Cleaning Glass Door on a Wood Stove

At the end of last year when I first started up my wood stove, I looked online for a quick way to clean the glass on the front. I figured I would pick up stove cleaner the next time I went to the store. Well, the technique I found worked so well and was so easy that I still do it the same way. It just uses some newspaper and water to get the job done. I also don't have to worry about using any chemical cleaners that could emit harmful vapors.

First of course, start with the dirty, glass stove door

Cooking Applesauce on the Wood Stove

I love to save energy where I can. That's another reason why I love my wood stove. Not only does it make it warm and cozy inside, but I can also cook on it. Having a cast iron pot or pan will be necessary because it's better at dealing with the high temperatures than regular pans. Having an infrared thermometer is also helpful to know how hot the top of the stove is. I explained the benefits of this nifty little gadget here: Infrared Thermometers

This is an easy applesauce recipe, instead of cooking it on the regular stove, I used the wood stove. The temperature on top of the stove was a bit cool - 270 degrees. If you don't have a thermometer, just remember if there's a roaring fire in the stove, it will take much less time to cook.

First Fire of the Season

Starting the first fire this year went off without a hitch. A couple days beforehand, Alex hopped up on the roof and removed the plastic covering around the top of the pipe. We were getting some water dripping from the box during heavy rainstorms and the cover helped. In the future, I don't think I'll ever go back to electric or gas heat - wood stoves make a home so cozy!

Wood Stove Chimney

The wood stove chimney was finally installed the other day. Perfect timing, now that the weather is starting to warm up around here. I think the stove will be in use for at least a month before it gets too warm outside. I hired a local contractor to put it in. I had received estimates from some local companies that I found online for about $300-400. It's a simple job, just a bit involved. Cut a hole in the roof, reinforce it, nail the clearance box to the roof, insert piping, put the boot on, then finish with shingles and fire proof caulking. We would have done it ourselves, but we didn't have the tools. The local contractor that we ended up going with installed it for half the price as the other larger companies.

No turning back now!

Firewood Rack

Having a wood stove also means you have to have a rack to place your fuel on. Firewood should be stored a little above the ground so it does not get damp and buggy. If the wood on the rack is going to be used within a couple months there should be some type of cover placed on top. This is so the wood doesn't get soaking wet when it rains. I've also read that the rack should be placed facing north/north-west in order to season well and be dried by wind.

There are cheap, easy options for having a firewood rack.

This option enables you to easily expand the size of the rack. It comes with the metal side bars, but you attach your own 2x4's on the bottom.

This option involves a bit more construction on your part. It's just the bottom braces, 2 x 4's provide the structure.

Having a collection of spare wood laying around from when Alex and I took the back porch roof off, I decided to just build a rack myself.

I based the size of the rack according to the piece of plastic roofing that was underneath the house when we purchased it. It was pretty easy to put together. It did take me awhile to build, since I've never built anything before.

Gypsy inspecting our new delivery.

Wood Stove Hearth Construction Pt. 2 (Picture Heavy)

Construction Pt. 1

Chimney Install

Completely Finished

Finished tiling and grouting the hearth this evening! I will be happy if I don't ever have to mortar, tile, or grout again for the rest of my life. The base wasn't too hard, but tiling on a vertical surface was quite annoying.

Construction of the Hearth Wall:

First we put up the pieces of plywood. This is so I could figure out how high I wanted the wall.

Wood Stove with Hearth Installation Pt. 1 (picture heavy)

Construction Pt. 2

Chimney Install

Completely Finished

Moving up to the mountains, getting a wood stove seemed like a pretty good idea. It's so much cheaper than the electric I have now! Well.. will be after a couple years of using it. My significant other (Alex) and I bought an efficient model - the Drolet Savannah from Northern Tool. Our house is about 1400 sq. ft. and the Savannah is supposed to heat up 1500 sq. ft. But before it can be used there has to be a heat shield installed. We didn't want to buy one of the pre-fab ones. We also figured if we did something ourselves, it wouldn't be that expensive.

I did a lot of research on installing this hearth. But I am not a professional. Therefore this is just meant to give ideas, not to be used as a guide.

This is the final intended result:

I placed the stove in the corner where I wanted it to be.  I then measured out the space to the wall from the stove corners for the minimum clearance amount and shifted the stove accordingly. Tape was then put on the floor for how I wanted the hearth to be shaped. Alex put the measurements into Showcase (cad program) and came up with the final result of how it should look. Then we went to work.

Construction:

 

After cutting up the rug, we laid down our frame. The bottom part is a little more than 4" high. It's composed of 2x4's laid flat with 8" centers to form the joists.

The disaster of the family room!