A few pics while waiting for inspector...

[Hass]

my dad came over to help finish the install today... I am pretty happy with it considering all the problems encountered.
The thing that annoyed me the most, is the way the grout came out. the part i did first (inner part of the hearth) is a much lighter color than when i did the outside of it, even though the grout is the same type. I figured I'll regrout it later, but for now the highs are looking to be 30s-40s and I have no heat, so I can wait on the grout! The grout doesn't really look THAT bad as it does in the pic, it's just dusty in the middle. It's definitely noticeable though.

So now I just am waiting to call up my inspector to see when he can get out here. I assume I have to wait for him, anyway. It seems like some of you guys here fire up right after the install. I got the permit, but he needs to do a final inspection. So I'll just stare at it and pretend it's giving off heat... and hope he doesn't find anything wrong!
There's some fudging inside with the stove collar, so I've got to get some cement to goo that up in there yet so that's why the little ring thinger isn't on yet. I'll be doing a full write up on this later... but I can't wait that long! =)
I've got to put the little collar cover thing on the top yet too.

edit;
I've also got a flue temp thermometer (double wall type that measures actual flue gasses), and some magnetics to stick on after the man comes.


Just a few short months ago the house looked a little something like this...

In between the hole in the middle, and the pile of concrete rubble is where the stove sits now.

 

[JV_Thimble]

Nice - quite the transformation.

 

[Todd]

Wow! Looks like you have been a little busy, nice job. How deep from the door to the bottom is the fire box in that Chinook? I was wondering if they were as deep as the other Blaze Kings?

 

[Dix]

Wow, that's alot of renoing.

Nice job !

 

[Hass]

thanks.. been a busy and expensive summer on my little house in the middle of no where.

Wow! Looks like you have been a little busy, nice job. How deep from the door to the bottom is the fire box in that Chinook? I was wondering if they were as deep as the other Blaze Kings?

The firebox depth to the lip is 3"
The ash pan bucket is 10x12" and 5.5" deep.

I'm not sure how deep the firebox in the other stoves are... I'm curious though.
The inside usable space in the firebox is 20"x19"x12.5"

edit;
Hey, I just did the math on that to see how close BK was on their firebox capacity...
They claim 2.75cu/ft if I recall, and I came up with 2.7488cu/ft which would round to 2.75.

Not bad at all. there probably is about another inch or two of space you can cram wood in around the cat, but I doubt there's a need to do that.
I just looked up the brochure and it claims the box is 20x18x12.75" So it's more or less right on. But I still measure 19" wide.

 

[bogydave]

Talk about an remodel & upgrade. WOW!
Great before & almost after pics.
Looking forward to seeing a pic of the finished product.
GREAT job!

Got some really dry wood ready?
Beast of a stove

 

[Hass]

Talk about an remodel & upgrade. WOW!
Great before & almost after pics.
Looking forward to seeing a pic of the finished product.
GREAT job!

Got some really dry wood ready?
Beast of a stove

Thanks!
All I've got ready this year is 3-4 cords of of incredibly dry pine Cottonwood and Catalpa... Mostly pine. A few cords worth of pallet hardwood, and plenty more to cut up yet... The pallet wood I cut last year is nicely seasoned though, the stuff I have to cut now I may or may not use depending on how much wood this eats. I made the house pretty darn tight during the remodel, and went crazy on the insulation so it shouldn't be too hard to heat my 790sq/ft with the chinook
Over the winter I'll get a log load so I actually have some real cord wood for next year if I get the load early enough.
They claim 30 hours on softwood, so we'll put it to the test

 

[bogydave]

Talk about an remodel & upgrade. WOW!
Great before & almost after pics.
Looking forward to seeing a pic of the finished product.
GREAT job!

Got some really dry wood ready?
Beast of a stove

Thanks!
All I've got ready this year is 3-4 cords of of incredibly dry pine Cottonwood and Catalpa... Mostly pine. A few cords worth of pallet hardwood, and plenty more to cut up yet... The pallet wood I cut last year is nicely seasoned though, the stuff I have to cut now I may or may not use depending on how much wood this eats. I made the house pretty darn tight during the remodel, and went crazy on the insulation so it shouldn't be too hard to heat my 790sq/ft with the chinook
Over the winter I'll get a log load so I actually have some real cord wood for next year if I get the load early enough.
They claim 30 hours on softwood, so we'll put it to the test

Amazing stoves, I'll attest to that.
Looking forward to your posts on how the stove works out for you.
Great post! Bet you are getting anxious

 

[raybonz]

Hass you're kickin' a$$ for sure! Look forward to hearing how that stove runs, looks real nice!

