19 November, 2010

Keeping Toasty


After receiving our heating bill month after month last year w/ all of the snow we knew that that was probably not sustainable. The previous owner was a truck driver who put in a 3 ton air handler unit. Very nice but the heat pump runs non-stop when it is below 40 degrees outside.

We set aside a bit each month w/ a goal towards a wood stove wanting a nice one that would be sealed, double walled, modular home approved, big enough to heat w/ our high ceilings, etc. I personally wanted a cook top in case the power goes out in other giant snowstorms & the answer was sitting in my brother-in-law's neighbor's basement for only $200., much less than we had estimated & saved for. Hooray! We can afford chimney!

Knowing nothing, we spent a week on the Internet looking at specs, installation techniques & plotted our course. (I say "we", it was all Mike.) I decided how to rearrange the furniture, lol. He cut enough carpet & padding out to lay two 3x5 cement boards on the plywood & tried his hand at laying tile. We covered a floor vent doing this.

The finished result is very nice, yes? I helped w/ the grouting. Those spacers really helped & my personal favorite was my Pampered Chef nylon scraper.

The tile is set & the stove is in its new home up on some pavers for some extra inches up off of the floor. Safety standards for the chimney pipe are 6" away from the wall, but wanting to be extra sure of keeping our house intact we kept the double walled chimney 10" away from the wall.

Measuring for the chimney...
Ahhhhh! Our pilot screw actually went through a joist, but we're at the point of no return now.

That box at the very top actually made it much more sturdy than we thought. The stove is definitely the focal point when you walk in, very massive.
This didn't actually happen. After we measured we realized we were 2' short of chimney, so we had to go exchange it for a 3' chimney. The storm collar is on & the excitement is mounting....

When we were almost really ready we realized that we hadn't shielded the wall. This was an extra step but the wall behind my brother-in laws house is melting (not exactly; his is stuccoed all the way up but one of his outlets is melting.) so we screwed in that length of sheet metal for some extra peace of mind.

Here is a happy man enjoying the fruits of his labor. I didn't do to much except occasionally gopher & keep the chickens at bay, it was about a 6 hour work day. We're easily able to keep the common areas in the mid 70's. The wall behind is cool to the touch & the warm tile is a new favorite place for the cat. We are thankful to God for allowing us this further reliance on Him & the land He's provided us to keep it stoked & my brother in law who helped us bring it in & install it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good to see a man not afraid to go hammerless. Is that a S&W Centennial? I have one in .357Mag that I carry all the time. My wife wants one as well so she can be like Laura Wilder and carry a revolver in her apron pocket.

Peace to you - Todd in Oregon

Mrs. V said...

Hey Todd, that is actually a S&W 638 in .38SPL+P. I have since upgrades to a Ruger SP101 .357, with a bobbed hammer (I gave the .38 to my Mom). I carried the 638 for about three years, the shrouded hammer gave me the versitility to go concealed (when I'm in town) comfortably, and the option to go s.a. for detail work. Snubbies are suprisingly accurate (for me, anyway) if I take my time. The new Ruger gives me a little more peace of mind out here in bear country. I always say it's not the gun in the safe that'll save you, it's the one on your hip. Spurless all the way!

Mrs. V said...

The above is actually mike's response, i'm clarifying as it looks weird to see my pic next to his words. :)

Anonymous said...

My dad had an SP101. He loved it. I always felt that anything less than a .44Mag for bear was a bit sketchy, but better to have something that you have on you all the time than the "perfect" round.
- Todd in Orygun

Mrs. V said...

I totally agree, Todd. Two well placed (or five poorly placed, for that matter) hits from Speer Gold Dot 170gr. SJSP will put down about anything on four legs. As for two legged predetors, five rounds SHOULD be enough to get me to something more substantial. Mike