Heating with wood only

[WILDSOURDOUGH]

Two Heating Sources...
Wood and Wood
It is not a problem or a hassle, but maybe that's just us.

SIP/ICF Ranch with attached garage and full walkout basement, 2300' on each level
Wife and I designed and built (we did 'build it ourself's' !) it this way... and it's wonderfully warm- maybe 2-3 degrees cooler in bedrooms for sleeping, depending on if we keep the doors shut or not.
In our 50s- don't care about resale value cuz I'm staying till I'm gone. But if a super insulated, very well constructed home with 10 acres of fields and 4 of woods- in the country, with almost non-exsistant utility bills doesn't appeal to someone...I would be very suprised ! (and I would tell them to keep on walking !).

"Most people avoid success cuz it's dressed in overalls and looks like work"

 

[KateC]

Wish that we could. One of the reasons we bought this house was for the fireplace so we could heat with wood, but due to an unfortunate setup (exterior chimney for a '50's heatform and a woodchuck installer who doesn't believe in block-off plates) we just can't do it. However. we have cut our fuel-oil bills down to a third of what we used our first year, and instead of being bundled up in sweaters and grumpy with the thermostat at 65 we're setting it at 58 and sweating in our skivvies. I have to admit that it's really a more than fair compromise for now----but if and when we build for ourselves it'll be designed for wood heat from the get-go. I'm envious of you guys who can and do heat exclusively with wood but unless I have the right house, stove, set-up and wood supply I'm not gonna freeze my babushkas off on principal.

Every situation is unique and we all do the best we can with what we have to work with.

 

[WILDSOURDOUGH]

Kate
Yep- been there.
Our last house, before we built- was a small 1890's farmhouse, you know the type- no insulation in the walls- oil heat to replace the coal burner that came original to the 'farm'- no matter what we did, always frozen at home.... vowed that it we could sell the farm, would build a 'WARM' home. After ten years, we were very lucky to sell- 'at the peak', and got to build- but I BELIEVE, that you will still get your chance too. DREAM and BELIEVE ! (and plan for it.)
Best of You.

 

[johnsopi]

I put too much wood on last night, had to open the window and turn the fan on high at 1:30 am. It cooled down by 2:30 I'll have to look
for more poplar in the main wood pile, the oak is too hot.

 

[Willhound]

Two winters ago, and most of last winter I worked out of the house, and the Summit insert easily heated my entire 1850 sq. ft. backsplit since I was able to keep things cookin' during the day. The business finally outgrew the home office, so the furnace does get used again now, but set at about 60 during the day, just enough so that pipes don't freeze in the basement.

I think you could do 2700 sq.ft. if you never let things cool off and add some insulation, but you're on the edge I think with most stoves/inserts. Second stove could work, maybe as a short term solution while you get some more insulation in. I'm a big fan of longer term passive solutions like insulation. I see it as an investment. Guess it also depends on how long you plan on staying in the house. I like to burn wood, but as I get older, I can see the benefit of just keeping more of the heat inside, cold outside and running for less wood.

 

[downeast]

