Neighbor thinks im crazzy

[salmonhunter]

Well I Been gathering wood since april and have accumulated around 5 cords. We had a new neighbor move in next door and we got to talking and he remarks about all the wood I got stacked in the back yard. Every time I pull in to the drive way with a load of wood and he is sitting on his patio he laughs and says something like holly chit what ya gonna do with all that damn wood or dont ya got enough already?. He thought it was even funnier when I told him I dont even have a stove yet. Ohh well some people just dont understand. But thats what I get for buying a house in the city. Hopefully in a couple of years I will be able to convince the wife to sell the house and move out to the country.

 

[thewoodlands]

Nice work salmonhunter. When and what kind of stove are you getting?

zap

 

[Thistle]

Just tell him "If I have to explain....you wouldnt understand..."

 

[fishingpol]

When you are in a t shirt in your home in the dead of winter, then, will he understand.

My neighbor and I were splitting a good score of dead locust a few summers ago. It was a hot day and another neighbor came over and called us idiots or something like that. Needless to say we were more than comfortable that winter. Kind of like the ant and the grasshopper fable.

 

[rdust]

I live in the "country", there are 6 of us relatively close and 4 of us burn wood. Needless to say they think I'm crazy. My favorite is "your wood will rot before you can use it", I just smile and say I don't think I'll have a problem.

 

[fox9988]

Just compare heating bills after you get the stove up and running, then let him back up to it on a cold day

 

[jwoair23]

I know exactly how you feel! I live in the city too, and the houses around me are within feet. They constantly ask me what I am going to do with all the wood, and I just say "Burn it!". I'm quite sure I am the crazy good guy of my neighborhood, but hey, every neighborhood has to have one!

 

[Shadow&Flame]

Just tell him you are working to heat your home.
If its Electricity, Gas, Oil, Coal or Wood...we all have to work for it.
Keep up the good work and at least we understand....

 

[salmonhunter]

I ordered an enerzone 1.8 insert. The dealer said he will be able to install in in a couple of weeks. Wasn't the insert I had planed on getting but that is the one the dealer recomended since I have a small fireplace opening. He said it will be able to heat my house even though im a little worried its too small. Either way it should still cut back on the oil bill considerably.

 

[DexterDay]

Congrats. . . . .

Got any pics? ?

We have a saying? PICS.... Never happened

As for the stove. Whether it cuts the fuel out completely, or cuts down on it, your gonna love it!

 

[Locust Post]

Good for you SH on getting a stove on the way. I am quite sure you will enjoy the fruits of your labor even if it does not completly heat the house. My stove won't do the whole house in the real cold temps but it makes a huge difference. I'll take a $50 or $60 gas bill over my neighbor's $300 bill

 

[osagebow]

Just compare heating bills after you get the stove up and running, then let him back up to it on a cold day

indeed! And wait till the powere goes out in a blizzard!

 

[bogydave]

We were 3 days with out power mid winter, a few years back.
House was warm, no frozen pipes. Plumbers got rich that winter. We got spoiled with the house at 72° & no heat bill.

I was burning junky wood with an old stove. Joined "Hearth.com forum" & now look.
A new stove & almost 3 yrs of wood, a wood shed, Hyd splitter & having fun doing it all. & new friends who understand my nutty-ness

Neighbors see my stacks out back seasoning & think I'm nuts. Then see the wood shed & know I'm nuts. Ha HA
They're probably right, but I think it's more envy though

Don't forget :::::: It's Tax free $$

 

[PapaDave]

Once the new stove/insert is in and you've got a handle on your fires, invite the new neighbor over.
He'll change his tune.....maybe.

 

[fishingpol]

Once the new stove/insert is in and you've got a handle on your fires, invite the new neighbor over.
He'll change his tune.....maybe.

You'll never get him to leave. Invite the wife over. She'll see how toasty it is in there and go back and smack him in the head for being lazy and not gathering wood.

