Raised ranch/split entry question

[TomatoLover]

Looking for input from those who live in a raised ranch/split entry. We are buying a home with electric baseboard heat in Massachusetts. Can't imagine that electric bill! We want to heat with wood (and the acreage we are getting is full of oak and other hardwoods, so we have the fuel).

Architecturally, the house is called a raised ranch here in MA, but also called a split entry/split foyer elsewhere. When you walk in the front door, you are on a small landing and have a choice of going up or down 7 stairs. The upper level is 1400 sq. ft. and has living room with cathedral ceiling and fireplace, DR, kitchen, 3 beds, 2 baths. Lower level is about 800 square feet (two car garage takes up the rest) and has large open rec room , 4th bedroom, 3rd bathroom, and laundry room. Both levels of the house will be used on a daily basis; I work from home so the lower level will be my office.

There is currently a wood stove in the lower level rec room FP, sitting on a raised brick hearth.

Would it be wise to have two stoves, one on each floor? Or will we melt?

I get the physics of heat rising. The stair well is open and we do plan on putting a ceiling fan (running slowly in winter mode) at the top of the stairs and cathedral ceiling. However, I have a hard time believing one stove in the basement can heat the far south end of the upper level where the bedrooms are (the basement stove is on the north wall, so the heat would need to move 20 feet across the basement rec room, up the stairs, and down a 10 foot hallway to reach the master bedroom door).

Anyone have experience or advice?

Thanks!

 

[pen]

My house is a similar setup, though smaller (only 1000 sq ft upstairs). I have good luck heating from the basement since the stove is right next to the stairwell.

I need to supplement in temps lower than 0 mostly because of the garage door in the basement and the garage area isn't sealed from the rest of the basement (that's going to change this summer).

Long story short, this has been a tough winter and still supplementing with electric heat (mostly from a mitsu mini-split heat pump for the LR,DR, kitchen, and also some goes to bedrooms on far side, but still need to use electric baseboards in those rooms a bit when really cold) our highest electric bill has been about 140 bucks with the compare rate for electric being 12 cents per kwh, 3 fridges, a deep freeze, electric dryer, and a shop (bar) in the unattached garage I heat to 45 in the winter (more if I'm spending time in there) with electric also. Now, we like our living area at about 70-72, and the bedrooms run about 4 - 8 degrees cooler than that....

Those are our results. Ours come with walls that are only rated to R-9 and a ceiling at R-36.

We are planning on burning about 4.5 cord of wood this winter, though it's been less in the last 5 years,,,,, this is the coldest we've had in a while, and with this modern EPA stove.

What stove is in the basement now? Were you able to get records / bills from the previous owners about their use of the electric versus the wood stove?

In all, depending on what you are working with downstairs, my knee-jerk reaction would be to just make sure you get at least 4 cord of wood split and stacked ASAP so it's well seasoned for this winter (Oak won't work for this, it takes longer than many hardwoods) and give what you have a go for now and see where you are at.

I'd hate to see you put the jingle down on a stove upstairs if you do not need it, or could simply put a different stove in the basement and have a situation like I have,,,, where supplementation is only necessary in the coldest weather and doesn't cost much.

Have you had the current setup inspected by a CSIA certified inspector/sweep as part of your purchase?

Welcome to the site and good luck!

pen

 

[gerry100]

we've got a RR near Albany.

Our bedrooms are over the rec room with the woodstove.

I put a register in the floor over the stove that allows hot air to rise up into the hallway and return down the stairs.
.
This circulates the heat fairly well although the far end of the top floor ( dining room for us) does get chilly some times

If your upstairs is reversed and the dining room etc is over the stove the single stove should work even better

 

[MJFlores]

I live in a home like that, on a 30 X 50 foot print. I have one stove upstairs that keeps the living areas nice and warm. The hearth and stove are a central point to the home however, so I wouldn't want it down in the basement. With that said, my basement stays cold as it's unfinished except for a small 12X 14 office which I dont use in the dead of winter because it's so cold down there. If I were to place a stove in the basement and have heat grates in all the rooms I bet the whole house would stay warm but, I like looking at my stove as much as running it. For just raw heating, I'd cut heat grates into all the rooms floors and have a stove in the basement and keep it roaring.

 

[mol1jb]

Looking for input from those who live in a raised ranch/split entry. We are buying a home with electric baseboard heat in Massachusetts. Can't imagine that electric bill! We want to heat with wood (and the acreage we are getting is full of oak and other hardwoods, so we have the fuel).

Architecturally, the house is called a raised ranch here in MA, but also called a split entry/split foyer elsewhere. When you walk in the front door, you are on a small landing and have a choice of going up or down 7 stairs. The upper level is 1400 sq. ft. and has living room with cathedral ceiling and fireplace, DR, kitchen, 3 beds, 2 baths. Lower level is about 800 square feet (two car garage takes up the rest) and has large open rec room , 4th bedroom, 3rd bathroom, and laundry room. Both levels of the house will be used on a daily basis; I work from home so the lower level will be my office.

There is currently a wood stove in the lower level rec room FP, sitting on a raised brick hearth.

Would it be wise to have two stoves, one on each floor? Or will we melt?

I get the physics of heat rising. The stair well is open and we do plan on putting a ceiling fan (running slowly in winter mode) at the top of the stairs and cathedral ceiling. However, I have a hard time believing one stove in the basement can heat the far south end of the upper level where the bedrooms are (the basement stove is on the north wall, so the heat would need to move 20 feet across the basement rec room, up the stairs, and down a 10 foot hallway to reach the master bedroom door).

Anyone have experience or advice?

Thanks!

In a finished basement with a bigger stove (2.5-3cf) I think this would work well for you. Never know till you try. I agree with pen though. Get your wood cut first otherwise having a wood stove won't do much good.

 

[peakbagger]

They built a pile of those in the neighborhood I grew up in and almost every one had a flood at one point during a cold stretch when the price of oil went up. The 2 car garage usually had to heated with a wall mounted heater as there wasn't enough insulation in the floor to the bedrooms above the garage. Inevitably the heater would fail or be shut off and during the next cold stretch the baseboard above the garage would freeze, usually in a corner of the room and then let start leaking all over. Best thing to do is replace the garage doors with high end insulated doors with real weather stripping. The lower levels tended to be cold as they were sitting on concrete slab. Lot to be said for radiant retrofit and a wood boiler with storage.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

I say to try it with the 1 stove at first, or ask the previous owner what to expect with the stove, you could always add 1 upstairs next year, my opinion is you probably need 2, it is not easy to get wood heat to travel into bedrooms like you see in the genie lanter cartoons. You could alway get something not too big if your worried about cooking yourself out or have smaller fires, better to have too much than too little when it comes to wood heat....good luck