End of winter assessments.

[velvetfoot]

Hey, I found that wedge! It was underneath the pile of splits I just stacked! It's like finding an Easter Egg.
Also, as I was stacking yesterday, I thought that a good way of holding the sheet plastic down might be to drill a hole through a couple of splits, attach the two with a rope, and drape it over the pile. It won't get frozen like the splits I usually use to hold the plastic down and will keep the sides from blowing up.

 

[kellog]

I learned I need to stop carrying wood into the house and get some type of cart. The back is liking carrying wood less and less.

80 degree temp differential is way too much for my two stoves. ($$ up the oil burner chimney).

Still need to do some more insulating and weather stripping.

Begreen, I like window quilts. They REALLY stop the heat from escaping thru the windows. Very fine product.
See http://www.1windowquilts.com/

 

[jjbaer]

Oh, last but not least, my gas tank still has 60% of fuel in it. It was filled very early last fall, so we only used 20% of fuel since they only fill my tank to 80%.


Pretty proud of that alone...........





Robbie

I think you used 25% based on your figures but that's still good......(80-60)/80 = 25%

 

[jjbaer]

Because when that happens, it blows smoke right at my neighbor's house.

Eric,

taller stack...LOL

 

[Henz]

Hey castiron, the winter of 2006-2006 I shelled out $3200 in oi..This past winter $400...Gotta love my woodstove! Will have itself paid for by upcoming mid winter

 

[jjbaer]

I learned that I need 7 cords to get through the winter..7 solid months of burning. I also need to insulate my floors whcih I am having down with isopropeleyeneeee this summer professionally. I also learned that I LOVE BURNING WOOD

something to think about especially if it's floors in a crawl space: I'd suggest spraying termite killer like Boracare or some other product on the boards, headers, floors, etc or inquire if the foam is soaked in this same termite killer. Reason why is because once foamed, you can't easily get at these boards for inspection and the termites could eat your boards out and you not know it....I sprayed all my boards and under-floor in the crawlspace before I put up R-19 fiberglass bats for this very reason.....sprayed the box headers, joists, underfloor, everything....... real PITA but I never have to worry about it.........

 

[Henz]

true and good point. I will check ino it

 

[jjbaer]

Hey castiron, the winter of 2006-2006 I shelled out $3200 in oi..This past winter $400...Gotta love my woodstove! Will have itself paid for by upcoming mid winter

no kidding....wow!

 

[jjbaer]

true and good point. I will check ino it

yeah..it's one thing with fiberglass (you can remove it for inspection) but still, unless you remove all of it all you can't be sure what's eating at your joists...... as for foam, maybe (not sure) you could have it inspected before being foamed and hope that the inspection is accurate and that there are no termites and that foam prevents termites from tunneling through it and into the wood without your seeing it. Worse yet, they're already in the wood and you encase the wood with foam.....in that case I don't know if they "smother" and die or keep on living or if they can tunnel in the foam. Better to ask before you have it done....

 

[Henz]

well, I dont think we have termites but you never know. They dont seem to be very prolific in this area

 

[wg_bent]

I learned:

I do like burning pine... especially free stuff.

My wife want's another stove...in the kitchen!

1.5 year old oak is not necessarily dry

I split wood WAY too small the first year.

I wish I had ripped out the whole Majestic 0 clearance and installed something larger.

a 3 year old can and will successfully toss a split in the stove (yes, that caused a bit of panic, angst, concern....you name it)

I have over 7 cords in the yard... and I'm worried.

Burning wood is an addiction.

I have stove envy. (Eric just got a new boiler... so I thought I'd just look at the Tarm website dear... and Rick has that old Defiant that needs rebuilding... and ...)

 

[Henz]

I hear ya warren.. I splint my wood alittle too small the first year too plus I bucked it alittle too long..I went 18-20" ratehr than the standard 16"..It worked loading the stove W/E but I also learned that loading the bottom in a N?S and then top W/E makes for a better fire

 

[JBinKC]

In my first full season of burning I have determined the payback period of the stove and related accessories will be closer to 2 years rather than 3. My propane tank never kicked in the 2006-2007 burning season. Maybe I should look into purchasing a propane burning vehicle.

I clearly need to gather more wood for the available storage space at my location. I was short somewhere between 1- 1 1/2 cords. I need to definitely use the wood in the best locations of storage first and immediately replenish it so the dead timber I am using will be ready to burn. To remedy ice storms I am now using corrugated galvanized roofing material on my open areas of storage. The wood I will have to gather next season will take more effort to gather next year as it will be further from the road.