Using firewood to curb high home heating costs this winter? Here's what an expert says you need to know.

With heating bills rising, firewood companies in Massachusetts are seeing a spike in homeowners looking to use their fireplaces to save some money this winter. 

Paul Fulmore, who runs Boston Firewood, told WBZ-TV part of the push is coming from work-from-home employees who only use one room all day and can lower the heat in the rest of the house. 

"It's a lot of people we have never heard from before," he said. "They need to realize, it's not like buying a gallon of oil, all oil is basically the same. Firewood is all over the place, it's like the Wild West." 

The quality of the wood is important to ensure you're actually saving money, according to Fulmore. He suggests buying high-quality dry wood over cheaper alternatives. While it may cost more, he said it gets more heat per dollar than cheap, wet wood. 

"You just can't go on social media, find who's the cheapest guy and bang that's going to be our guy because that wood may be outside for the last three months in a big pile," he said. 

The same can be said for pellet stoves, a popular heat alternative. Fulmore said cheap pellets are essentially paper that won't burn as well. 

He added that you can tell the quality of wood by the sound it makes when you drop it on the floor. 

"If you want to hear if wood is dry, this is kiln dry but you could have other woods, you drop it," he said. "Sounds like two baseball bats when you clang them together." 

Some new customers have been surprised by the price of the wood, but Fulmore said it's worth it. 

"The new customers are ordering a Domino's pizza, and they expect it tomorrow morning. When you tell them it's $800-$850, or whatever the price will be, we have to call an ambulance for them because they thought they were going to pay $100," he said.