My Story - DIY Stove Replacement and Refacing

[fireberd350]

My story starts 2 years ago when we bought this house. We inherited an old Belgium made Efel wood burning stove. It was rather unsightly and didn't work really well. Let's start at the beginning...

What the Living Room looked like while listed for Sale
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The entire house was a wreck. I gutted the entire house inside and out(a story for another time). Jump ahead to some quick lipstick on the stone
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Move-In ready at this point. Redid the floors as well. Other than some paint, the stone and stove are still as I inherited them.
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Some close ups of the Efel Kamina that I inherited. Rather ugly and didn't work worth a damn. Sold it on craigslist for $100. Notice the installation. 8" to 6" reducer to a steel blocker plate over the entire opening. I'll re-use this bad-boy for my new blocker plate
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Initial debris removal complete.
TIP: This dust is terrible. It ended up coating EVERYTHING on my first floor. Be very careful when cleaning your own fireplace.
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Sweet! Damper already removed. It's sitting up on the ledge.
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Bottom of the box has this plate with a lid. Looks like an ash discard. Drops down pretty far. In my basement below there's a door I can access and clean out the ash. Neat design. Not sure if I can use this or not but it'd be really cool if I could
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Making room for the Liner. Sawzall for the metal. Boschhammer for the stone. Took all of 5min.
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Took a stab at cleaning the bricks. Worked some diluted degreaser with a car wheel brush then wiped up clean with some rags.
I'm putting in a freestanding stove so I'd like the box to be black, but I didn't like all that soot. I'm undecided if I'm going to clean the back or not. Any tips on getting the bricks dark colored but clean?
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[fireberd350]

All new stucco and roof and I had the chimney swept before moving in. Looks fresh and clean
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Hopefully enough room to fit a 6" insulated double wall rigid pipe down there
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Looking at following forum guru hogwildz lead with a Double Wall insulated rigid Dura-Vent Duraliner tied to an uninsulated flex line to the stove.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dura-Vent...elining-Double-Wall-Round-Rigid-Pipe/33162508

Details of my liner decision making in another thread @ https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/yet-another-liner-decision-thread.131211/#post-1764839

I followed JeffStinson's thread very closely. He lives in the same climate, has the same house layout, and is a novice like myself. Lots of good tips in his story (and motivation for me to document my story). I recommend checking it out
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/new-wood-burning-guy-insert-suggestions-and-ideas.114403/


I juggled the idea of an insert but ended up going with the Englander NC-13 freestanding stove. For the price it couldn't be beat. $600 after a 10% discount! I hope to get a few years out of this and then upgrade to a big boy once funds allow.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Englander-1-800-sq-ft-Wood-Burning-Stove-13-NCH/100157775?N=5yc1vZc4ls

 

[Swedishchef]

Wow. This is a great post! Nice Mantle/Hearth!

And here I was..decided that when I move in a few months I was gonna go pellet style. Now you're swinging me back to the light with a beautiful install like this...

Andrew

 

[fireberd350]

My $0.02 If you are buying the wood, go with a pellet stove. Much easier and cleaner. If you are obtaining the wood for free or little money then wood stove is the way to go!

Thanks for the compliments and good luck with your settlement. Can't wait to get this thing fired up. Last winter was rough!!

 

[Swedishchef]

Yes, last winter was rough indeed. We received 530 CM of snow.
I will likely have to go pellet in my next house. I plan on buying a house in the city (I don't enjoy 2+ hours of snow removal every storm). I am simply at a time in my life where I don't have much time. Yard upkeep, cutting wood, etc is something I love to do but can't find the time to do right now.

Once again, awesome install!