New Stove in Old Walk-In Fireplace - Please help!

[DanCorcoran]

The house originally had an oil furnace with hot water baseboards. We had to take out all of the baseboards to put up the new 2x6 walls so we decided to go ahead and update to a more efficient system, and get central AC to boot, so we installed a high efficiency propane system since natural gas isn't available on our street.

I'm hoping to use the blower in the winter to help circulate the hot air from the stove. The return duct is located directly at the top of the stairs where most of the heat tends to go (we found this out using a kerosene heater on a cold day). Our hope is that the hot hair is drawn into the return and then circulated to all of the other rooms.

I like pictures in threads so here's another, haha.

View attachment 166749

That looks like a post-Civil War furnace to me. Seriously, that's a wonderful home you're creating.

 

[mellow]

I'm hoping to use the blower in the winter to help circulate the hot air from the stove.

That sometimes works if you have super insulated trunk lines, if not all that heat is lost in movement.

 

[sportbikerider78]

You guys are crazy! But you already know that!

Whats up with the tarpaper/underlayment on the roof running up and down, instead of sideways across the roof? Was that a patch job?

 

[FionaD]

Your house looks incredible. Nothing wrong with doing it when you're young and have sufficient energy so the job won't kill you!

That house is very reminiscent of our typical Scottish farmhouses,which mostly date around the 17 thu to 1800s. Same style windows with deep sills. Only the your porch looks a wee bit 'foreign' to me

See what I mean?


Big alcove fireplaces with great big old wooden lintels and stoves put in them are very much the thing people want to do over here just now. It's a great look, especially if you can put a stove in that space that's big enough to make up for the bit of heat loss you'll get due to tucking the stove away a bit.

Over here you'd never be allowed to chase out the bats tho... Think yourself lucky. Under British law those bats would have more rights than you!

 

[sportbikerider78]

Over here you'd never be allowed to chase out the bats tho... Think yourself lucky. Under British law those bats would have more rights than you!

Yeah...I suspect then someone would shut the windows and gas them.
What bats?

 

[Simonkenton]

What a beautiful old house! That is great that y'all are rescuing that house.
I build log cabins with new materials, but they look like they were built in 1820, that pic to the left is of the house I live in and I am in the middle of building another log cabin right now, it is an addition onto my house. I use timber framing techniques, such as a summerbeam fastened with wooden pegs etc., so I really appreciate the craftsmanship of your old house.

I must say, y'all must have won the lottery in 2013 because I know that work is costing a fortune. Hell, I am my own general contractor, my own lead carpenter, and my own electrician and my new cabin is costing me a fortune.

 

[Mudsurfer1234]

What a beautiful old house! That is great that y'all are rescuing that house.
I build log cabins with new materials, but they look like they were built in 1820, that pic to the left is of the house I live in and I am in the middle of building another log cabin right now, it is an addition onto my house. I use timber framing techniques, such as a summerbeam fastened with wooden pegs etc., so I really appreciate the craftsmanship of your old house.

I must say, y'all must have won the lottery in 2013 because I know that work is costing a fortune. Hell, I am my own general contractor, my own lead carpenter, and my own electrician and my new cabin is costing me a fortune.

Winning the lottery would have certainly made things easier, that's for sure!

We actually got lucky and found a renovation mortgage program through our bank that allowed us to finance the total cost of the project into the mortgage. Several of our friends have gone and had new houses built but have already had to have repairs done just because they don't build with any quality anymore. They have the mentality that if it isn't brand new, it isn't worth it.

From our research on the house we have traced it back about 10 generations of my Fiancé's family. So they have been helping when they can, and my dad has been there almost every weekend helping us out.

I play an engineer at work so I love having projects and like the challenge of trying to make a drafty old farmhouse as energy efficient as possible, hence our new framing and insulation to having 100% LED lighting, high efficiency appliances and HVAC, as well as trying to automate as much of the house as possible to shrink those utility bills.

Once the heavy work is done I'd like to make my own beam mantel out of one of the trees on the property the way it would have been made when the house was built, using just a broad axe and hand planes.

If only I could find a way to make a living doing this stuff!

 

[Simonkenton]

I made this summerbeam from black walnut trees growing on my property. I cheated, I sawed the 18 inch diameter tree flat on the sides with a Stihl 039 chain saw, and sanded it down with a Makita 7 inch disc grinder. I did cut the pockets for the joists with big chisels and the slick.

