brick walls and stove size

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

schoolhouse

New Member
Feb 15, 2010
2
nw PA
Thanks in advance for any help. We are renovating an old one room schoolhouse (built around 1870) that will eventually become our home. It has a footprint of about 800' sq. with 12' ceiling. We are interested in a woodstove that can cover this size. The unknown factor for us is the brick. The walls are three courses of brick. We can insulate the attic and the floor. We plan to have good windows (5) and doors (2) and stop as much air infiltration as possible. However, the walls won't have any insulation. The floor plan will be open and the stove will be placed in the middle of the back wall.

We have been leaning towards a Hearthstone Heritage, but also like the Jotul Oslo, Vermont Castings Defiant, Harman Oakwood - open to other suggestions as well. We aren't sure if these will be adequate given the heat loss we anticipate through the walls. Last question: blower or no blower? We do plan to have a ceiling fan to move the air. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks Eric
 
Those are all nice stoves, once the house is up to temp. I don't think you will have much of a problem keeping up. I choose to use a ceiling fan and/or a floor fan, they are much quiter, easy to replace and I find it much better to move the cold air toward the stove.
 
noidea said:
Thanks in advance for any help. We are renovating an old one room schoolhouse (built around 1870) that will eventually become our home. It has a footprint of about 800' sq. with 12' ceiling. We are interested in a woodstove that can cover this size. The unknown factor for us is the brick. The walls are three courses of brick. We can insulate the attic and the floor. We plan to have good windows (5) and doors (2) and stop as much air infiltration as possible. However, the walls won't have any insulation. The floor plan will be open and the stove will be placed in the middle of the back wall.

We have been leaning towards a Hearthstone Heritage, but also like the Jotul Oslo, Vermont Castings Defiant, Harman Oakwood - open to other suggestions as well. We aren't sure if these will be adequate given the heat loss we anticipate through the walls. Last question: blower or no blower? We do plan to have a ceiling fan to move the air. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks Eric
Click to expand...

With uninsulated brick walls, the larger the stove the better. Why not insulate a few walls? Interior partitions? Good hardwood supply source?
What is the chimney plan for the back wall stove? Recommend avoid outside chase and minimal offsets.
Blower: what is power outage incidence? If likely or frequent, drop the blower and go for larger stove with more radiant and natural convection heat.

Aye,
Marty
 
is this an open floor plan, or is it to be divided up into alot of walls?
 
noidea said:
Thanks in advance for any help. We are renovating an old one room schoolhouse (built around 1870) that will eventually become our home. It has a footprint of about 800' sq. with 12' ceiling. We are interested in a woodstove that can cover this size. The unknown factor for us is the brick. The walls are three courses of brick. We can insulate the attic and the floor. We plan to have good windows (5) and doors (2) and stop as much air infiltration as possible. However, the walls won't have any insulation. The floor plan will be open and the stove will be placed in the middle of the back wall.

We have been leaning towards a Hearthstone Heritage, but also like the Jotul Oslo, Vermont Castings Defiant, Harman Oakwood - open to other suggestions as well. We aren't sure if these will be adequate given the heat loss we anticipate through the walls. Last question: blower or no blower? We do plan to have a ceiling fan to move the air. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks Eric
Click to expand...

I would go with the Oslo, personally. I don't know enough of the Harman to say "yes" or "no".

The VC Defiant quality and maintenance is dodgy and expensive. The Heritage is smaller than the Oslo in terms of output and the softer heat of the soapstone may not work the best in this situation. The Oslo is biggest, but seems to be flexible based on the reports hear and should heat you out of the house on days that aren't as cold.

My reason for going for the Oslo is that if I am buying new and not used I want to make sure I will be happy with the stove. Ideally I would go with a large Catalytic stove (that isn't a Vermont Castings). That way you can keep it on a low burn on the days when it isn't as cold out, but you can crank it up on days that is is nasty out.

The key will be to burn 24/7 and keep the brick warm. Once they cool it will take a while to get the chill out of the house. I have a lot of stone walls and once the stone is warm, the stoves do not have to work as hard.
 
Eric,
I have an 800 sq. ft bungalow with double brick walls. I have insulation in the attic but that is it. I use to heat with a Pacific energy Vista but after 4 seasons found it to be a little "under powered". I purchased a Drolet Legend that is listed as being able to heat up to 2100 sq ft. I find the Legend does a great job in heating my home. The stove is in the kitchen which is at the back of the house. I use a fan in the middle of the house to blow cold air into the kitchen. I have done a lot of fan experiments and find this works the best. Good Luck!

Ian
 
Thank you all. I am encouraged to hear that heating a brick home may not be quite as bad as I anticipated. It sounds like trying without the blower is a good first step. Hopefully it will work for us as well as it has for others. We would insulate, however it seems (from what I can gather) that it might cause problems either way. Insulate on the outside - which is ideal for heating, and we loose the appeal of a really old brick school. Insulate on the inside, which should really help the heating, and then the old and soft bricks are exposed to the freezing thawing process. It seems there can be a problem with moisture/mold if we insulate on the inside. Beyond that, we really like the original brick. It also has horse hair plaster, applied directly to brick that is in really good shape. The chimney is on the outside of the back wall (cinder block with a clay liner and a cleanout at the bottom outside). The stove pipe access through the wall is about 7' above the floor. The floor plan will be very open - pretty much one big great room.

I have heard that the soapstone is a "softer" heat as mentioned. Perhaps you are right and we may require a cast iron stove to take the chill off the especially cold days. Thanks again. Eric
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

H
ZC Fireplace to Freestanding Wood Stove
Replies
11
Views
486
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
FPX Dude
FPX Dude
L
Drill hole in backside of hearth to vent hot air to other side of wall ??
Replies
2
Views
927
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
Landrew
L
B
help pick wood stove list
Replies
7
Views
1K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
begreen
begreen
C
Guidance on wood stove as primary heat source?
Replies
3
Views
642
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
EbS-P
EbS-P
K
Need help with overall heating plan
Replies
8
Views
1K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
begreen
begreen
Top Bottom
Back