Thanks, guys. You're correct about the hot water baseboard. Six zones. Would be fun to have an outdoor boiler, but obviously a much bigger undertaking. Maybe I could put a wood boiler in the basement next to the oil boiler, down the road, but then I'd need to build another chimney stack. I was already dreaming of putting a second chimney stack adjacent to the oil boiler, if I could talk the wife into putting a wood cookstove in the kitchen above, down the road. Just for fun... and no time real soon.
Woodstoves are our compromise for now, since my wife doesn't want the "mess" of burning open hearths. I grew up in a house with three open fireplaces, and never thought them too messy, but I guess I wasn't doing the dusting. A dual-career family with precious little time for what's really important, our goal is not to eliminate oil completely, but to have some fun with woodburning, while cutting down on the oil usage as much as we can.
One family owned this house from 1773 to 1921, spanning five generations. I've been in contact with some members of that family, although the last generation of that family to live in this house is now passed on, several of their kids are still alive. It has changed hands a half dozen times since 1921.
In this case, the walls do talk... literally! The entire first generation to grow up in this house signed their names in the stucco on the interior face of the chimney on that original kitchen fireplace, sometime around 1775. Some of this stucco was removed to do a chimney repair, and some signatures are now covered by a third floor bathroom addition, but most are still visible in the attic. The builder also signed the same area, and drew some interesting pictures in the stucco.
Now back to your regularly scheduled program...
