New to Hearth.com, and I've never owned a wood stove so any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I live in a 100 year old house in the Qu’Appelle Valley in SE Saskatchewan, Canada (cold winters!). We’re located on the south facing slope so there is good solar gain when the sun is shining. Primary heat is natural gas. I am considering putting in a wood stove in the basement for backup heat during power outages (thinking lots about resilience; keep the water pipes from freezing; alternate cooking surface if necessary) and general supplementary heat in the coldest weather (heat the basement which will heat the floor above). Maybe I’ll love it so much I’ll use it more!!
The basement is unfinished thick concrete, open to joists, water lines and electrical etc. Basement north wall is below grade; half of the south wall is 4 ft above grade; the other half borders a carport and is 6 ft above grade. Basement area is 1150 sf. A large ‘room’ of 660 sf [natural gas furnace is located near the centre] is open to the stairwell and to another ‘room’ of 290 sf. Another ‘room’ of 200 sf is best kept cooler as it contains a smaller cold room. So really, only 950 sf to heat. There are two floors above totalling 1990 sf. R70 in the attic. Exterior wood walls have 2 layers tar paper, house wrap, vinyl siding and aluminum framed double windows from the 1970s; insulation and upgrades are on the long list for the future. If the stove was placed in the north part of the 'large room', distance to roof would be lower [above 1 story, not 2] and this would be below a colder part of the house [the floor heat would be beneficial here] but farther from the stairwell.
I am surrounded by bur oak forest. I have a supply of well aged (dry) chokecherry, oak, maple from yard maintenance. A neighbour also gets poplar and birch delivered from up north and I could share a future shipment with him.
Any suggestions on wood stove and sizing? I would want run time to be at least 12 hours (no getting up in the night to fill it) and the ability to provide low steady heat (or so it seems to me). Pros/cons of catalytic converter? Are there specific distances it would need to be from water pipes, natural gas pipes, electrical wires? Or can that be addressed by framing them in?
Many thanks for your thoughts and suggestions.
I live in a 100 year old house in the Qu’Appelle Valley in SE Saskatchewan, Canada (cold winters!). We’re located on the south facing slope so there is good solar gain when the sun is shining. Primary heat is natural gas. I am considering putting in a wood stove in the basement for backup heat during power outages (thinking lots about resilience; keep the water pipes from freezing; alternate cooking surface if necessary) and general supplementary heat in the coldest weather (heat the basement which will heat the floor above). Maybe I’ll love it so much I’ll use it more!!
The basement is unfinished thick concrete, open to joists, water lines and electrical etc. Basement north wall is below grade; half of the south wall is 4 ft above grade; the other half borders a carport and is 6 ft above grade. Basement area is 1150 sf. A large ‘room’ of 660 sf [natural gas furnace is located near the centre] is open to the stairwell and to another ‘room’ of 290 sf. Another ‘room’ of 200 sf is best kept cooler as it contains a smaller cold room. So really, only 950 sf to heat. There are two floors above totalling 1990 sf. R70 in the attic. Exterior wood walls have 2 layers tar paper, house wrap, vinyl siding and aluminum framed double windows from the 1970s; insulation and upgrades are on the long list for the future. If the stove was placed in the north part of the 'large room', distance to roof would be lower [above 1 story, not 2] and this would be below a colder part of the house [the floor heat would be beneficial here] but farther from the stairwell.
I am surrounded by bur oak forest. I have a supply of well aged (dry) chokecherry, oak, maple from yard maintenance. A neighbour also gets poplar and birch delivered from up north and I could share a future shipment with him.
Any suggestions on wood stove and sizing? I would want run time to be at least 12 hours (no getting up in the night to fill it) and the ability to provide low steady heat (or so it seems to me). Pros/cons of catalytic converter? Are there specific distances it would need to be from water pipes, natural gas pipes, electrical wires? Or can that be addressed by framing them in?
Many thanks for your thoughts and suggestions.