 

[Wood Duck]

People who don't burn regularly have no idea how much wood it takes to heat a house over the winter. Everyone has heard of a cord of wood but most people seem to think the pile you burn at a few campfires is about a cord. A cord is big and you need a bunch of them! Once in a while I look at my own stacks and think they are ridiculous even though I know I could burn it all in three winters.

 

[Gark]

Congrats on being ready for the wood burner. Another way to counter the skeptical folk is to have calculated the heat available in your wood stash. "There's 93 million BTU sitting here, waiting to heat us through 2 winters". Easy to calculate, using the firewood-BTU charts. Though most folk don't have much idea what a BTU is, when you say 'MILLION' they sometimes change their opinion. LOL.

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

Everyone I work with thinks I'm nuts, then we start talking about burning wood and they know it.
One guy said I'd be lucky if I saved over $100 a winter, he's the nut.
I KNOW how many BTU it takes to heat my house, and it's all stacked and drying in the yard.
My stove will pay for itself in just over 2 years and the sooner you get it in the sooner it pays itself off. We're planning on being here for many years so it was a no brainer...

 

[blacktail]

I'm close to town but still in the country. Firewood makes for a good topic of conversation with the neighbors. I got a warm fuzzy feeling after I moved in and one of the neighbors told me nobody here cared if I burned during a burn ban.

 

[Ashful]

Oh, the advantages of seclusion. I've split and stacked 6.5 cords since spring, and the only neighbor to notice is a fellow woodburner.

 

[chvymn99]

When your in shorts and t-shirt in the dead of winter or even with your front door open. You'll still be the crazy neighbor, but you'll be warm and cozy. 75 Degrees wood burning heat is nuttin' like 75 degrees forced air heat. My other half wasn't a believer and complained that we would have a wood smell in the house. We'll I think I made a believer out of her.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Everyone I work with thinks I'm nuts, then we start talking about burning wood and they know it.
One guy said I'd be lucky if I saved over $100 a winter, he's the nut.
I KNOW how many BTU it takes to heat my house, and it's all stacked and drying in the yard.
My stove will pay for itself in just over 2 years and the sooner you get it in the sooner it pays itself off. We're planning on being here for many years so it was a no brainer...

That one statement showed without a doubt what an idiot he is. If that is all one could expect, nobody in his right mind would burn wood.


EDIT: It reminds me of the neighbor who said all that insulation, new doors and new windows we put in would not make any difference in heating or cooling the house. Yet, a week ago he was here and I made sure I pointed out how easily we could keep this place cool. I guess he forgot what he had said because he didn't argue about the cooling.

 

[PapaDave]

Dennis, some people prefer FUD over facts.

 

[Jags]

Through dumb luck several years ago, I installed my current stove a year prior to a large propane price spike. It was my second year of burning and I had worked many of the kinks out and had plenty of good dry fuel on hand. Paid for that pricey bastage just after the two year mark. From that point on, basically any BTU that it pumped out was tax free and reducing my need for the trucked in gas. Been burning 4-5 cords per year ever since.

If you have to explain it - chances are that they won't "get it".

 

[firefighterjake]

Everyone I work with thinks I'm nuts, then we start talking about burning wood and they know it.
One guy said I'd be lucky if I saved over $100 a winter, he's the nut.
I KNOW how many BTU it takes to heat my house, and it's all stacked and drying in the yard.
My stove will pay for itself in just over 2 years and the sooner you get it in the sooner it pays itself off. We're planning on being here for many years so it was a no brainer...

Next year at this time ask the guy how much he paid to heat his house with heating oil at $3.36-$3.76 a gallon and compare it to your house (keeping in mind the relative sizes of both) . . . or simply add up the cost to heat the home last winter (a very mild winter for us) to this coming year. I would wager my paycheck for two weeks that you will most definitely save over $100 this year in heating costs and will quickly pay off the cost of the stove, install, etc. in a few years.

It still blows my mind that in one of the most heavily wooded states east of the Mississippi that more folks aren't heating with wood or wood by-products . . .