Clean up time

[Oldman47]

I have lots of trees the birds have planted along my chain link fence. There are black cherry and mulberry planted by the birds and a bit of apple that just needs some trimming. There is even a bit of carpathian walnut that I can harvest to prevent future problems with a neighbor. With 3 cords or so altogether do I have enough for even one year of burning in a new tight house?

 

[Hogwildz]

Depends on your burning habits, how dry the wood is, and how much heat you push the stove for. 3 cords should get you through the main part of the heating season. Might want to figure 4 to 4-1/2 and see how far that gets you in a season. Figure with shoulders seasons, you may be burning here and there in October & the beginning of November, then burning full time from the end of November till about now. Then back to evening burns. If your house is very tight, and insulated well, retaining heat well, you may not need it all for the season, but better to have too much, than not enough. The excess if any, goes towards next year. Hard to tell till you get a few years under your belt. You should find even after several seasons, that you will get to know the stove better, and consumption may drop.

 

[Oldman47]

Well I have R-38 walls and an R-60 ceiling in a rancher. I built it with 2 outer walls so the usual insulation disturbances caused by wiring and such all happens within the inner of those 2 walls and is inside my vapor barrier. My other heat source is a geothermal so no other chimneys in the house. I will be running a HRV so I do not get in trouble with the inside air getting too stale and will be using an OAK with my stove.
Since I have never used wood heat I have no idea what my wood burning habits will be until I see what works for me.

 

[claydogg84]

I think you'll be short with 3 cord. This year was extreme but I went through 5 (All Hardwood) and am still spot burning. I'm heating a 2,000 sq ft raised ranch to a pretty constant 70 degrees upstairs and mid 80s in the family room downstairs. Hog is prolly right, 4 - 4 1/2 cords will most likely be your yearly consumption if you plan on running 24/7. You don't want to run out, as any other source of heat simply doesn't compare.

 

[Woody Stover]

Not sure how big that stove is, or how much area you're heating, but as tight and well-insulated as your house is, I'm guessing you only need between 2 and 3 cords. How far south in IL is your place? If you are down here with me, you have long shoulder seasons, and not much cold winter. But since you have a wood lot, keep grabbing it to be sure. Running out of wood sucks. Since you are unsure how dry the wood you've gotten so far will be, I would look for standing dead trees of small diameter with the bark fallen off. Trees that have already fallen may also be good if they are up off the ground somewhat. If you stack it now, Mulberry, Ash, Walnut, Cherry, Red Elm etc. should be ready to go for sure, come this fall. Even small, barkless Oak or Hickory, if you can find some, may be really close.

 

[Hogwildz]

Well I have R-38 walls and an R-60 ceiling in a rancher. I built it with 2 outer walls so the usual insulation disturbances caused by wiring and such all happens within the inner of those 2 walls and is inside my vapor barrier. My other heat source is a geothermal so no other chimneys in the house. I will be running a HRV so I do not get in trouble with the inside air getting too stale and will be using an OAK with my stove.
Since I have never used wood heat I have no idea what my wood burning habits will be until I see what works for me.

Nice set up. I wish I could have built this place. I would have done double walls also. Insulation is great, but for me, more important is air sealing, which this place is soso at best.
Might want to take a cue from some otherS that use OAK here, and install it with some kind of shut off or flapper to close it off if/when the stove is not in use. Have read how some had issues with cold air dumping when the stove is not in use.
Burning habits come with time, and adjust with time & use of the stove. The first year or two you most likely will burn more, then as you fine tune how you burn the stove, and what species you burn, you will burn less in the following years till you hit the point of best efficiency with the wood, the stove and your habits. I improved steadily each year for about 6 or 7 of these 9 years. Most at the first few, then slowly tweaking habits. Pretty much leveled off now. For me, the biggest improvement, was going from 3 full loads a day, to 2, with the added benefit of not having the stove full of too many coals at time of next reload.
The first year is best to keep an eye on the stack up top & cap, for excess build up(mainly in shoulder seasons). That will also tell you how the wood you're burning is, and how well or not your burning habits may be. I checked mine every month the first year, cleaning the liner & cap 2 or 3 times. Once for heavy build up due to wood that just was not ready. Now, once a year it gets swept. Even if there is not much build up anymore, I still sweep and inspect 1x a year. And periodically peer up at the cap looking for build up.
Sounds like your getting ahead on wood, enjoy. And get more wood than you think you'll need.

