BENEFITS OF MULCH DELIVERY

There are few things that spruce up a property so quickly as a thick layer of mulch spread neatly around foundation plantings, perennials and trees. You can even add it in side yards and along pathways where grass can be thin and weedy.

In fact, once you start thinking about the places you can use mulch, you’ll realize that the little bags you’re buying just aren’t going to cut it. A large bag of mulch will only cover an area 3’x4’. That’s about the area under one dwarf tree.

Luckily, there is an alternative to hauling dozens of wet, dirty plastic bags in the trunk of your car– bulk mulch delivery.

The Benefits of Having Mulch Delivered

Mulch delivery is beneficial in many ways. First of all, there’s no tedious lifting and loading (then unloading) your car, and no multiple trips.

There are no wasteful plastic bags to dispose of, and we can deliver your mulch as close to the worksite as the dump truck can get. Trust us, you’ll appreciate it after the tenth wheelbarrow full.

There is a minimum order for bulk mulch delivery. It’s 10 cubic yards. It’s hard to visualize how much that is, but ten yards is enough to cover an area 30 ft by 36 ft, three inches deep. That might still seem like a tremendous amount, but when you’re outside, measurements seem very different.

Let’s do the math: say you own a ranch-style house with four-foot-wide foundation plantings on three sides (the fourth side is the driveway). The house measures 60 feet x30 feet.

(60×4)+(60×4)+(30×4)=240 + 240 +120 = 600 square feet, at three inches thick = 150 cubic feet or about 5.5 cubic yards. Don’t worry, we have a handy calculator for you to use, I’m just showing you the process.

That’s over half your truck load right there. If you have any trees or plantings in your yard, it won’t take too long to use up the rest, and you can always split a load with your neighbor. And if you have room to reserve a small pile, you won’t have to buy the bags to refresh your mulch next year.

It’s far more efficient, environmentally aware and just plain easier to have us drop off a truckload at your home. Call us today to schedule a delivery of the finest mulch money can buy! You won’t know how your home did without it.

TIPS FOR BUYING FIREWOOD

The nights, and even the days, are getting distinctly nippy, and even if you have a gas furnace, it’s cozy to have a fire going as the nights get chillier.

Luckily firewood is in great abundance locally. However, with the number of people selling firewood out of the back of their truck–literally– you can also get stuck with a bad batch if you don’t know what you’re looking for.

What to Look For in Firewood

You want two things in firewood, especially firewood you will be burning indoors: it must be seasoned (dry), and it must be hardwood.

The wood must be dry because when wood is freshly cut, it is up to 50% water by weight. Water, of course, does not burn, but must be heated up until it steams off to allow the wood itself to burn. Not only does this waste a tremendous amount of energy producing little heat, but it is very hard to do. Fires made with green firewood quickly smother themselves.

Additionally, because green firewood cannot burn very hot (having wasted so much energy steaming off the moisture) it causes a harmful chemical side-effect called creosote. Creosote is condensed volatile chemicals which are not fully burned off in a cooler fire. It forms in the inside of chimneys and stoves, and causes a fire hazard due to its flammability.

Creosote is also the reason for the second stipulation in firewood: Hardwood. Hardwood is wood from a deciduous tree; oak, elm, walnut, etc. Pine, on the other hand, is softwood, and softwood does not burn as hot as hardwood does, again, contributing to the formation of creosote.

How to Ensure Your Firewood is Seasoned

Unless you have amply storage space for wood, you will likely want to purchase only seasoned wood in order to be able to burn it this winter. If you do have ample storage space, though, it is often cheaper to buy green wood and dry it yourself.

Seasoned wood is not always easy to tell from green wood, but there are a few tell-tale signs. The first is weathering. At least some of the pieces will be a faded grey with the bark falling off.

There will also be deep cracks in the wood, called checking. Checking happens as the water evaporates off. Finally, when you clap two pieces of dried wood together, you should hear a hollow tchok, not a thud.

With this quick primer, your firewood buying should be simple and headache-free this winter.