A Big Thing Off The List

Big day in my house today!  Today is Wood Stove Installation Day. A power outage on a very cold day in October (I think it was October) made it patently clear that my house is in desperate need of a secondary heat source.  The power went out at around 10:30 in the morning and didn’t come back on until nearly 6 PM and though the day wasn’t below zero outside, it had been snowing and was pretty chilly.  When I got home from work that afternoon, the inside of the house was roughly 10*C and it was dark, damp and cold.

It was at that point that I determined that a wood stove was a necessity.  Last month when my oil tank was “topped up” and I found that the tank needed 500 litres of oil and the bill for THAT came to almost $700, well, the wood stove became a DESPERATE necessity! Long-term plans involve changing my oil furnace into an electric furnace – but it will, when all in said and done, be my secondary heat source.  The house is not properly insulated (more on that later) and wood as a heat source is MUCH cheaper (and better for the environment.)

And really, there’s nothing quite like sitting curled up in front of a wood stove, watching the flames and soaking in that lovely drowsy heat and, well, just BEING.

Today is the big day – the stove and pipes and blower will be installed. In preparation, my task (completed yesterday) was to dismantle the electric fireplace and take apart the mantle.  Not a difficult chore – all I really had to do was break some glue seals and pull it all apart.  The fire screen, wood from the mantle and the heater itself are all out shoved into my mud room – I’ll move it all to the shed in a little wile – once the team is actually here and my wood stove is on its way to being installed.  It's almost 1PM now, though, and I'm starting to be concerned the job might not get finished today...

Anyhow, just so you can see where I am progress-wise, here are some pictures for you.

Before - this was taken just after I signed the paper-work to buy the house – the furniture shown isn’t mine:

"Before" - complete with fireplace screen and electric heater in place.

This is “disassembled” and waiting for the wood stove:

A blank slate to work with.

I added the towel about a month ago when I pulled off the mirror
the hole was just open and leaching out all of my heat!

These brick outcroppings are interesting - the brick to hold up original mantles!

And hey – look what else I discovered while I was taking it apart – yes, painted leaves on the hearth – they had been covered by the brick that was holding the mantle up – with the new set-up, they will be totally visible!

Hand-painted leaves!

With love across the waters,