 

[kennyp2339]

Wow sounds like a real nice place, I don't know about ur particlar wood usage.. Again burning habits, dryness of wood, actual winter temps all play a roll, but it sounds like you will be off to a good start, also it's not the end of the world if you come up short. You could always buy some bio bricks or get 2 cords of seasoned wood delivered now so they will be defiantly dry by next winter. Good luck

 

[Smoke Signals]

How may sq/ft you heating Oldman?

 

[razerface]

I bet 3 cord will do it. I burn approx that heating a new tight house over 3000 sq ft

 

[Mag Craft]

You have not mentioned how many square feet.
I have a pretty new well insulated air tight house 1500 square feet up stairs and we had a very mild winter here. I have used just a little more then 2 cord since October when I started burning.

 

[blacktail]

That's like asking if 3/4 tank of gas is enough to commute back and forth to work this week. It depends.

 

[Oldman47]

So, it is what I consider a big place at around 2500 sq ft. My intent with the insulation was to make it so I could heat it with little more than a few harsh words. I am not done with the walls and ceiling yet. I still need to mud and paint them, but this year the geothermal has been costing me about $100 per month to keep it comfortable for me to work in. The water furnace runs on stage 1 only for about 5 minutes each half hour when the outdoors temperature is around 25 to 30ºF so it is rather efficient of the BTUs. Although the stove is going to be central to a rather open plan I doubt I can get the heat into some of the more remote rooms so I only expect to heat around 1200 sq ft directly with the stove. That means I will be balancing the geothermal and the stove to get the best warmth throughout the rest of the house. The stove is not my primary heat source except when I have a power failure. When, not if, I have a power failure I hope to be able to actually live in what is left of my house that is still warm rather than dig out the 500 ft driveway and find a motel room in town. The stove is a little Napoleon 1100 that is rated to heat 600 to 1500 square feet and I figure I can land near the larger end of that with my insulation levels.

 

[Knots]

I have a heavily insulated ranch - although not as much as you. It's 1400 sq ft. I heat from the basement and there's bleed-over to the attached garage. I used about 2.5 cord of softer hardwood this winter. There were about 3 weeks where I was on the road and used propane. I would say you might just squeak by on 3 cords. I'd want a little margin on that though...

 

[sportbikerider78]

Get (or buy) 2 extra cords and call it a day. Not worth worrying about.
If you can afford to build 2 walls on your house, you can afford $400 in reserve wood.

Don't sweat the small stuff.

I'm entering the same situation without the same type home. I have a high ceiling ranch and I have been heating with a pellet stove. I burn 3 tons per year and really don't know now much wood that translates to for a wood stove. I'm going crazy for the first year. Worst case, I'll have some left over.

 

[Jags]

Where about in IL? There is about 3 distinct heating environments from the Northern boarder to the Southern tip.

 

[Oldman47]

I am central. Sometimes I am in the Gulf influence like southern and sometimes in the continental influence like Chicago. My weather patterns are like St Louis or Indianapolis but closer to Indy's temperatures most of the time.

 

[Jags]

3 cords will probably get you close. Keep in mind that at the end of the heating season you don't throw out the unused firewood. More is always better.

 

[Fred Wright]

It's kinda hard to tell until you've spent a winter burning wood for heat. Your first year will provide a close estimate though. I'd presume that 3 cord is a good start, given the info on your home.

A few factors determine how much wood you will use ~ the BTU rating of the wood species, how hot you want your home to be, how much burning you do, i.e. just on weekends or around the clock, how cold the weather gets and how long Ol' Man Winter decides to stick around.

