Heating Barn Converted Office - Seeking Advice

[Shearerhollow]

Hello All,

I recently bought my family's old homestead and converted what used to be an old woodshop to a home office.

Overview of the room:

• About 200 sq ft.
• Three walls are exposed to outside other wall is to adjoining unheated room.
• Walls are comprised of barnboard exterior, framing, then tongue and groove boards on interior
• ceiling is uninsulated - but is comprised of 1 layer of barn board, 3/4" plywood, and two layers of asphalt shingles on roof
• Concrete slab for floor
• Air tight for the most part - there are some pretty drafty spots but it's mostly air tight

Overview of Heat Source:

• I have a Quadra Fire woodstove - unsure of make/model as the serial number plate was removed before I got it
• Pictures attached - interested if anyone knows which model this is

Problem Statement:

The room is pretty comfortable when it is ~35-40* outside temp. When it is less than this - it get's pretty cold, when it exceeds this exterior temp, it's pretty dang hot in here. I live in Western Massachusetts where winter time fluctuations are regularly ranging from 0* to 40* from day-to-day.

I had a Heat Reclaimer on the stove - but after researching more and learning that it had to continuously operate (regardless of heat in the room) - I discarded it.

I'm wondering if there's something I can do to circulate heat more aggressively during cold days that I can "turn off" in afternoons or days where I just need a little bit of radiant heat.

I use the office during business hours - so I usually let the fire go out overnight and restart in the morning. On a cold day, it takes some time to heat up in the AM.

Any suggestions/Help is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[rwhite]

The wood stove looks like its burning fine. Trying to heat a big slab of concrete in cycles is an uphill battle. I'd think even with no insulation that stove would cook you out of 200 sqft but obviously not. More insulation is my only idea. Short of that I'd probably do a reload once you get ready to leave for the evening. Might not go all night but it would help overcome a bit of the differential every morning. I'd also consider covering at least part of the slab with carpet and pad. Even a 10x10 area where you work will feel warmer if your feet aren't in contact with concrete.

 

[Caw]

I live in MA and heat my entire 1600 sq ft home with a small 1.85 cu ft stove. To me that seems like mega overkill for 200 sq ft. It'll be hard to keep it from baking you out.

Since it's such a small space what about adding insulation and using an electric heat source? It wouldn't be very expensive to heat such a tiny area and you can turn it on/off with a switch. You could also program said switch to your phone to get it toasty before you arrive without having to go to the room!