Wood Stove Questions

[Carl]

Hazmat,

Since your making some choices for the long term and if your thinking about resale in 5-10 years or whenever a fireplace is a good investment.

I put in a metalbestos setup in the center my garage/office since we have spare woodstove. At the end of the day it was quite costly $1400, to the point that I could have had a single chimney setup for about a $1000 more.

We ran the metalbestos (20') through one floor and then the ceiling with the 12" collar between floors then enclosed this with 5/8" firecode sheet rock - codes asked for this since it was a garage also for the firecode sheetrock on ceilings and walls bordering the garage.

Back to your project, an external FP chimney, foundation brick etc and internal hearth probably is in the range of $3-4K+ while the metalbestos route, pipe, fittings and hearth maybe $2K. It comes down to aesthetics, present $ and what you want in the long run. The plus side of the fireplace is you can take the stove with you in the future, leaving a existing fireplace and the enhanced value of the house is a plus I think.

Good luck on your decision.

Carl

[hazmat]

<font color="blue">Back to your project, an external FP chimney, foundation brick etc and internal hearth probably is in the range of $3-4K+ while the metalbestos route, pipe, fittings and hearth maybe $2K. It comes down to aesthetics, present $ and what you want in the long run. The plus side of the fireplace is you can take the stove with you in the future, leaving a existing fireplace and the enhanced value of the house is a plus I think.
</font color>

Hmmm, I thought the brick chimney &amp; fireplace was going to be waaaaay more $$$$$$$$. I guess I'll have to have a mason over for a quote. I think the wife would prefer a fireplace to the stove. Being the engineer that I am, I prefer the more efficient design of the stove [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

I stopped by a stove dealer in plaistow. The chimney costs as much as the stove! $45 a foot for the 6" flue. More for a 8".

[hazmat]

Shade,

Thanks for the link. Very helpful.

[Carl]

Being the engineer that I am, I prefer the more efficient design of the stove


Hazmat,

Why not have both capabilties? Put a stove in the FP opening or alternately a fireplace insert but I don't think the efficiencies of these is that of a woodstove.

Carl

[hazmat]

Well we spent a good part of saturday shopping for a stove. Went to 4 different dealers and viewed numerous manufacturers.

Bought the Vermont Castings Intrepid II. Pic attached. It will probably be 6 weeks to 2 months before it is installed. I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks for all the advice &amp; links.

I questioned the dealer about the outside chimney. He claims that the metalbestos performs very well. If it is very cold out, we may need to preheat the flue with a paper fire. There will be a T and access for a sweep from ground level.

[Carl]

Hazmat,

I have two of the Vermont castings stoves, one has a marble top holds the heat well..

You will be very happy with your choice I am sure.

Carl

[hazmat]

My grandfather converted the barn at my parent's old house to an apartment. He heated it with two wood stoves a VT castings and a Franklin Stove. I guess its in my blood. Plus the wife liked the looks of it best. Surprisingly she opted for traditional black vs. the enamel colors.

[GaryM]

Our new place will have a Vermont Castings Encore unit in <font color="red"> RED </font color> in the lower level.

They look like fine stoves. I'll have to look at their websire to see the difference betwwen the Encore and Intrepid II

[hazmat]

The intrepid is smaller. I like the encore too, but the family room / kitchen is 500 sq ft. First floor is only 800. According to the advice here &amp; on woodheat.org &amp; hearth.com bigger isn't always better. Didn't want to cook us out of the room.

[GaryM]

Yeah, I just checked the web site and found the answer. I hope to have the heat rise up the stairwell into the upper level. Or maybe run the fan on the furnace and suck the heat through the registers.