Installing Our Wood Stove

The Wood Stove Project

Yep—We heat with Wood!

I need to stop saying how busy Life is—but it is what it is, and Life does seem jam—packed these days! So…every step made in the cabin is a step in the right direction!

A Wood Stove is a real blessing!

We are making little steps on the cabin, but the most important recently has been our wood stove. Now that we have heat, we are one step closer to occupancy of our cabin. ??

Truthfully, the boys have already moved into their unfinished lofts, because they are a tad bit eager. But can you blame them? Over two years in an RV–they’re ready for personal space!

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Stove in the basement

So our wood stove was installed in the shop area of the cabin–not exactly the basement, but close enough. By placing the wood stove on the ground level, we hope to utilize the heat rising characteristic to circulate the warm air up to the other parts of the house.

We (and when I say “we” that’s a pretty loose interpretation since I did nothing but run around to purchase supplies! But, hey, everyone does their part, right?) placed the stove to the left of the stairwell (open at present) so the heat could travel up the stairs.

My husband spotted a nice stove at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore and nabbed it for way less than we’d have paid new. It pays to have a good eye!

Our wood stove looks like this, although I’m not sure of the brand. Ours does have a blower on the back, which we have never had on a stove before. You can purchase the stoves with or without the blower.

Working with the wide walls.

In order to accommodate our wider than usual walls (sawmill lumber on 6″ studs), we knew we’d need to be willing to be flexible. Normally, we tend to try to figure out how to piece together individual items to make our projects work, with the goal of saving money. After a good bit of research, my husband concluded that for all of the components to work together, it would just be better to go with an all-in-one kit for running the stovepipes through the wall.

Here’s the kit he settled on, which has worked perfectly.

Using a kit ensures that all of the parts work together like they should. Just way easier than trying to figure out each individual part. We found ours locally thru Tractor Supply Center because we were eager to get the wood stove installed, but they can be shipped to your door as well.

Next we needed stovepipe. A lot of stove pipe. We used eight 36″ pieces of the stainless steel exterior pipe (we needed to extend the chimney above the roof line, which is like thirty feet tall.). These are triple wall pipes. We needed one 24″ section to meet the pipe after going through the wall.

I won’t tell you how many trips we made to TSC to find pipes! We had to work from the four closest stores to our house, because none of the stores had enough pieces in stock. So we drove to four stores in four cities, then did it again in order to find the interior pipe! I recommend getting more organized than us!

Coupon? Yes, Please!

We scored by finding a coupon code for Tractor Supply that gives 25% off of heating supplies in the month of November! We didn’t discover the coupon until after we purchased the big kit, unfortunately, but we did save a lot on the pipes!

For the interior pipes, we used typical black stovepipe.

Here are a few shots of our friend installing the outside pipe! He made sure to be very safe, but I still had a hard time watching him climb that ladder! ?. I do not like heights, but he said he didn’t mind it! ??. I’m thankful he’s back on terra firma anyway!

Here is my quick shot the first night the stove was installed! What a difference a wood stove makes! Suddenly (even though the shop is still a big mess of storage) the house seems more inviting! Warmth and the glow of the fire pull people and animals towards them.

Now the cats have moved in! We made a bed for Poppy near to the fire, and she moved herself closer yet! She’s been living outside for months (ever since she couldn’t handle the kittens anymore), but Poppy is really an inside kind of cat. Now she is VERY happy! And the other cats–they never leave the house now like they used to!

We are still working on the final supports to tie the stove into the house for bracing, but our whole family is super thankful this week for the wonderful wood stove!

It’s the simple things!

This post was a bonus feature over at the Little Cottage Link Party! You should head over there every week to check out their fun party!