New Home Design Advice

[jhambley]

We are just starting to design our new home and could use some advice from those familiar with heating with wood.
Assume the size of the house is approximately 2500 square feet.

Some questions:

1. We were thinking of building a "barn style" home with a very open floor plan. The bedrooms would be located in the second floor lofts located on both ends of the home with the center area open from the first floor to the roof. We thought this might be the best design if we were to locate the wood stove on the first floor in the center of the home with the chimney passing up through the second floor and out the roof. Does this sound like a good design?

2. Would it be better to use several smaller wood stoves or a large centrally located stove.

3. Any suggestions for moving and storing wood indoors and out? How about making clean up and ash removal easier and less messy?

4. What is the cheapest backup heating system that might be used when away from home?

5. Any advice on whether we should use a masonry stove or just free standing woodstove(s)?

6. We were thinking maybe we could add a cookstove in the Kitchen area as well.

7. We are starting with a blank slate so any other suggestions you might have would be greatly appreciated

Thank you in advance for your time.

JH

 

[peakbagger]

IMHO, Whatever you do, keep the center chimney and run it through the highest point on the roof. A good tall interior chimney is going to make a marginal stove burn well and limit the amount of creosote that forms in the stack

 

[colebrookman]

Insulate, insulate and insulate. Windows with good southern exposure, heat in floor from solar panels, then worry about size and type of heating appliance. My 2c.
Ed

 

[northwinds]

I like your number one. Center interior chimney is a great way to design it. As for number two, I used to think that I'd like two stoves, but
one that does the job means one less fire to be tending, one less chimney that needs cleaning, one less stove that needs parts, etc.

Re: number three. Wood is messy. A woodbox helps keep the mess down. Carrying wood in a tub (plastic, metal, whatever)
keeps the mess in the tub.

I have no advice on backup heat. Really depends on local factors: cost of electricity, natural gas, propane, etc.

I love my freestanding stove, and I've had masonry fireplaces in other homes. Matter of preference. The stove is less
expensive. The stove doesn't require a fan.

I've always liked the idea of a cookstove in the kitchen too, but other members of my household like turning on a switch.

 

[wendell]

If I could start from scratch, I would absolutely figure out a way to put in a Tulikivi!

http://www.tulikivi.com/www/kotien.nsf/indexen!ReadForm

 

[basod]

If you have budget wich most do. Don't cut corners on insulation. I have dreams of a barnstyle shell wrapped in SIPs-Structurally Insulated Panels. Double sided stone hearth rising through center of vaulted beam structure ceiling.
But I live on budget, bought reasonble Cape style home in mountains with land. I have replaced all pine clapboard/styrofoam sheathing with Hardie plank/PT plywood lower 4' +OSB rest, siding myself, and corrected random acts of insulation from early 80's construction. Upgraded all windows to solid vinyl frame double panel low e glass. Replaced wood doors that swell/stick in summer, shrink/leak in winter. I also removed any trace of wood or potential rot/termite attractant on exterior with solid PVC trim.
Think low maintenance, energy effiecient, strong, well built. A big great room would make anyone proud but if you are breaking your back cutting wood to heat it, or shelling out thousands in heat bills How "GREAT" is that great room.

 

[northwinds]

If I could start from scratch, I would absolutely figure out a way to put in a Tulikivi!

http://www.tulikivi.com/www/kotien.nsf/indexen!ReadForm

I was looking at masonry heaters for the new-house-that-never-came-to-be-because-of-the-housing-downturn. But then I realized
that I like to have fire going all day and to putter around with it. Masonry heaters burn hot and fast, and then you're done
as they release the heat all day.

What happened to the Michigan dude who has a masonry heater? Should be about time for him to show up for the heating
season.

Take a look at these, Wendell. These folks are just up interstate.

(broken link removed to http://www.gimmeshelteronline.com/masonry/portfolio.html)

 

[begreen]

The centrally located stove is a great idea and with new construction, if done well, it can be heated with not too much of a stove. Have you considered a masonry stove? That might be a good solution with some nice benefits. Vaulted ceilings and lofted bedrooms are often heat traps. Just the opposite of what is good for comfortable sleeping. That's the only part of the plan I'd look closer at.

 

[smabon]

Great choice with a post and beam house, they are beautify. I can only give you suggestions on a couple of your question. With your wood storage question. A friend of mine recently remodeled his house and what he did was added a wood storage room attached to his house. It can hold just about a cord in it at a time. He has a door on a wall near his stove so that when he needs wood to load the stove he opens the door, grabs an arm full and loads the stove. I thought it was a good idea. Though I would be concerned about insects. When the storage gets low he grabs another cord with his tractor and reloads it. If you would like pics, I might be going out to visit him in November, let me know. Only other suggestion I might have is to install ceiling fans to help circulate the air. Once you got it built please post some pics.

