Q&A for How to Measure a Cord of Wood

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  • Question
    How many square feet is in a piled and split cord of wood?
    Community Answer
    A cord measures four feet high by four feet wide by eight feet long (4 ft. x 4 ft. x 8 ft.) and has a volume of 128 cubic feet. The amount of solid wood in a cord varies depending on the size of the pieces, but for firewood it averages about 85 cubic feet.
  • Question
    How much is a "rank" of wood?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    A rank (or rick) is the equivalent of about one-third of a cord.
  • Question
    A stack of split wood 3 ft wide by 4 ft tall by 16 ft long is how much wood?
    Jemsd3164
    Community Answer
    This is 192 cubic feet, or 1.5 cords of wood, if it is tightly packed. 3x4x16 = 12x16 = 192. 192/128 = 1.5, or one and a half cord.
  • Question
    How do I measure how much wood I have?
    Jemsd3164
    Community Answer
    With a tape measure, measure the length of the stacked wood multiplied by the height of the stacked wood multiplied by the depth or width of the stacked wood. Divide that answer by 128 and that will tell you how much of a cord of wood you have.
  • Question
    How much wood fits in an average pickup truck bed?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    Approximately half a cord.
  • Question
    Do I use the standard height*width*length formula for tree-length wood that is being delivered?
    Community Answer
    A cord of wood measures 4' X 4' X 8'. That's 128 cubic feet of wood. A rick is half that amount. If you do the math, you will know.
  • Question
    What are the measurements of a half cord of wood?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    A half-cord is 64 cubic feet, which could be measured as 4'x4'x4'.
  • Question
    How much wood is in a pulp cord?
    Jemsd3164
    Community Answer
    A pulp cord of wood is the same as any cord of wood. It measures 128 cubic feet or 4x4x8. The wood itself is soft wood, which burns faster and is of less value for fire wood, because the BTUs are much less.
  • Question
    I have a trailer full of wood. I was told it was "close" to a cord. My trailer measurements with the wood are 10' long x 5' wide x 21" high. How close is this to a full cord?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    Your trailer's volume is 87.5 cubic feet. A cord is 128 cubic feet.
  • Question
    If I buy two cords and the delivery truck is 6 feet, how many truck loads should I get?
    Community Answer
    Four, because each pickup load is approximately half a cord.
  • Question
    If the wood is cut 20 inches long, what size should the stack be to equal a cord?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    Regardless of the length of the pieces, a cord is always 128 cubic feet. Three 20-inch pieces placed end to end will measure 5 ft in length. A stack that measures 5 ft by 5 ft by 5 ft is 125 cubic feet (or slightly less than a cord).
  • Question
    What is the average price for a cord of wood?
    Community Answer
    The average prices vary from state to state, county to county, and city to city. Check what's advertised in your area, add the prices together, divide by the number of different prices you entered, and that will give you the average price.
  • Question
    How do I determine how many cubic feet of wood are in a log?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    Assuming the log is fairly straight, measure its radius in feet. Square that number, then multiply by 3.14. Then multiply by the log's length in feet. That gives you the volume of the log in cubic feet.
  • Question
    How do I measure a cord of wood if it is stacked criss cross?
    Bryce Switalla
    Community Answer
    It shouldn't make any difference if the wood is stacked "tightly" as you normally would if all layers are stacked in the same direction. Just use the HxWxL calculation as outlined above. If there are big air gaps between pieces of wood, that is more difficult to measure. You would need to figure out roughly what percentage of the stack is air gap; e.g., if your stack measures 4'x4'x8', then your total stack is 128 cubic feet, but if you are losing a third of your stack (33%) to air gap, you will only have about 82-83 cubic feet of solid wood.
  • Question
    How long is a cord of wood?
    Community Answer
    Cord is a measurement of volume; not length, height or width, but all three together. A cord of wood commonly describes a volume that is four feet high by four feet wide by eight feet long. 4 x 4 x 8 = 128 cubic feet. In that configuration your cord "length" would be eight feet, but that only holds true if your height and width are four feet. If your height and width are one foot, then your cord length would be 128 feet. If your height and width are each two feet, then your cord length would be 32 feet. So in order to know the length, you also must know the height and width.
