the cut length and the delivered total to your address before comparing two numbers.
Conditions in Chicago favour air drying, but only for a stack built to dry. Wood sitting on soil under a full tarp stays wet regardless of the climate.Split it, stack it single row off the ground, leave the sides open to the wind and cover the top only. Check it with a moisture meter on a freshly split face: under 20 percent is ready.
Once you have two or three numbers, put them through thefirewood cost calculator. It converts face cord and half cord quotes to a price per full cord and adjusts for species, which is the only way to tell whether the cheap quote is genuinely cheap or just smaller.
For what moves the number in the first place, and what counts as a fair quote, see the guide to theaverage cost of a cord of wood.
Most firewood in Chicago, IL is quoted per delivery, but 2 of the yards we have verified here publish price lists, linked above. Use that as a reference point, then call two more yards within your delivery radius for a full cord delivered to your address. Ask what species and how long it has been split, and compare the quotes on the same basis with our cord calculator.
Illinois has an active emerald ash borer quarantine. Buy and burn firewood within the same county.
Six months to a year for most species, split and stacked off the ground with airflow on all sides and cover on the top only. Dense oak takes closer to two years. Drier air in this region helps, but only if the stack is single row and off the ground.
With a heating season of roughly 200 days, a household using wood as its main heat source in this climate typically burns four to six cords a winter. Occasional evening fires use far less.