Wood Stove is in

I realized it's been almost a month since I last posted progress, so thought I should share, even though I don't have any pics handy to upload.

The contractors are done with their work, so now it's my job to finish.  The wiring is 95% roughed in and has been inspected.  We insulated the loft roof and the framed gables and dormer and the windows in the loft.  I need to insulate around the windows downstairs and then have the inspector out to approve so I can install the sheetrock upstairs and on the interior walls downstairs.  Nothing ever seems to go as fast as one might like, but we're making progress.

One major hurdle that was solved this past week was heat.  I've gone back and forth quite a bit about whether to install a wood cookstove or a wood heater.  The basic difference is that with the cookstove (obviously) you can cook on it and it has an oven, whereas a heater basically does just that, although you can generally heat up water on the tops.  

While there are various pros and cons to each, I broke them down as follows.  The pros of a wood cookstove is that you can heat and cook on them, which is nice from the standpoint of self-sufficiency.  Plus, many have water reservoirs so you can heat water up for domestic use.  The cons of a cookstove is they are generally bigger and often have a shorter burn time, meaning you have to fill them up more often.  They also tend to be somewhat more expensive than a heater.

By the end of this process, I offered a silent prayer that if we were to use a wood cook stove, that one would present itself.  Because of our budget, I couldn't really afford a new stove, and the only wood cookstoves I've seen on craigslist are almost always antiques (I want something newer and UL approved), or they get bought up right away.  When it came time to decide on a wood stove, I found a used cookstove, but by the time I saw it, it had been posted 3-4 days, so I figured it must be gone already.  I contacted them anyway and found out it was still for sale.  The regular price for this Bakers Choice is about $1800 (plus shipping), but I got it used for $500.  I'll post pics once it's fully installed, but here's a link to the company's website.

I decided to have the chimney professionally installed.  I'm pretty certain I could have figured out the process of installing a stainless steel chimney, but I really wanted to make sure it was up to code in terms of clearances, etc.  Plus, our insurance company has always been very good about us heating with wood, as long as it's up to code, so I wanted to make sure we were up to code in the event of any future claim issues.  So, I spent the money to have it done right and feel pretty comfortable with the decision.

I'll try to post updated pics in the next week.  Stay tuned.