Options for heating my antique barn?

[Todd-Beaulieu]

Hello,

We recently purchased an anitque home with a barn and I'd like to avoid being the one to burn it all down. Being over 260 yeard old, I suspect the wood has been properly aged for a quick and decisive blaze.

I have dreams of someday "fixing up" the loft for warm, cozy sessions of virtual golf in the winter. Sadly, the budget dictates a "we'll see" plan for the moment.

Currently the barn is not insulated, and has a large, sliding door. Wooden planks for floors. Cellar under it with a dirt floor. Approximate size is 30 x 30. It's attached to the house, via a mud room.

Is a wood stove safe in an old structure like this? I'd hate to put a hole in the wall for a pipe, but if I knew it would be a permanent heat source, I could be convinced. Figured maybe I could run the pipe up to the loft and out the window? What about gas? We do have gas at the house and the main inlet is about 20' from the corner of the barn. Pellets? Read up on the water stoves, but nobody seems to be too impressed with them. Oh and maybe crazy, but could the house furnace be used by somehow running a pipe out there?

I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences!

Thank you.

 

[Jags]

You may want to check out the boiler room section of this forum. There are some pretty nice gassifiers that might be the ticket for you. Maybe heat the house and barn with the same unit. It can stand outside (or small shed) so no pipes out the walls.

 

[Slow1]

Properly installed and operated any stove - wood, gas, pellet can be safe to operate in there without burning the place down. Key word there is "properly". Any source of heat done improperly could quickly turn that barn into a pile of ash - even a poorly installed electrical outlet could do it for you.

However, the bigger problem you are going to have really no matter what you decide on for heating is the lack of insulation. Bottom line is that until you insulate that barn you won't be able to effectively heat it and keep it warm. Being an old structure I bet you are going to have serious air leakage everywhere so whatever you choose to do there you need to consider how you are going to stop that. What state are the walls in now? If open on the inside you are in good shape to get at it and 'do it right'.

Too bad you are limited on funds... if you could run out and win the lottery I bet a nice icynene spray job all over inside up to the roof of that barn would make it an amazingly warm structure! Of course the cost of that would be incredible, but that would be "doing it first rate"... back to reality. If you can at least do something to reduce air leakage in there and get insulation up on the walls and attic you will then be able to heat it. If you don't then no matter what you do to try and heat it (stove or otherwise) it will be painful in terms of fuel bill.

However - if you try and heat it now, at least a radiant heat source like a wood stove will 'feel' warmer when it is running even if the place is filled with cold air.

 

[Todd-Beaulieu]

All good points. The walls are all open on the inside, so I could definitely insulate them, but ... how to do that without losing the character of the barn would concern me. I know ... you can't have it both ways!

Ideally, I think it would be nice to "get something in there" so I can work in the barn during the winter and then improve on it in stages. It would be incredibly inefficient at first, no doubt. I don't think they had OwensCorning and thermostats in the 1730's.

I do plan to fully insulate the loft. I think if we did it right, we could leave the beams exposed, while still modernizing it.

 

[PunKid8888]

30x30 is not very big. And being attached to house will help a little. Assuming your not looking for 70F, and your not planning on burning 24/7 I would put in a properly installed wood or pellet stove (if your trying to keep the look of the barn) and just over size the unit. having no insulation will prevent any serious heat, and retaining it but I think a big stove would at least get the temps to sweat shirt weather. and if your planning on hanging out in the loft, well you know that heat will be finding its way right up there on its path out.

 

[Wet1]

Barn, like the type you can see right through the walls, or are we talking no visable sunlight through the walls?

 

[Todd-Beaulieu]

So I just measured the barn. It's 24' x 24' x 9', and then the loft.

There is siding on the barn, so you can't see through the walls.

I've attached a couple of pics.

 

[firefighterjake]

Hello,

We recently purchased an anitque home with a barn and I'd like to avoid being the one to burn it all down. Being over 260 yeard old, I suspect the wood has been properly aged for a quick and decisive blaze.

I have dreams of someday "fixing up" the loft for warm, cozy sessions of virtual golf in the winter. Sadly, the budget dictates a "we'll see" plan for the moment.

Currently the barn is not insulated, and has a large, sliding door. Wooden planks for floors. Cellar under it with a dirt floor. Approximate size is 30 x 30. It's attached to the house, via a mud room.

Is a wood stove safe in an old structure like this? I'd hate to put a hole in the wall for a pipe, but if I knew it would be a permanent heat source, I could be convinced. Figured maybe I could run the pipe up to the loft and out the window? What about gas? We do have gas at the house and the main inlet is about 20' from the corner of the barn. Pellets? Read up on the water stoves, but nobody seems to be too impressed with them. Oh and maybe crazy, but could the house furnace be used by somehow running a pipe out there?

I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences!

Thank you.

Woodstoves, pelletstoves, indoor boilers, existing gas furnace/boiler . . . all are viable options . . . but I think you may be jumping the gun a bit . . . just a bit though. I think (as others have mentioned) that the very first step would be to button up the barn if you hope to use this as living space in the future. Insulation. Insulation. Insulation. As to how to insulate . . . there are options besides just laying up the fiberglass bats . . . spray on foam, cellulose between walls, foam boards, etc.

The next step I would think would be to think exactly how you want to lay out the place and what you plan to do there and how often you think will use the space. For example, if you think you'll use the space on a regular basis for virtual golf, perhaps using the space also as a media room or family area it might make sense to have a woodstove as a focal point. If, on the otherhand, you want to use the barn to occasionally do some virtual golfing and park your car it would not make sense (and could violate codes) to have a woodstove in the barn and in this case perhaps just running another line from the existing heating system (along with a thermostat set fairly low) would make more sense.

 

[Wet1]

If you want to keep that interior barn look and feel, you might want to consider ripping the siding off and adding a layer of polyiso or polystyrene over the top of a dark paper (or other substrate, just so it looks good on the inside where you can see through the wood planks) and then siding back over that. Even a R5 1/2 layer of polyiso on the exterior would go a long way towards making that space livable. Obviously you'll want to insulate the top as well...

 

[Todd-Beaulieu]

lath board + laths? looks nasty, haunted, & maybe asbestos. u like?

Actually, yes. I very much like my barn. It was a big reason we bought the house.

I don't know what you mean by lath board. I looked that up and have no idea why you mentioned it from a picture of barn board. Also not sure how barn board would have asbestos in it, but in any case, I have no intention of chewing on it.