Wednesday 10 February 2016

Renovation project - How heavy is a cord of wood?

Renovation project - How heavy is a cord of wood?

We wake after a wonderful nights sleep, our new bed, mattresses and feather quilts were wonderful, the house is peaceful and has a warm feel to it (this is a metaphorical warm feeling, as physically the house is freezing!)

The fire has been burning but it will take a few days for the house to warm up, it has been empty for so long

I'm pottering around the house when I hear a knock at the door, I go to answer it and there is nobody in sight, I have a look around and the street is deserted, the mist is all around and I can't help but think how creepy everywhere looks. But I know somebody knocked at the door.

Just as I am going to go back in I hear a knock again, I know it isn't at the front door and shout bonjour? Am I shouting at a ghost (my over active imagination has not got any less active!)
but I get an answer, it is Sheila, she is at the back door and has called to let me know the wood delivery called back and they will be here at midday.

I call at the old house to pick up the wheelbarrow, we had left it there as it belonged to the Irish couple a few doors away and we never got a chance to return it.

The wheel is as flat as a pancake, John pumps it up and within minutes it is flat again.

We have a full cord of wood on the road that needs to be shifted. I have said that I will do it, John offers to get a chunk done as it is very heavy work, but as I explain, he can do the electrics and I can move the wood, it may take longer but is the best use of time.

I call at Sheila’s to borrow her wheel barrow, and end up walking through the town square and up the main street with the large bright yellow wheel barrow, if people didn't know the mad English at the top of the road were back, they do now.

It takes some hours to move the wood from the road to stack it in the garage, my back is breaking and I just want too lie in a long hot bath to ease my aching bones, I have no real bath yet (our priories may have just changed in the house!)

I look at my piles of stacked wood and realise I have just moved over a tonne of wood by myself! But I do feel that I have achieved something today, as I admire my neatly stacked wood piles.

a cord of wood in France - renovation project

a cord of wood in France - renovation project

a cord of wood in France - renovation project

a cord of wood in France - renovation project

John has been busy and found out that the consumer unit we bought, that we thought had everything in it, did not and he cannot connect it.


But he has made a start on the kitchen and managed to move the old steel wood burning stove, he really is half man half ox at times, but we are lucky to have his strength when there is only the two of us.

Top tips:

  • A cord of wood is 3 x 1 x 1 metres and should be seasoned wood
  • Make sure you find a good wood supplier, if it is not seasoned and dry, it will not burn as well
  • You can buy the wood in steres (these are approx a third of a cord)
  • It is very heavy and it is usually your job to stack it
  • If you have a small fire, check if you can have the logs cut into smaller sizes (our wood company did this for no extra charge)

2 comments:

  1. well done you.....you two are like a couple of beavers, makes me tired reading about it but full of admiration

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