Design the home to use a wood heater efficiently. With the help of an architect, or using proven designs such as a New England
classic Cape, heating with wood will work. Our 1200 ft² heavily insulated 'addition' to a 24x24 temporary cottage with no plumbing, was built to heat with a single Encore cat stove in 2001. The go away backup is an Empire wall vented gas heater that will run without power to heat the 1200 ft² up to 55 F. The original 24X24 is blocked off with solid foam closed and from the gas heated addition when we're away.
Choices from the ground up to use wood were not complex: another stand alone wood stove ~ $2600 total excluding chimney; masonry fireplace or Russian stove mass heater ~ $15,000 total including added foundation and skilled labor for the basic models; or a central wood furnace such as HS Tarm ~ $9000.+ total for the furnace and loabor plus duct or water pipes. The woodlot supplies the wood for now.
Space, cost, familiarity, and ease of installation = the wood stove. Though we wanted a masory fireplace, the extra cost, extra space needed , and long payback compared with a wood stove didn't make the cut. The furnace also needs more space and HVAC work
As was said, most mortgage brokers will not loan to a wood heated home, stoves or other. When we bought and restored a place in northern Massachusetts in the 80's, we just installed electric baseboards as "real" heat for a construction loan and mortgage. Cheap, simple and satisfied the bank insurance regs. It was rarely used.
So two wood stoves do 99% of our heating. They'll keep the two parts of the house going for 24 hours well over 60 F in anything but single temperatures to below zero F. The stoves are loaded only a few times a day, with easy to relight coals most mornings.
It's luxurious to enjoy wood heat. Many of our friends' and neighbors using fossil fuels keep their places in the low 60's. Most (except for those of you using wood) can't believe that they are so warm in our home. No, we don't run around nude, but close to in t-shirts and nude feet. Cold ? Get another armful for the stoves.
The work is usually fun. It is about 1 month in all each year usually cutting now for next winter. Unfortunately, the 2 1/2 feet on the ground here now make felling and bucking difficult but do-able. Just whining.

 

[whenley]

Rockey,
I have a 2700 sqft two story colonial, 8 ft ceilings, and have one stove, the Lopi Declaration. The floor on which the stove is located runs the gament from 66 - 74, with the higher temps being in the 450 sqft room in which the stove is located. The 2nd floor usually runs at about 62. I do have the furnace kick in twice a day on the 2nd floor for 15mins before activity occurs.

I am sure that if there was some effective method to get the heat up the stairs it would be a little warmer, but without major renovations to the house the 62 will have to do.
Erik

My house situation is very similar to Erik. I live in VA. Two wood stoves, basement and main level. In the cold, I run the wood stoves hard, and the basement/main floor is quite nice, but heat does not go upstairs. My problem is my "furnace" is two heat pumps (main level and upstairs). And when it gets cold (<30F) the dang heat pumps just don't put out any heat. And I sure don't want those blasted strip heaters to kick in. Heat pumps are such a stupid solution for regions that get cold. When it gets cold, and you really need heat - heat pump efficiency drops to zero - and they just don't cut it. So I'm a wood stove junkie. Near 100% wood for heat (wood is free from the property), space heater in bedroom for morning/evening. Unless we live in NC or below, I will never ever have a heat pump again. But 100% wood is a lot of work, no doubt about that.

 

[RedRanger]

Downeast: That is the excellent kind of communication that I was trying to get across to my wood-burning friends on this forum.We also heat primarily with wood-60to80%. And there is no heat like it. But whether we like it or not, we are all going to age :long: And someday are going to have to sell and move on. In most cases, if your home is only heated with wood, it makes it a very hard sell,namely for the reasons you mentioned, mortgage brokers,banks,credit unions,etc. wont loan the prospective buyer money for a house heated exclusively with wood. I know that if I were younger and building with wood heat in mind I would install cheap baseboard heaters and probably rarely use them. But it would satsify the buyers and lenders. That is all I was trying to convey. Thanks.

 

[Codeman812]

We heat with wood only. Once I get another wood stove my propane forced air furnace will be taken out and not replaced. The furnace has not kicked on yet. It isn't above 65 all the time in out house but it is just as warm as the furnace kept it at lesser cost. Our house was built in approximately 1860. We still have single paned glass downstairs, 10 ft ceilings downstairs and 8 ft windows including 2 bays. We were going through about 200 - 300 gallons of propane a month (in the winter months.) When the temps fell below 5 degrees F the forced air furnace ran 24 hours a day until it warmed up outside. We heat with wood because we can't afford the propane anymore. If heating with wood is all you can afford, you will find a way to make it work, in any setup. If heating with wood is all you want to heat with, you will find a way to make it work. Does it take some ingenuity, time and effort? Absolutely. Is the end result satisfying and worth it? Absolutely.

Edit: I guess because I am still young and resale of my house would involve it being knocked down and something commercial being built in its place, is the reason I do not worry about resale value. Although if we do stay I would like to put in an indoor wood boiler with baseboard radiant heat.