Ray

 

[MsFire]

Nice transformation.

You don't have to regrout. Just get some grout stain. You can find it at the big box stores. Lots easier and less messy than regrouting.

 

[firefighterjake]

Big change . . . looks very good.

 

[Hass]

Thanks for the kind words guys...
I never heard of grout stain, I'll check it out! thanks.

Called the inspector on my lunch today...
He told me to call him back NEXT WEEK Tuesday and set something up for that week. I was really hoping he would come out today, lol. When he told me that I got a very rude awakening... But my permit was #39 for 2011, so I can understand him not needing to work very often lol.

I guess I can't put the space heaters away just yet. I'll just keep workin' the 14-16 hour days at work until I can continue on the house I'm also praying that he doesn't make me tear down the drywall to see the electric! My stupid self followed some dumb advice and didn't use electrical permits. I don't want to deal with all the cellulose falling down behind it, and have to put it all back in afterward... But if that's what has to be done, it will be done. Was my fault to begin with for not checking for myself.
I'm also going to do a post in the diy thread later I think.. about the entire rebuild. The previous chimney was great. They cut through a ceiling joist, and cut out a rafter to fit the chimney up the roof. Adding support and neither of the locations. There was a huge vertical crack up the whole length, and some horizontal ones as well. I really thought the chimney was just going to fall down. It looked to be poured concrete. It EASILY fell apart piece by piece by tapping it with a small 4lb sledge. above the roof line, it didn't even need to be hammered apart. It was held together by some type of silicone based product... We just pulled it apart.

 

[ecocavalier02]

Talk about an remodel & upgrade. WOW!
Great before & almost after pics.
Looking forward to seeing a pic of the finished product.
GREAT job!

Got some really dry wood ready?
Beast of a stove

Thanks!
All I've got ready this year is 3-4 cords of of incredibly dry pine Cottonwood and Catalpa... Mostly pine. A few cords worth of pallet hardwood, and plenty more to cut up yet... The pallet wood I cut last year is nicely seasoned though, the stuff I have to cut now I may or may not use depending on how much wood this eats. I made the house pretty darn tight during the remodel, and went crazy on the insulation so it shouldn't be too hard to heat my 790sq/ft with the chinook
Over the winter I'll get a log load so I actually have some real cord wood for next year if I get the load early enough.
They claim 30 hours on softwood, so we'll put it to the test

I dont think 30 hours will be a problem. i get 24 hours or more out of cottonwood with the princess. cant wait for ya to fire that thing up. curious to see how that thing burns.

 

[Stump_Branch]

Once apon a time my home was in a similar fashion. Exhausting work, long days and nights. But it comes out nice in the end. Sanded grout or the latex like chemical mix? Sanded you can 'polish' withe burlap and sawdust. Rub till your arm falls off. Sealing it will make it uniform as well. Theres the stain yes , worst case you skim it with one final grouting session.

She looks good so far, interested in hearing about how this new crop circle creating wood burner does. At least that one looks nice.

Best of luck too you.

 

[Hass]

In 12 hours if everything goes well I'll be finishing the paint break in fire...

I'm doing some week OT at work, then the inspector is going to drop by when I get home around 1... So hopefully he approves it and I'll be able to burn shortly after. I may have to wait for him to give me the certificate of compliance, I don't know how that works. I'll know when he gets here though

So either I'll be EXTREMELY warm and toasty since you have to burn the stove on high for a few hours... or else I'll be extremely cold like usual :]

 

[bogydave]

You'll be fine.
Good luck.
You'll be burning soon

 

[Hass]

You'll be fine.
Good luck.
You'll be burning soon

I hope so! he said it will take about 30 minutes. I don't know what takes 30 minutes to measure some things, look up in the attic, some more measurements... and good to go. Unless he wants to have a few cups of coffee, then do measurements... Then have some more coffee, use the bathroom then leave?
I'm not nervous about the stove... I'm actually just nervous because I did the electrical without permits... and already hung the drywall + insulated. We'll see how it goes though :]

 

[jeff_t]

Yeah. We've been waiting patiently for a review. Get burning.

