Where to start….Intro, first real post & some pics—sorry kinda long

[Blue2ndaries]

Hi everyone. I’ve been lurking and learning, mainly learning, from this forum for almost 3 years now. I thought I would try to contribute something to this awesome site as opposed to just the “taking†I’ve done for the past few years.

Where to start… I found this forum back in 2008 when I was researching stoves for the house we were building at the time (we moved in the Spring of 2009). I found the camaraderie on this forum incredible; it seemed as though everyone on the forum were good, friendly neighbors sharing wisdom and knowledge. I had not seen such an online community before and was immediately taken in by it. We moved from a small 900sqft home we had been in for about 8yrs which was heated w/an old Fisher stove. That was my introduction to wood stoves and burning. My father-in-law “showed me the ropes†of burning and helped me get my first cords of wood. I’ve come to find that his “ropes†were, well, not exactly per this forum’s best practices. Anyway...

Just about everything I know about wood burning I’ve learned from this site—from burning in complete cycles (burn down to coals as opposed to just continually heaping wood into the old Fisher like I did before), to raking coals to the front and the tunnel-o-love, to cleaning my glass w/ash and a wet paper towel, to proper seasoning, moisture meters, to building my wood-shed. ALL of it I owe to this forum--thank YOU!

We have a Quadrafire 7100FP which we use as the primary heat source for our 2900sqft 1 level home. We have forced air-gas as “backupâ€. I specifically had return air ducts placed 1) over the stove in the great room and the other in the family/kitchen vaulted ceiling so I can re-circulate the hot air throughout the house by turning on the HVAC fan. Just built a woodshed this summer after my wife and I got sick of the tarps thing the last 2 Oregon winters—wet, wet, WET Got it loaded w/~11 cords (9 cords of oak, 2 doug fir). Have begun moving some wood to the back patio staging area. FINALLY ahead a bit and it feels great! Currently burning about 3-4 cord a year.

Well, enough for now. Enjoy the pics and thanks again for the wealth of wisdom. Hope to contribute more moving forward.

 

[jatoxico]

That is a great setup! Really nice, makin' me look bad and prob a good thing my wife doesn't come here.

Taking notes on all the nice sheds I see here and someday...

 

[FPX Dude]

Yup, awesome...."wood-shed" envy!

 

[weezer4117]

The goal on this forum is for folks to have what you have created, very well done!! Out of all of your pictures the one thing that stood out to me was the mini wheel barrow! I just LOVE strapping the little one in the truck with me to go cut some wood!! He puts on his gloves and dives rite in! Again, thanks for the illistrations and welcome to the forum.......

 

[bogydave]

Welcome
Awesome set up!
Like you, I've learned a tremendous amount of wood burning knowledge here.
And am still learning.
Thanks for sharing the great pictures.

 

[soupy1957]

"........... I’ve been lurking ................for almost 3 years now."

Creepy, ain't it!?

That fireplace really stands out!! Love the shed set up..............good luck with it.

-Soupy1057

 

[DexterDay]

In one word........ Nice!

The is one Bad A$$ shed, Heater, and Home... Jealous guy right here.

Welcome. This is a fantastic site.

 

[Pagey]

Wow! What a beautiful home, hearth, and shed! Welcome to the forums.

 

[CTYank]

Welcome.

You've obviously been studying.

One thing I could never understand, though, is the "raised hearth" which necessitates other means of heating for the region below. Sorry, but it never made sense to me as other than a fashion-statement. Not-a-slave-to-fashion here.

 

[firefighterjake]

I think I'm in love . . . with both the hearth and the woodshed.

 

[Manitoulin Maples]

Sounds like a similar story to mine...lurking, learning, seasoning, building a woodshed and finally registering! Good for you. You have a great set up there and the masonry work on the hearth is awesome.

 

[Jags]

Welcome (back) to the forum. That 7100 is sure a looker with the stone background of your setup. Very nice. And the wood shed...the second pic belongs on a fall calendar. Just say'in.

Nice. Very nice indeed.

 

[begreen]

Welcome, it sure looks like a beautiful setup. What part of Oregon is this? I need to add a third bay to our shed like that.

But 9 cords of oak in the northwest? >:-( Hrmph. That's rubbing it in.

 

[Blue2ndaries]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and all the kind words.

The goal on this forum is for folks to have what you have created, very well done!! Out of all of your pictures the one thing that stood out to me was the mini wheel barrow! I just LOVE strapping the little one in the truck with me to go cut some wood!! He puts on his gloves and dives rite in! Again, thanks for the illistrations and welcome to the forum.......

Indeed! Some say about kids..."When they are willing, they are not able and when they are able, they are not willing." My little guys (5 & 3yrs) were able to help this summer and were very eager to do so. Last year they were eager as well, but not too able... This summer they ran the splitter for me, well worked the lever that is, while I moved/positioned rounds. They were actually a great help, as my wife is expecting our third and was not able to help w/wood this year. I even farmed them out back in Aug to help my neighbor split his wood w/the splitter. They each earned an ice cream bar from him which made their day...

 

[Blue2ndaries]

Welcome.

You've obviously been studying.

One thing I could never understand, though, is the "raised hearth" which necessitates other means of heating for the region below. Sorry, but it never made sense to me as other than a fashion-statement. Not-a-slave-to-fashion here.

Hi CTYank...I raised the hearth for 2 reasons 1) after reading about someone on this forum doing something similar in order to facilitate easier loading w/o having to bend over as much or squat to load the stove. My old Fisher was on a 4in pedestal which made for much bending and squatting....ughhh 2) the hearth is 20in high...my wife sits on it in front of the fire a lot as do many family and guests when they come over. So this was more functional for me than aesthetic.

