Intro and my first wood stove thread

Let me qualify myself as unqualified to discuss the technical aspects of your plan. I am simply making some observations. I do understand that your wife does not like the look of the inserts she has seen - neither do I. However, I think it is a big mistake to put the stove in the corner next to the french doors. You have it placed next to an operating door behind a couch facing straight forward. You're never going to be seeing the flame with it in that position. The glass doors can easily hit the stove and cannot be opened up fully. I would think that the warm air will go straight forward and up, roasting your couch and the upstairs. To heat the entire house, I understand it is better to have it as centrally located as possible. I would find one that can have a beautiful fire view and go on the hearth or perhaps to the corner of the opposite end and put it on the diagonal (like the box form looks). I agree with the person above who suggested getting a box the correct size and place it where you think you might like it. The 3D aspect is very eye-opening. Also, talk to chimneysweeponline.com as another opinion. He really took the time to explain stuff to me and because of it, I am going with a medium sized stove instead of a smaller one (I was worried about getting cooked out). His website also has very valuable info.

Not to dis your dealer, but they are going to highly recommend the products you sell. Talking to some place that offers more variety will possibly open your thoughts outside the box (no pun intended). Keep us posted!

I love the dog, the dog will love the stove......

I wouldn't put a new stove in the same room as an existing fireplace. In my former house, my wife also loved the idea of a fire in the fireplace, but
she quickly grew to appreciate the heat and fire view provided by an appliance designed for that purpose. We never used the fireplace again.
Unless you can put the stove in the living room/dining room, I would go with the biggest insert that you can in the family room. Hauling firewood to the stove in the house isn't that hard or messy. I use a smallish metal garbage can with a handle and all of the mess is left inside the can.

tmoneysju said:

Forgive me for resurrecting my old thread, but my decision has still not been made for a number of reasons. Since I have an existing pre-fab unit in the family room, I've found that I cannot replace that with an stove insert, don't want to do a free stander in front of it and it would be very costly to do a EPA fireplace in the existing opening. Essentially I'm out of options to put the stove in the family room in the diagram below.

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Does your wife still want to keep the fireplace? You could rip it out and construct a hearth for a stove there. That will only slightly be more expensive than putting the stove somewhere else.

tmoneysju said:

I'm considering doing a free stander in another room, the living room in the diagram below. Essentially the stove would need to go in the upper left hand corner of the living room. I'm curious on thoughts on stove placement, that room would be right underneath our master bedroom.

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Looks ok to me and with the stairs closer you may have more heat traveling up the stairs. Will you have enough clearance to the windows in that corner?

Btw. How is your wood supply doing? Did you get several cords of dry wood already?

Grisu said:

Does your wife still want to keep the fireplace? You could rip it out and construct a hearth for a stove there. That will only slightly be more expensive than putting the stove somewhere else.

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+1 Grisu's idea involves minimal construction to do complete and you may even be able to attractively block it off in a way that would allow you to go back to it in the future if you decide to move and want to restore it to its original condition for resale. That placement of the stove would work better with the layout of the room, IMO (acknowledging, of course, that my opinion rarely matters in my own home).

tmoneysju said:

good question, haven't gotten that far yet, putting it in this room is like plan F, wasn't too happy about it but just coming to the realization that it won't work, that is definitely on my list to explore

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What are the dimensions of that corner? Any pics? Be also aware that by placing the stove there some of the heat will radiate out the windows.

tmoneysju said:

have not stopped acquiring wood, have several cords split and stacked, we live in the woods so i have a good supply

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Thumbs up.

Andy S. said:

(acknowledging, of course, that my opinion rarely matters in my own home).

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You are not alone...

How big is the corner by the bathroom. Could bring the wood in the front door.

I'd be saving my pennies and finding a way to put it where the existing fireplace is.
Or, I'd flip over to the exact opposite side of the house and site between the living/dining room.
Dunno if your drawing is to scale or if the dining room table can be moved towards the back yard.
Chimney out and up or up thru a chase against a bedroom wall.
Gives you a decent height chimney at what appears to be the roof peak.
Probably heat downstairs better from there instead of it spilling straight up into the office upstairs anyway.