Looks like you had at least as much fun as I did. Always fun when a sledgehammer is involved. In your house.

 

[mcollect]

You did not do any electrical changes just added insulation, and re dry walled.)

 

[eclecticcottage]

lol, we just did the same thing here-floor out to the dirt, joists and all! Aren't renos fun? My most recently used phrase was "what was WRONG with these people?!" and we've only done one room. Good thing we're only at 680 sq ft!

Hope your inspector was like ours and looked only at what he was out to inspect...except to mention it looked like we had a lot of work to do then smile and sign off on the stove...which was burning at the time since it was pretty chilly.

They do sell grout stain...I checked it out when we bought our grout because they didn't have the darker gray I wanted. Decided I liked the Delorean gray anyway.

Here's our floorless room:

 

[raybonz]

lol, we just did the same thing here-floor out to the dirt, joists and all! Aren't renos fun? My most recently used phrase was "what was WRONG with these people?!" and we've only done one room. Good thing we're only at 680 sq ft!

Hope your inspector was like ours and looked only at what he was out to inspect...except to mention it looked like we had a lot of work to do then smile and sign off on the stove...which was burning at the time since it was pretty chilly.

They do sell grout stain...I checked it out when we bought our grout because they didn't have the darker gray I wanted. Decided I liked the Delorean gray anyway.

Here's our floorless room:

Find a Best Tile store they carry Laticrete Permacolor grout and you can choose from 40 colors.. The colors on this link aren't accurate so see your dealer they have color samples.. The mocha on that link is what I used the real color is a shade of brown..

http://www.spectralock.com/colors_inspiration/40_color_options.aspx

Ray

 

[Woody Stover]

I'm very interested to hear your reports on the Chinook. Cool-looking with the curved sides. The 1.0 g./hr. particulate number is impressive. For some reason the brochure for the Chinook on the Blaze King site doesn't display correctly for me...the stove cross-section, clearances, etc. are blurry...can't read them.

Hey, I just did the math on that to see how close BK was on their firebox capacity...
They claim 2.75cu/ft if I recall, and I came up with 2.7488cu/ft which would round to 2.75.

I've read many times here that we should be looking at the fire box size to get an idea of how big an area a stove will heat.

Chinook: 2.75 cu.ft, EPA output 27280, "real world" 40000.
Keystone: 1.4 cu.ft, EPA output 35000, Woodstock's number 45000.

Both cat stoves. Something isn't adding up here...

 

[Dirtsurgeon]

Good luck on your final Hass.
I failed mine last week because my inspector was an idiot.
It only took him 10 mins.

30 mins sounds pretty thorough.

Dirt

 

[HatCityIAFF]

I was way worried about my inspection as i didn't have 16 inches in front. Came up shy at 14 inches. Bought a fire resistant rug...Laid that down for about 2 days. Then got me thinking that might not be enough, so I tiled a piece of durock with tiles 2x5. Threw that down, with rug on top. Inspector came out, stood infront of the stove, pulled out his tape, said "just short of 16 inches...do you have a full stainless steel liner?" "yes I do". Signed the paper, and left. I think it took him longer to sign his name than the time he was actually there.

 

[chimneyguy]

The previous chimney was great. They cut through a ceiling joist, and cut out a rafter to fit the chimney up the roof. Adding support and neither of the locations. There was a huge vertical crack up the whole length, and some horizontal ones as well. I really thought the chimney was just going to fall down. It looked to be poured concrete. It EASILY fell apart piece by piece by tapping it with a small 4lb sledge. above the roof line, it didn’t even need to be hammered apart. It was held together by some type of silicone based product… We just pulled it apart. <<

My son, who started going to work w/ me when he was 3, once said to me,"Dad, 95% of chimneys work okay, and over 80% of them need serious work." I just smiled at his astuteness, and said: "That's why I am a chimey sweep." Sad part is that some folks' answer to this situation is:"That's okay, it's heavily insured." Meanwhile, their kiddies are playing in their upstairs bedroom without a care in the world... Truly, it does take all kinds...
Stay warm, and safe...
Ed