We’ve been cold for a while now…
… Our farmhouse came with a propane furnace when we bought it. But even though the house is pretty small, the poor little furnace just couldn’t keep up–especially with the 60+ mph winds we get in the winter…
We avoided the idea of a wood stove for quite a while. Not because we don’t love wood heat (because we do!), but mainly because our living room is tiny, and the thought of giving up a big chunk of our precious space to a wood stove and hearth made us cringe.
But enough was enough. We finally got tired of paying thousands of dollars each year to heat the house, especially when it never was really warm anyway.
Thus, the Great Wood Stove Adventure began.
Many of you over on the Prairie Homestead Facebook page have been following along with the installation process. I’m hoping this post will help to answer a lot of your questions–we’re definitely NOT claiming to be wood stove experts, nor is this the “definitive” guide to heating with wood, but it will walk you through our thought processes and hopefully give you some ideas if you have a wood stove on your own wish list.
Buying the Stove
Picking out the wood stove we wanted was… daunting. There are a bazillion different options out there with various features.
We had the following requirements:
1. It had to be as small as possible, or at least have the ability to sit close to the wall, since we need every spare inch of space in the living room.
2. It had to be very efficient. We wanted the stove to become our main source of heat–it needed to burn for a long time and not use a crazy amount of wood. Neither of us had the desire to be stoking it every two hours–at least not if we could help it.
3. We wanted a catalytic converter. Now–there are varying opinions about these online, and some folks don’t like them. But after a lot of research, we decided it would be the most efficient and cost-effective option for us.
4. Having the stove available from a local dealer was important, so we could see it in person and avoid shipping costs.
After a lot of Googling, phone calls, and visits to local stove stores, we decided on a Blaze King (the Princess model).
Here’s why:
1. Blaze Kings have a good reputation and are considered to be quality stoves. Plus, they were available locally for us.
2. Although the Princess model is NOT the smallest option in terms of footprint, it has optional heat shield attachments, which allow us to set it close to the wall. Some of the other small stoves out there are absolutely adorable, but they must be set out several feet from all walls, which would make it stick waaaay out into our living space.
3. The Princess model has a catalytic converter, which makes it ideal for using as a primary source of heat in your home. You can load it full of wood, set the thermostat, and basically leave it alone.
Now, it’s not the cheapest option out there… Not by a longshot. There were plenty of other stoves out there for much less. However, many of the cheaper ones aren’t as efficient, and require constant monitoring to make sure that they stay burning.
Since our wood stove is going to be a part of our everyday “survival,” we really wanted something as low maintenance as possible. Otherwise, it would be too tempting to just ignore it when things get busy and switch on the furnace–which totally defeats the purpose of installing a wood stove.
When it comes to items that we are going to use extensively on a daily basis, our philosophy is to spend a little more cash initially for higher-quality items that require less hands-on time in the long-run.
We’ve learned (sometimes the hard way), that it’s worth it to pay a little more at the beginning to avoid a lot of headache later on. There have been many times in our life that we’ve purchased the cheapest option out there, only to end up replacing it a year later, or wasting time on repairs and parts.
The Installation
I’m pretty lucky that my hubby can pretty much fix, build, repair, or install anything, so we were able to do the whole installation ourselves. I think it ended up taking about four days–but we were pretty motivated since it was approximately a million degrees below zero outside.
After a lot of measuring and figuring, we kicked off the party by cutting a hole in the ceiling.
This is the part when I kinda wanted to throw up.
We didn’t know what we’d find up there, and we were praying that we wouldn’t run into floor joists or other lovely surprises.
We had a clear path. It was pretty much a miracle, and we breathed a HUGE sigh of relief.
Next, we had to figure out exactly how big our platform was going to be.
We wanted it slightly elevated (just for looks), and planned on putting up a faux brick/stone backing behind the platform and stove.
After consulting with the stove owner’s manual (it states how far it needs to be away from walls/surfaces), we put some tape on the floor, and brought the stove inside so we could figure out where exactly it needed to be. (It’s a heavy sucker… lemme tell ya.)
We cut the carpet out and built a wooden base with backing. This would give all the brick/stone something to stick to.
We covered the base with heavy stone pavers (the kind that folks use to make a path in their yard) for the base. Hubby took care all of the measuring and cutting–it was too much geometry for me. 😉
We settled on a fake stone veneer for the backing–it’s rustic (totally our style), AND way easier to put up than regular brick. It’s light-weight, heat-resistant, and can be cut with a hacksaw. WIN!