Bear in mind that firewood needs to season well before you burn it. Many first timers miss this one (I did). Get it split and stacked in the open where air movement and sunlight can get to it. Some species will cure in a year, others take longer.

Hope it helps.

 

[Oldman47]

People always ask for a sketch so I printed out my floor plan and took a picture. The stove will be located on the back of the basement stairway enclosure. Right now I am in the process of installing the hearth as outlined in the picture. The funny looking L between the stove location and the kitchen is a recess I cut into the stairway space to be able to accommodate a larger stove if I later find I want one. I left that part of the wall because it is a load bearing wall. That wall of the stairway enclosure holds up a good part of the roof in that area. It is far easier to make changes like that before the finishing starts because you just unscrew the cement board, install the new floor supports and floor, move the studs and put the cement board back up. Total time with an unfinished wall and floor was only about 8 hours. For a sense of size perspective, all hallways are 4 feet wide except where I have an opening like at the stove where it is almost 9 feet wide from left to right on the picture. The stove is drawn to scale for my Napoleon 1100. The walls between the front hallway and the living room/dining room area are only 3 feet tall to just define the area and for furniture placement, not to close it off to air flow.

 

[kennyp2339]

Very nice layout... Looks functional, clean cut.. Are going to finish the basement to?

 

[Paulywalnut]

3 cords isn't that much for a whole winter season. Even well insulated, the stove will have to be really effective to shut it down and have it burn 24/7 with only 3 cords. The wood will have to be really dry for optimal heat too.

 

[Oldman47]

Very nice layout... Looks functional, clean cut.. Are going to finish the basement to?

No plans to finish the basement level at this time. Most of the time there will only be 2 of us bouncing around in all that space on the ground level.

 

[kennyp2339]

No plans to finish the basement level at this time. Most of the time there will only be 2 of us bouncing around in all that space on the ground level.

Tornado shelter? No humor in that either, that's some serious bad weather

 

[Oldman47]

Yes it is some serious bad weather. Actually the space under the stairs and the space under the front door airlock are both pretty well protected. The studs holding up those stairs are only 10 inches on center and 3 sides of the space under the entry air lock are 8 inch poured concrete.We live in tornado alley so it is always a good idea to have a survival plan. A tornado passed just 2 miles south of my present house around 15 years ago and took out a lot of houses. About 20 years ago I lost 2 yard trees and a neighbor 3 houses down had his back deck cover fly past my yard and end up the other side of me. That was not an officially recognized tornado but it was a strong enough wind to make you take notice.

 

[Nick Mystic]

Hi Oldman 47,
It sounds like you have quite a project going there with building your home. I can tell you've put a lot of thought into your plans, so I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I will share some of my experience so you can factor it into your final building plans. First off, with your geothermal heat I would think you might well end up burning only for supplemental heat unless you develop a love for burning like many of us here at the forum. If I'm right, then three cords a year is probably going to be enough wood each year. I burn 24/7 here in western NC and go through about 4 cords a year and we heat exclusively with our two wood stoves.

Secondly, with a house the size of yours I would go with a larger stove since the Napoleon 1100 is a pretty small stove. We have a Jotul F600 in our living room and a Woodstock Classic in the lower level family room. As many people here at the forum will testify getting heat upstairs from an unfinished basement is a real challenge, so I don't think you'll get much heating upstairs out of the small Napoleon.

Thirdly, I would try to figure out if I could place a stove on the main living level. Just about everyone here at the forum will tell you one of the things they enjoy most about heating with wood is being able to sit in their easy chair, soak up the heat from their woodstove while they watch the fire burn. I spend about an hour each night after my final reload lying in front of the fire watching it burn. Having a stove in an unfinished basement pretty much insures you won't be getting much time enjoying watching the fire burn. Even if you stick with your original plan of putting your stove in the basement you might want to give some thought to where you could put a stove on the main level of the house and design for it now in case you fall in love with wood burning later and decide you'd like to have a stove upstairs.

Good luck with your continuing efforts.