Hello ,I've been lurking for months so that i could learn as much as possible before i waste any time with lazy questions, but i am a newbie to wood burning. My wife and i bought a home that we intend on retiring in, i am already semi retired. Our home is an A frame chalet style house with a full basement that is 23 x 35 ft. with a central ,open stairway. The main floor is directly above, also 23 x 35 split into 2 small bedrooms, bathroom, living room with a vaulted ceiling and a small kitchen. The upstairs is a small loft. The above ground sq. footage is 1100 ft.
The home was built in the 70s as a seasonal hunting camp and is very leaky with large windows and poor insulation. I have access to the basement from the main hallway for feeding the stove and there is also a convenient ground level entrance that opens up directly to our 10 acres of hardwoods, located in the middle of a national forest.At one time there was a woodstove in the basement and there is still a hole for my chimney in the block wall, 6 ft. off the floor. There used to be a masonry chimney outside of the hole that went straight up to the roof peak that has been torn down,but it was in the perfect location so i won't even have to go thru the eaves.
This past winter was the 1st in this home and it became obvious to us that we would never be able to afford to live here if we have to keep paying for propane. And why should we with 10 acres of hardwoods? My situation is this, it would cost me tons of money to fix everything, and time and labor for skills i don't possess. But what i do possess is free time, and more wood than i can use. So my inefficiency will have to come from , my sweat and from burning lots of wood. But with the priority of burning clean and safe.
We live in Michigans upper peninsula so it's really cold for 3 or 4 months and kind of cold for another 3 or 4 months. I need to be able to burn with temps in the 40s as well as sub zero. We are on a fixed income and have to cut costs everywhere, my hope is that having a very warm basement will be able to heat this small home, i think that if the cold north wall and the cold floor are warmed, then the rest of the house will have to be warm.
To start with i need help selecting a stove, i like the prices and accessibility at Lowes. My initial thought was maybe the Vogelzang that is rated at 1500 sq, ft but thats nothing more than a guess. Lowes also has selkirk double wall chimney pipe for 85ish for 3 ft. which is by far the cheapest way i've found to go straight up 23 ft.
So to sum up my plan, my stove would be within 5 ft. of the north wall in the basement, with about 5 ft. of double wall stove pipe going straight out the block wall and 90 deg. straight up, 2 feet above the peak which is about 23 ft. total. Also, i have a very leaky basement and will tighten it up accordingly, but not until i see what kind of draft i'll get, since the leaks may help draft.
2 other important points, i would like to get a good 7 hr. burn for sleeping purposes ,lol , and also , do i need a hearth pad if my stove is on a concrete floor in an unfinished basement.
I have other questions but i've taken enough of your time for my initial post, ...what stove? and is selkirk from Lowes ok? Thank you to anyone who spent there valuable time trudging thru this post.
sorry my pics stink.
The home was built in the 70s as a seasonal hunting camp and is very leaky with large windows and poor insulation. I have access to the basement from the main hallway for feeding the stove and there is also a convenient ground level entrance that opens up directly to our 10 acres of hardwoods, located in the middle of a national forest.At one time there was a woodstove in the basement and there is still a hole for my chimney in the block wall, 6 ft. off the floor. There used to be a masonry chimney outside of the hole that went straight up to the roof peak that has been torn down,but it was in the perfect location so i won't even have to go thru the eaves.
This past winter was the 1st in this home and it became obvious to us that we would never be able to afford to live here if we have to keep paying for propane. And why should we with 10 acres of hardwoods? My situation is this, it would cost me tons of money to fix everything, and time and labor for skills i don't possess. But what i do possess is free time, and more wood than i can use. So my inefficiency will have to come from , my sweat and from burning lots of wood. But with the priority of burning clean and safe.
We live in Michigans upper peninsula so it's really cold for 3 or 4 months and kind of cold for another 3 or 4 months. I need to be able to burn with temps in the 40s as well as sub zero. We are on a fixed income and have to cut costs everywhere, my hope is that having a very warm basement will be able to heat this small home, i think that if the cold north wall and the cold floor are warmed, then the rest of the house will have to be warm.
To start with i need help selecting a stove, i like the prices and accessibility at Lowes. My initial thought was maybe the Vogelzang that is rated at 1500 sq, ft but thats nothing more than a guess. Lowes also has selkirk double wall chimney pipe for 85ish for 3 ft. which is by far the cheapest way i've found to go straight up 23 ft.
So to sum up my plan, my stove would be within 5 ft. of the north wall in the basement, with about 5 ft. of double wall stove pipe going straight out the block wall and 90 deg. straight up, 2 feet above the peak which is about 23 ft. total. Also, i have a very leaky basement and will tighten it up accordingly, but not until i see what kind of draft i'll get, since the leaks may help draft.
2 other important points, i would like to get a good 7 hr. burn for sleeping purposes ,lol , and also , do i need a hearth pad if my stove is on a concrete floor in an unfinished basement.
I have other questions but i've taken enough of your time for my initial post, ...what stove? and is selkirk from Lowes ok? Thank you to anyone who spent there valuable time trudging thru this post.
sorry my pics stink.
