How can I save money on this wood insert install?

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Thank you everybody for taking time to give me all this helpful information. I think I'm going to cancel the install, and just wait until the off-season to deal with this. That Grizzly stove essentially heated the first 2 floors of our house growing up, so I thought it would have no problem heating my house, but it seems like it's just not worth paying $3K to install something not ideal.

So, do you guys think it would be possible to find a GOOD (new) EPA approved insert during the offseason and have it installed ALL for less than $3K?

I know that my dad and I could do the install ourselves (my dad built every house I grew up in himself [foundation, framing, plumbing, electrical, etc..]) BUT... I've learned that sometimes it just not worth the time and effort to do something that will take me days with lots of potential to make mistakes (and up spending money on things I would never think about, like Ed on the boom lift). Plus my Dad is in his 70s now so he's slowing down, and getting on the roof with him will give me flashbacks to my childhood . So, I'm still weighing it out, but my thought is to find someone to do it at a fair price.

The professional installation is expensive, that is why I did it myself, and I was highly motivated for some reason on this project. I think the motivation factor is a must if you end up doing a self-install based on my experience. My Dad is in his mid-eighties, and he had a powerful urge to help. In his mind, he is still 40 years younger, and that makes things interesting! And when I started, I wouldn't have even considered the boom lift, but once I had it in my mind (and the new stove in the garage!) that it was going to get done, I just pushed through it. Don't let the insights that you are getting here discourage you, just go into it with the knowledge that it will likely be a challenge. The payoff is huge, especially if you remember how great it was having that Grizzley warming the house when you were a kid. It won't be exactly the same, but certain parts are better. The old stove always had dirty glass and went through a lot of wood. This new one always has clean glass, and I can see the gasses burning providing heat that probably just went up the chimney with the old one. And there is no substitute for that wood heat!

 

[bholler]

I am not at all against people doing diy installs but i feel many one here give a false sense that it is always easy. Yes there are ones that we can do in 3 hours or so but we have also had 3 day liner installs. Most of the time we know it is going to be a problem on ones that are that bad but there are times that even we get surprised. If you are planning to do it yourself look over everything really well any offset can cause big problems at times.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I am not at all against people doing diy installs but i feel many one here give a false sense that it is always easy. Yes there are ones that we can do in 3 hours or so but we have also had 3 day liner installs. Most of the time we know it is going to be a problem on ones that are that bad but there are times that even we get surprised. If you are planning to do it yourself look over everything really well any offset can cause big problems at times.

Right on, bholler- mine took three days, and when I started I was thinking it was going to be four hours at most. If the chimney had been just little bit different, I'd have had to call in the pros, get a different chimney liner, etc. And once I was on the clock with the boom rental, the pressure was on. Things like knocking bricks out of the smoke chamber, making cuts through the cast iron damper box, were all deviations from what I thought I was going to do going in. And I had thought long and hard when I was putting the plan together. And this doesn't even account for how scary it can be trying to handle thing that require two hands when you are 30 feet up in the air. The trouble with DIY projects is, many times, you are doing something for the first time, and experience would have really helped.