 

[Todd]

Great looking setup, love that big hearth and chimney. Where did you get all the Oak? I thought it was rare out west?

 

[rakuz66]

Dude, can you come to SE Pa and set me up like that? That's awesome!

 

[Blue2ndaries]

Welcome, it sure looks like a beautiful setup. What part of Oregon is this? I need to add a third bay to our shed like that.

But 9 cords of oak in the northwest? >:-( Hrmph. That's rubbing it in.

I'm west of Portland in SW Beaverton towards Hillsboro.

@Todd--Oak and other hardwoods (maple, ash, alder) are out here, just hard to come by. I am now into some leftover maple, madrone, and fir from 2007 when we cleared our lot to build the house. We have really been blessed w/our set-up. A neighbor across the street has 80 acres of which he has been clearing/thinning about 55acres and selling the timber for lumber since about 2006. Another neighbor friend next to me was walking down his road a few years back and noticed a bunch of trunks limbed and stacked by the road and inquired about it. Turns out the guy who was clearing his acreage could sell the fir, but would have to PAY to have the hardwoods hauled off! <insert wide-eyed emoticon here> He didn't burn wood and told my neighhbor friend he could have it, wow! What a jackpot! So he promptly let me know and we went over there and cut on it in the evenings and wknds for about 2 weeks. There was so much wood, we called another 2 guys to come over w/their teenage sons to help. We've been cutting over there ever since. The man is very generous and his wife let's us know when/where they have trees down.

So last summer (2010) my neighbor and I were up there cutting maple and some guy pulls up in a 4-wheeler. He says "Hi" and then "Well, Hi" to my neighbor friend (who is a doctor). Turns out the guy is a patient of my friend, has been for the past 20yrs. They chat and he tells my friend that he has the 28acre buffalo ranch up the ways as well as a 10acre plot of just trees next to the acreage we were cutting on. He said we could clear cut all we want in there---double wow!! Lots of maples, oak, madrone and fir. We estimate enough wood for the two of us for many years to come! So we have been really blessed and fortunate w/our wood supply.

 

[mecreature]

very cool set up.

the 7100 is a nice FP.

the downside for me on a raised hearth was the height of the mantle.
You have plenty of room above.

How well do you believe those cold air returns help the distribution of air. Good as anything else probably.

 

[Blue2ndaries]

very cool set up. the 7100 is a nice FP. the downside for me on a raised hearth was the height of the mantle. You have plenty of room above.

How well do you believe those cold air returns help the distribution of air. Good as anything else probably.

Yeah I was a little taken back by the 60in CTC requirement during construction, but glad we followed it. Last Christmas my wife had some candle decorations on the mantel and they got soft from the heat. The mantle itself gets very warm to the touch, but I can hold my hand on it.

As for the cold air returns, funny you asked b/c last night I turned on the HVAC fan to circulate the air and was curious about temps myself. I took my Fluke IR thermometer and shot the return at the ceiling and got 98deg (after about 2hrs of lighting the stove). I walked over to another room and shot the vent on the floor and got 86deg. After 15-20min I went back to the ceiling cold air retun above the stove and shot it again and it had dropped to 94deg. So I think it is at the minimum doing a good job of circulating the trapped warm air in the ceiling, if not actually providing warm air thruout the house.

But then, if I was a "Hearth.com" purist, I would need to count the electricity cost of using my HVAC fan as part of my heat circulation against my free/scrouge of wood for heating. %-P

 

[Stax]

Your hearth, stove and shed belong in a magazine. Absolutely beautiful.

 

[ScotO]

one word describes the whole thing.....phenominal!.....I love the fireplace, the room, and I am quite a bit JEALOUS of the woodshed......I have plans to build one next summer, that plan is officially a GUARANTEE after seeing your shed.....you should be proud of your accomplishment, we're installing our Napoleon NZ3000 right now and I can only hope it turns out as nice as your project....what a nice job!!

 

[fossil]

...One thing I could never understand, though, is the "raised hearth" which necessitates other means of heating for the region below. Sorry, but it never made sense to me as other than a fashion-statement. Not-a-slave-to-fashion here.

Both of my stoves sit on hearths that are built 12" above floor level. I need do nothing whatever to "heat the region below". I'm not a slave to fashion either...quite the contrary. But we're all slaves to aging (if we're lucky). Kneeling or bending over to load/tend the stove doesn't get any easier for me as I grow older. Raised hearths tend to mitigate that some. Besides that, I really like the way they look, as did my late wife. Rick

 

[Blue2ndaries]

@ Stax and Scotty --Very kind, thank you. As mentioned in the OP, I hope to contribute and give back some portion of what I have learned here. I've been able to pass along a few things I've learned from here to friends/family who are not very active on the 'Net let alone forums. My wife affectionately refers to folks here as "the wood nerds". When I was contemplating and laying out the shed this summer and was questioning things, she would say to me "what would your wood nerd friends do?"

 

[Dix]

...One thing I could never understand, though, is the "raised hearth" which necessitates other means of heating for the region below. Sorry, but it never made sense to me as other than a fashion-statement. Not-a-slave-to-fashion here.

Both of my stoves sit on hearths that are built 12" above floor level. I need do nothing whatever to "heat the region below". I'm not a slave to fashion either...quite the contrary. But we're all slaves to aging (if we're lucky). Kneeling or bending over to load/tend the stove doesn't get any easier for me as I grow older. Raised hearths tend to mitigate that some. Besides that, I really like the way they look, as did my late wife. Rick

I always liked that right pic, no room for you two :lol: