After years of looking, we finally found our dream land, but the house... not so hot (literally). It's a 1970s, done on the cheap bungalow. It's 1200 sq. ft. of drafty, one pane windows (in Canada!), drafty doors, and a few electric baseboards scattered here and there (some working, some not).
The farmer that lived here before us was using a wood stove in the basement. The whole basement was coated in creosote and was stomach-churning due to the rancid smoke smell. The inspector found the chimney/flue to have evidence of fires and he recommended sealing it off (it was collapsing as well). We gave away the old wood stove to a neighbour with a workshop he wanted to heat.
We are presently looking to heat our home. We are replacing the windows next spring so for this year, we'll cover them in plastic. We have a fireplace in the basement surrounded with brick and stone. We were going to have someone check the chimney and then use either a little wood stove put in there or an insert. Is that even worth it? The basement is cold and we would like heat for the pipes. There is electric, but we have common and lengthy power outages so we're hoping to find something that doesn't need any electricity to operate.
Would it make more sense to put a wood stove in the basement or upstairs? The upstairs living room and kitchen is one big area. I would love to have a wood cook stove, but I don't think it will fit. We're stuck on whether a wood stove would better heat the stove from upstairs or downstairs and we keep getting conflicting advice.
Also, regarding the stove, we would like to have a cast iron stove, but how can we tell the stoves that are all cast iron and not just wrapped in cast iron? We really like the looks of a more modern stove, but that seems like a tough challenge to combine with the cast iron or soapstone.
We have learned so much from reading through these forums. We're so happy to learn from all of your knowledge and experience.
Thank you,
Nicole
The farmer that lived here before us was using a wood stove in the basement. The whole basement was coated in creosote and was stomach-churning due to the rancid smoke smell. The inspector found the chimney/flue to have evidence of fires and he recommended sealing it off (it was collapsing as well). We gave away the old wood stove to a neighbour with a workshop he wanted to heat.
We are presently looking to heat our home. We are replacing the windows next spring so for this year, we'll cover them in plastic. We have a fireplace in the basement surrounded with brick and stone. We were going to have someone check the chimney and then use either a little wood stove put in there or an insert. Is that even worth it? The basement is cold and we would like heat for the pipes. There is electric, but we have common and lengthy power outages so we're hoping to find something that doesn't need any electricity to operate.
Would it make more sense to put a wood stove in the basement or upstairs? The upstairs living room and kitchen is one big area. I would love to have a wood cook stove, but I don't think it will fit. We're stuck on whether a wood stove would better heat the stove from upstairs or downstairs and we keep getting conflicting advice.
Also, regarding the stove, we would like to have a cast iron stove, but how can we tell the stoves that are all cast iron and not just wrapped in cast iron? We really like the looks of a more modern stove, but that seems like a tough challenge to combine with the cast iron or soapstone.
We have learned so much from reading through these forums. We're so happy to learn from all of your knowledge and experience.
Thank you,
Nicole