There’s nothing like the peaceful ambience that comes with burning firewood within your firepit on a clear evening. Setting the perfect scene for any nighttime entertainment or tranquillity, you’ll want to take full advantage of your fire pit every night this winter. 

 

This blog will outline the best way to ensure you use your fire pit to its maximum capacity. From the kind of wood used to the method of building a fire, you’ll become a master of creating the perfect atmosphere on your deck, patio or courtyard. 

1. Use The Driest Logs Possible 

Like any fireplace, your firewood will burn the best when it’s as dry as possible. Lighting the initial wood becomes increasingly difficult the more moisture it holds. Therefore, try and secure your firewood in a dryer season and store it appropriately to avoid any exposure to rain during the colder months. 

Furthermore, it’s good to get a mix of short-burning and long-burning wood. A nice blend of wood always works best when building the initial stages of fire. Once the fire has gotten underway, the longer-burning pieces of firewood will be perfect for maintaining the heat. 

2. Remain Aware Of The Wind’s Direction

From an efficiency and safety perspective, knowing the wind’s direction is an integral part of maintaining a firepit. If you have guests seated around the fire, you will want to ensure that the wind is blowing in the opposite direction. 

3. Reduce Ash To A Minimum

If you have previously used your firepit, clear the bowl of ash from previous firewood burning. You can leave some heated coal bricks in there for the purpose of heating your fire quickly; however, burnt firewood will impede airflow in your firepit and make it challenging to ignite an efficient fire. 

Additionally, don’t feel you need to toss away the ash. Instead, it can be used as a nutritious supplement for plants due to the high calcium concentrations.

4. Grow The Fire Slowly

You may have never lit a fire before, so you must construct your initial firewood structure correctly to ensure everything is underway as quickly as possible. Begin with laying out dry kindling in a tipi structure so the fire can concentrate the heat within. 

Next, you’ll want to add smaller pieces of firewood in a vertical position to ensure they gradually catch. It’s vital to avoid the larger pieces of wood until the fire is hot and powerful. Also, standing logs up vertically will reduce the smoke spewing from the firepit. 

5. Ensure Space Between The Firewood

It’s critical to understand how vital airflow is when burning your firewood. Fire requires oxygen to take place, so ensure that your wood is adequately separated from each other so that the air passage is not cramped. 

Finally, when you have finished enjoying your roaring firepit, refrain from adding any more wood. Once the fire has reduced down to glowing embers, extinguish the remaining heat with water. Stir the ash and embers down, so there’s little heat and glow.  

 

A1 Sure Services 

At A1 Sure Services, we sell the popular “HOT MIX” firewood – a combination of fast-starting and slow-burning woods. The three main types in the mix are Pine, Macrocarpa and Gum. The mix may also include other arborist-removed trees such as Oak, Totora, Pohutukawa, etc. 

For $150 per cube, we can provide free delivery when:

  • Two cubes are purchased, and you live in North Shore, Whangaparaoa or Orewa
  • Three cubes are purchased, and you live in Rodney District 
  • Four cubes are purchased, and you live in East, Central or South Auckland 

The wood has been split, stored, and seasoned on-site and is ready for burning this winter. All pieces are standard firewood size with pieces of approx. 30cm in length  – fitting most standard wood burners. Please note we only offer Hotmix (we do not have different types of wood for sale separately).⁠

To place an order, please either fill out the contact form or contact us directly by emailing [email protected].

Please advise your name, address, how many cubes you would like and where you want the wood to be dropped, and we can schedule a delivery.

If you have a preferred delivery date, please also advise.