Our Woodstove Journey - 10 months

[toddnic]

Around 10 months ago we began our journey installing our first woodstove in our house. I had been doing a lot of research on this website as well as a few others and had decided on the Woodstock Progress Hybrid. We ordered the woodstove, the chimney system and started installing the slate hearth. We were so excited....it was hard to wait for Woodstock to manufacture OUR woodstove. The chimney system arrived first and we spent a day installing it and then finally the woodstove came. We picked it up at the truck hub in Asheville, NC at 7:00 PM in the evening, drove an 1 1/2 home, and then spent another couple of hours getting it setup in the house. The project was finally coming together!

One thing that I forgot to add was that during this time we were cutting wood, splitting wood, stacking wood, cutting wood, splitting wood, stacking wood....I'm sure if you're reading this you know the drill. In total we cut, stacked and split around 9 cords. The difficult thing was that our firewood did not have time to season before winter arrived. Thankfully a neighbor was watching our woodstove adventure and knew that we did not have seasoned wood. He was more than happy to lend us a few cords of wood that had been seasoning in his barn for the past six years .

As everyone knows, winter arrived with a fury. Our house had never been so warm! It was wonderful to have a warm house, a happy wife, and no propane bills! In total we burned about 3 1/2 cords.

The pictures below are some from our journey....the stove, the woodpile, cleaning out the creosote today with a Sooteater (1/2 gallon of soot), and the clean chimney. My next project is to build a woodshed at some point over the summer.

For you that are interested in the cost, it was around $4,500 since we did much of the work ourselves. I figured I saved almost $2,000 in propane this year and I should recoup all of my expenses early in year #3.

To all that helped me from this forum, I want to say THANK YOU! I truly would not have been this far along if it had not been for many of you sharing with me your knowledge and experience .

 

[kennyp2339]

This past winter was my second year with a wood stove in my home, I know exactly what your saying. This forum has helped my out so many times, There are so many members from different area's that do different things, they (and I guess we) all share our stories, give tips and idea's. I'm glad your happy, the stove looks great, and good luck with your wood pile.
On a side note, the wood pile can use a little help. I read and just done a pallet system that is so easy with minimum cost. Take a 4x4 and cut it to 1 ft lengths, place that in between the top and bottom pallet (on the end) screw it down. Use a 2x4 (mine are cut a 5ft lengths) and screw that to the pallet (wood stop) Stack the wood up about 2.5ft and go the length of the wood pile, then take nylon rope (cotton will dry rot and break) tie it to both posts and then stack the wood on top of that. The pile weight pressing down on the rope will cause it to get tight and that will keep the 2x4 posts straight up and down.

 

[BrotherBart]

Great to hear. It just gets better from here on out.

h.c strikes again.

 

[rideau]

Thanks for sharing, Toddnic and Kennyp!

Woodstoves are fun...

 

[tigger]

Yea it's amazing what a stove/wood freak you become once you are a member here. You learn soooooo much from sooo many.... We'll actually the only thing that you need to learn is to properly dry wood......that seems to be the answer to every persons problems.....

Stove not hot......green wood
Smoke coming out.....green wood
Creosote......green wood
Short burns.....green wood
Wife cold.......green wood
Burned house down......green wood
Glass dirty.....green wood
Cat not working......green wood

 

[realstihl]

Yea it's amazing what a stove/wood freak you become once you are a member here. You learn soooooo much from sooo many.... We'll actually the only thing that you need to learn is to properly dry wood......that seems to be the answer to every persons problems.....

Stove not hot......green wood
Smoke coming out.....green wood
Creosote......green wood
Short burns.....green wood
Wife cold.......green wood
Burned house down......green wood
Glass dirty.....green wood
Cat not working......green wood

I like this. Truth has been spoken.

 

[HotCoals]

Yep but even really ,really dry wood will still some a BK's window..lol.