 

[firefighterjake]

1. My wife and I have had similar discussions . . . when we build our next home we would like to make it smaller than what we have now (not a lot, but a little smaller since we rarely use the two upstairs bedrooms and bathroom), go with an open floor plan, have an actual basement and we would incorporate the heating system to be more centrally located. I think going with a woodstove on the first floor with a chimney going up through the center makes a lot of sense. The one thing I like, but would not put into my house is a loft. Having stayed in homes with lofts and having seen my own Uncle's experience lofts look great, but as BG mentioned the heat tends to rise and collect into these spots making them wicked hot.

2. I think going with a single woodstove would be a better option than going with two woodstoves . . . just for the simplicity aspect . . . unless the lay-out of the building is more of a sprawling type of affair.

3. I'm a big fan of the woodshed (which is why I built one) . . . although I try to keep a week's supply of wood on my covered back porch so I can step out anytime and grab some wood if we're in middle of a day-long blizzard. In my case to minimize the mess I use one of those canvas totes and haul the wood to a woodbox which holds a day's worth of wood. This is what works for me . . . there are no doubt other ways that work for others, many of which may work better.

4. Back-up heat . . . guess it depends on what is available. Right now it seems as though natural gas is the cheapest, but I can guarantee you Unity, Maine will not be getting natural gas in my life-time so it boils down to oil, kerosene or propane. Of all of these, oil seems to be cheapest and most wide-spread . . . but that is here in my corner of the world . . . things may be differently for you.

5. Honestly, my wife and I have talked and we would give some serious consideration to going with a masonry heater . . . there is an extra cost, but the appeal of clean burning and just lighting a couple of fires each day and then having the heat radiate out is very attractive in a cold environment like Maine. That said, I think I would still like to incorporate an area for a woodstove -- both for the visual and auditory sensations and for those days when you just want a small, quick fire to take the chill out of the air . . . of course this is all assuming the budget would work for this . . . at this point . . . just my dream scenario.

6. Cooking with a woodstove wouldn't be my "thing" . . . but if you cook much now with your woodstove (and some folks do get pretty creative with the cooking) then it might be a worthwhile investment. My advice . . . if you're not cooking much now, I would skip the woodstove, but if you're always cooking up chili, soup or even getting creative and baking potatoes and meat in your woodstove I think you would be an ideal candidate to purchase a wood cookstove.

7. As mentioned . . . insulation, insulation, insulation. Get things right and tight the first time through . . . don't skimp on the important things . . . which are too often the things that are not as sexy as the granite counter tops, maple cabinets, jet tub and shower, media room, etc. Building right and rugged and going with good windows and lots of insulation are so much more important. Also, make sure you get a good contractor . . . price matters, but sometimes it's worth paying a little more for someone who has a good reputation.

 

[jhambley]

Thanks for everyones input and please keep the suggestions coming.

This will be the fourth home I have built myself. We purchased 100 acres in 2005 and I built a small cottage so that we could live in something while we build the "real" house. It's small for a family of four but actually very cozy. It's amazing how little space you need if you don't keep bringing "junk" home. I built with 2 x 6 exterior walls and then used cellulose insulation (see photo below). I also picked up very nice Pella windows (a few at a time) from the Lowe's closeout racks.

Thanks again,

JH

 

[jhambley]

Curious if I should worry about trying to supply outdoor air to feed the wood stove since the envelope will be very tight?

JH

 

[begreen]

It will be worth watching. My BIL did his house with 8" inch walls using staggered 2x4s to stop thermal bridging. And they put up a tight and carefully sealed vapor barrier over the insulation. The result is low wood consumption and a very tight house. They have an OAK on the pizza oven stove and fresh air feeding the wood boiler. Works well with low wood consumption for NYS.

 

[weatherguy]

5. Honestly, my wife and I have talked and we would give some serious consideration to going with a masonry heater . . . there is an extra cost, but the appeal of clean burning and just lighting a couple of fires each day and then having the heat radiate out is very attractive in a cold environment like Maine. That said, I think I would still like to incorporate an area for a woodstove—both for the visual and auditory sensations and for those days when you just want a small, quick fire to take the chill out of the air . . . of course this is all assuming the budget would work for this . . . at this point . . . just my dream scenario.

Mine too. If I couldnt find anyone to buld the masonry heater I would go with a Tulikivi, theres a dealer close by. I would definately have a freestanding wood stove for those crisp mornings.

To the OP, as far as a cheap backup heat, how about FHA/electric, you dont have to worry about high electric bills since you'll hardly ever use it.