If you enlarge that pic to the left you will see the edge of one of the beams that holds up the second floor in the house I now live in. It has my old Tennessee Mountain Rifle hanging on it. These are 8 x 9 white pine beams 36 inch OC, they span 16 feet.
The first one of these I made by hand. I did it like the pioneers did with no power tools. I had an 18 foot log 17 inches in diameter. I cut V shaped cuts in it every foot with an axe, and hewed it down with an adze. Used a slick and chisels to make the ends nice and square to fit into spaces in the log wall.
Good God what a workout! Took me about 6 hours.
Men were men back in the pioneer days, I promise you 10 hours of doing that work and you could cancel your gym membership.

ps Who in the world had the bright idea of making a fireplace lintel out of a wooden beam? It seems like it would have burned up in the first year.

 

[firefighterjake]

Enjoying the pictures . . . thank you for sharing.

 

[Mudsurfer1234]

View attachment 166857

I made this summerbeam from black walnut trees growing on my property. I cheated, I sawed the 18 inch diameter tree flat on the sides with a Stihl 039 chain saw, and sanded it down with a Makita 7 inch disc grinder. I did cut the pockets for the joists with big chisels and the slick.

If you enlarge that pic to the left you will see the edge of one of the beams that holds up the second floor in the house I now live in. It has my old Tennessee Mountain Rifle hanging on it. These are 8 x 9 white pine beams 36 inch OC, they span 16 feet.
The first one of these I made by hand. I did it like the pioneers did with no power tools. I had an 18 foot log 17 inches in diameter. I cut V shaped cuts in it every foot with an axe, and hewed it down with an adze. Used a slick and chisels to make the ends nice and square to fit into spaces in the log wall.
Good God what a workout! Took me about 6 hours.
Men were men back in the pioneer days, I promise you 10 hours of doing that work and you could cancel your gym membership.

ps Who in the world had the bright idea of making a fireplace lintel out of a wooden beam? It seems like it would have burned up in the first year.

That. Is. Beyond. Awesome. To me, 6 hours feels pretty quick to go from log to timber the "old-fashioned" way.

In a perfect world I would like to put up some kind of timber-framed pole-barn/garage/shed behind the old barn in our yard. I'll use the excuse of needing a spot under cover to stack and season the firewood to convince the wife-to-be. For now, pallets on cinder blocks and a tarp will have to do!

Do I see dovetails on the left side of that picture? The joinery used in timber framing is already incredible, but dovetails take the cake!

 

[Simonkenton]

mudsurfer send me you email address and I will send you a photo album of the construction of my log cabin, including details of laying out and cutting the dovetail notch, making the home-made summerbeam und so weiter.

 

[Mudsurfer1234]

Update: We have a stove!

Our chimney liner, heat shield, and wood stove were installed just before Thanksgiving last week (ended up being a 2 day job).

Thanksgiving morning was warm enough to open some windows and do the first burn, hoping to air out most of the smoke/fumes from the paint curing. All in all I think it went pretty well. The Englander NC30 fit better than we thought regarding depth. We had measured and thought we would come up short on the floor protection in front of the stove by about 1 inch, but we got the stove tucked back in far enough to not need any additional hearth extension.

We have also since moved out of our apartment and are bunking up in the attic until the rest of the finish work is completed (floors getting refinished, paint, trim, etc.). With how many bats were living in the attic we never thought the space would be usable, but now find it pretty neat up there. It feels like you're in one of those old buildings in the city they turn into apartments and charge a boat-load in rent.

Anywho, on to the pictures!

Liner getting ready to be installed

Liner in chimney with heat shield behind timber lintel.

It fits!

Break-in fire

Some teasers of the floor in the master bedroom

And a somewhat-before and almost-finished shot of the kitchen:


Hoping to have most of the work finished by Christmas!

 

[begreen]

Looking good. Did a block-off plate get installed in the damper area?

 

[BrotherBart]

Looks great.

Here's yer shirt.

 

[Mudsurfer1234]

Looking good. Did a block-off plate get installed in the damper area?

Yep, a metal plate was fabricated and supported using the existing supports that run from the front of the chimney opening to the rear. We also have some kaowool and insulation in there as I want to minimize heat loss to the chimney.

We have a small pile of wood in the yard that my fiance's grandfather had CSS'd, but it is only a little under a cord, so we will have to heat with mostly propane this winter. But I already brought a few trees down and have them ready to split, and have some more trees picked to cut up next year (deadfalls in our woods).

Also going to try and pick up a good stove-top thermometer soon, but not sure what the butter zone is for the Englander, I think I read around 500*F?

 

[kennyp2339]

Keep up one the awesome work, very envious of you, best of luck to you and your young bride