Ideal Steel in Maine

[Ctwoodtick]

We are looking for a house in the Moosehead Lake section of Maine. I’ve always liked the look and clean burning of the IS wood stove. We are looking at houses in the 1000-1500 sq ft range. I see the IS is rated for up to 2200 sq ft. Would this stove cook us out?
I realize that there are lots of variables but for point of reference, let’s say the house is “average” for insulation, draftiness, and whatnot.
Thank you

 

[Highbeam]

It is their biggest stove at 3.2 cubes but it is also one of their most controllable stoves so it offers a wide range of outputs including a substantially low low end. The 2200 SF rating is an "up to" rating. I would not hesitate to put an IS in my 1700 SF in western WA.

Are you really looking for 1000 SF homes? Are homes really that small up there? Or is this a recreational cabin type of place?

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Thanks for the info. Recreational mainly.

 

[peakbagger]

It gets real cold at Moosehead in the winter . if its a weekend snowmobile cabin you need to oversize it to get the place warm initially when you come up for a weekend. Keep in mind you need a dry wood supply and finding it for sale may be challenge as there are not a lot of year round folks up there. Folks who ice fish usually have to buy a couple of extensions for their ice augers if its traditional winter as other wise they may not make it to the bottom of the ice.

A general comment is if you are considering it for year round retirement place, it rarely a good fit for folks accustomed with more urban areas. The nearest "big town" is Skowhegan (not that big). Yes there is a small local grocery store with the basics but otherwise its an hours drive to Skowtown for groceries and Walmart. There is critical care hospital in town (at least for now) but expect if its serious you are in for helicopter ride.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

It gets real cold at Moosehead in the winter . if its a weekend snowmobile cabin you need to oversize it to get the place warm initially when you come up for a weekend. Keep in mind you need a dry wood supply and finding it for sale may be challenge as there are not a lot of year round folks up there. Folks who ice fish usually have to buy a couple of extensions for their ice augers if its traditional winter as other wise they may not make it to the bottom of the ice.

A general comment is if you are considering it for year round retirement place, it rarely a good fit for folks accustomed with more urban areas. The nearest "big town" is Skowhegan (not that big). Yes there is a small local grocery store with the basics but otherwise its an hours drive to Skowtown for groceries and Walmart. There is critical care hospital in town (at least for now) but expect if its serious you are in for helicopter ride.

Thank for the stove Info and info about the area. It seems unlikely that we’d be retiring there. Ideally, it will be a long weekend and summer place while we are still able to enjoy it up there. We’re still in the looking around phase. Thanks again.

 

[peakbagger]

Now that the Plum Creek development is canceled, its going to stay a remote relatively undeveloped lake. It is decidely a long way from anywhere, thats why a lot of Southern New England folks end up in the Rangeley/Mooslookmeguntic Lakes area. They go north on I 93 or 91 and then cut west through Northern NH to avoid the I 95 weekend parking lot. For skiers, there is Sugarloaf and Saddleback is spending a lot of bucks to give it another go. Good luck on the hunt.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

We’re looking at The Forks as well. We’ve been up there a number of times. What’s your take on that area?

 

[SpaceBus]

It is their biggest stove at 3.2 cubes but it is also one of their most controllable stoves so it offers a wide range of outputs including a substantially low low end. The 2200 SF rating is an "up to" rating. I would not hesitate to put an IS in my 1700 SF in western WA.

Are you really looking for 1000 SF homes? Are homes really that small up there? Or is this a recreational cabin type of place?

Around lakes they tend to be smaller since they are vacation homes. Really most of Maine is just vacation homes.

 

[Bad LP]

I know the area all too well.
When it comes to stoves you will want the largest stove you can fit because you have the option of smaller fires or you can pack it full and rip it.
Been there for 25 years now. What area are you looking at? It's a lot of real estate. Was at both West Forks and Millinocket earlier this week.

 

[peakbagger]

Unless you are going for a place on one of the ponds up near the Forks I would pick Moosehead. You can go fishing and cover a lot of territory on Moosehead but you are pretty limited on the Kennebec River as the level varies widely from shoals to whitewater depending on the power demand in Boston. There are two major hydro electric dams feeding the forks from Flagstaff lake and Moosehead. Route 201 is major truck route in the valley along the river and its surprising how far the sound carries on a clear night. The Forks is a bit closer to Skowhegan than Moosehead. Flagstaff is another nice lake if you like to canoe and kayak. Its a hydroelectric storage lake and the elevation varies a lot more than Moosehead. Lots of nice beaches and islands plus the upper lake is rarely visited. The trade off is there are not a lot of camps on it as the State of Maine owns most of the shoreline. Big power boats dont do well as its shallow with lots of floating logs to spoil high speed runs. Eustis is on the western end, camps come up for sale on occasion but when the lake gets low its long walk in mud to get to the water. Sugarloaf ski area is just down the road.

Head west to the next watershed and check out the Rangeley area. All the attributes of Moosehead but two hours closer. Farmington is the closest big town but as mentioned folks drive up through Northern NH to avoid I95. Gorham NH has a Walmart. Note the price of admission is higher for camps on Rangeley and Mooselookmeguntic , there is also several other lakes in the area and some very famous brook trout rivers.