  • Question
    How much wood can fit in a 142'' x 62'' x 12'' trailer?
    Community Answer
    Your trailer is about 12' x 5' and is 1 foot deep. That is an area of 61.13 square feet, which works out to 61.13 cubic feet (because it's exactly one foot deep), which is about 48% of a cord. If you can put railing around it so that you can stack it double deep and overstack that slightly, then you can put a whole cord of wood on your trailer.
  • Question
    How many logs does it take to make a pulp cord?
    Community Answer
    A cord is a measurement of volume, so to get your answer, you'd have to tightly pack as many logs as you can into into a box that measures 4' x 4' x 8', or 128 cubic feet. then take them out and count them. The next time you go to buy firewood you'd have to do it all over again, because there's no way to guarantee that the logs you are getting this time aren't different sizes than the logs you got last time. A cord is a measurement of volume, not a log count or the weight of a pile of logs.
  • Question
    Is a rank of split wood the same size as a rank of unsplit wood? A rank of split wood where I am from is 8 feet long, 4 feet high and each piece is 16 inches long.
    Community Answer
    That's a third of a cord of wood, and yes. Since a cord is a measurement of volume, then it doesn't matter if the wood is split or unsplit. 8 x 4 x 16" is one third of a cord no matter the condition of the wood in it. That said, you can get more split wood into the same volume as you can unsplit wood, so at the same price per cord, the split wood is a better value. Not only is it more wood in the same volume, it also has the labor costs of splitting the wood in it, making it much more valuable than unsplit wood.
  • Question
    if I cut each split log into an 18" piece, what would the measurements of a 1/2 cord be?
    Community Answer
    18/12=1.5 feet 1.5x?=128/2 ?=128/(2x1.5) =128/3, =42.66feet, so dimensions are 18"x1' tall x 42.66 long
  • Question
    How high is a cord of wood?
    Community Answer
    It depends on how the wood is stacked. Normally, a cord of wood is 4 feet high, 4 feet wide, and 8 feet long. But a stack of wood 128 feet high, 1 foot wide, and one foot long would also be a cord.
  • Question
    I bought some raw wood and told it was 1/2 cord. I stacked it 5'tall by 7' long by 16"deep. I used 7x5x16 and got 560. I divided it by 128 and got 4.375. Is this right?
    Community Answer
    You should have multiplied 5ft x 7ft x 1.3ft = 45.5 ft. Divide that by 128 = approximately 2.53. (You have to convert the 16 inches to feet before you multiply.)
  • Question
    How many cords are in 12 ft long 5 ft wide 6 ft high?
    Upnorth Here
    Top Answerer
    Using your dimensions 12x30/128 = 2.8 cords and the rest of this is filler.
  • Question
    My wood rack is 8x8x16" what fraction of a cord do I have?
    Upnorth Here
    Top Answerer
    8x8x16 inches would be 3/4 of a foot x 3/4 of a foot x 1-1/3 foot, which is about 3/4 of a cubic foot. You would need 171 of them to equal one cord. If you meant 8ftx8ftx16in, that would be 85 cubit feet, which is approximately 2/3 of a cord.
  • Question
    My wood rack holds wood 6 ft high 8 ft long and 17 inches wide, how many cords is this?
    Upnorth Here
    Top Answerer
    Six ft high, 8 ft long is 48 square feet of face, 17 inches long is 1.4 feet, giving you a total volume of 68 cubic feet, which is slightly more than 64 cubic feet, making it half of a cord.
  • Question
    It really doesn't matter how you measure the wood, as long as it is 12 cubic feet it is a cord right?
    Upnorth Here
    Top Answerer
    Yes, 128 cubic feet is the definition of a cord of wood, whether it is end-to-end, stacked 8 ft high or 4 ft high.
  • Question
    How many square feet are in a cord of unstaked fire wood?
    Upnorth Here
    Top Answerer
    Cord is a measure of wood volume, and square feet is a measure of area. You would need to specify the length and dept and the third dimension (height) to determine the volume, i.e., the number of cords A stack of wood 1 foot wide, 1 foot deep and 1 foot tall would be 1/128th of a cord. Four feet high, 24 inches deep and 16 feet long would be 128 cubic feet, which is one cord.
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