(It’s called AirStone– we found it at Lowe’s)
Hubby capped off the “brick” with a nice chunk of weathered, roughcut lumber that doubles as a shelf. (Not shown in this pic)
And then we arrived at the really scary part–cutting a hole in the roof… I wish I could describe this entire process to you, but I actually went and hid in the barn because I couldn’t watch… But it went off without a hitch, and we didn’t end up with any “extra” roof ventilation holes. Whew.
The indoor stove pipe was assembled and put into place, and we were ready for business!
The first fire in any new stove is always stinky, since you have to burn off all the factory coating, so we ended up opening all the windows for a while.
So, how’s it working?
It’s excellent! We couldn’t be happier. Our house is warmer than it’s ever been, and I’m amazed at how hands-off this stove is. We pack it full of wood in the morning, set the thermostat in the mid-range, and it goes alllll day. We repeat the process at night, and wake up with a warm house in the morning and plenty of hot coals still in the stove.
Oh! And I love this little fan we nabbed off Amazon (affiliate link) It’s been a wonderful investment, as it helps to push the heat deeper into the house. And it doesn’t use a lick of electricity– WIN!
We feel pretty darn spoiled… And now I’m secretly hoping for a good blizzard so we can hunker down by the stove and let the wind howl.
Your project brought back memories. Years ago when I was still a single parent and my now grown boys were young teenagers we installed a woodstove as our sole source of heat. Cutting the holes in the ceiling and roof also made me want to puke. We got it all done and it kept us warm for years. I miss heating with wood. My husband and I just moved into a very well insulated 5 year old house with central heat and air. While the efficiency is amazing and the heat only comes on during really cold nights, I still look longingly at piles of free wood by the side of the road and miss the feeling that comes from finding free wood and heating all winter with it.
Can you tell me how your insurance company feels (charges$$$) about your wood stove? We would like to install a wood stove but are afraid to ask for fear it is a NO. then we couldn’t install one for sure. If we don’t ask and just do it…we’d have what we wanted but risk no coverage should a fire break out. What did you find?
Looks great!!!!!!!!
We live on MN/ND border a have a wood pellet stove in our living room (very few trees around here otherwise we would love to burn wood!). We have a rectangular archway between out living and dining room so all winter I hang laundry on clothes hangers there to dry! Works great and is a great activity to keep our 4 and 2 year olds busy.
Yes! I’m thinking of dragging my drying rack inside and sticking it in front of the stove. 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing your wood stove installation experiences! My husband and I would like to have one in our home one day, so it’s good to know the installation can be done ourselves :).
You are so right about spending a little higher to get a good wood stove! When we lived on the farm, the wood stove was our only heat, and I had to put wood in it every 2 hours to keep it going. That meant overnight, too! I loooooved the warmth and coziness, but setting my alarm for every 2 hours overnight was like having a baby again. I would go back and spend more to get one like yours!
Oh goodness… I would totally wimpy out if I had to get up every 2 hours to stoke it- ha!
I am excited for you! Great job! Our woodstove is my favorite thing and an enormous blessing to our homestead. It’s ALL we use for heat–and boy, does it HEAT. Also, it has two burners on the top for cooking, which we sometimes use when we lose electricity to our electric oven and cooktop. Our wood comes right off our property, while others pay $250-$350 per cord. And propane runs anywhere from $2-$4 per gallon. Praise God for woodstoves!
How awesome that your wood comes from your property! I wish we could do that.
you can get a permit to go on state grounds and clean up fallen or dead trees the permit is free and it saves money on wood as well
Nice pictures, we need a stove so bad!! WE are just using propane and it drives me nuts just to use that. Your stove looks real good, and what a cute little baby! (That;s another thing we are working on!)
Best of luck on the stove AND the baby! 🙂
How do you keep your young child away from the stove? How do you prevent them from throwing toys & blankets at it? Thank you!
Our 3 year old understands that it’s hot–and the one year old can feel the heat and stays away from it. We also point and say “hot” and he copies us by pointing and saying “haaaa.” 😉 So far, so good–but we are still watching them pretty closely.
We absolutely love ours! We also put ours on a platform-but for a different reason. My hubby is disabled due to a back injury so we installed ours about 18 inches from the floor. This allows him to keep from having to bend over so far to add wood and made the platform large enough to stack the wood on as well. It also makes for a nice little seat to warm up on when you come in from the cold! And you got the model with the flat top so you can cook on it as well!! We so enjoy a pot of homemade deer chili, beans,etc, etc, etc cooked on top of ours-Yummy-and lets you multitask-keep the house warm and cook at the same time! We got a model with the glass window in front as well-I just LOVE watching the flames!
Merry Christmas to all!
Susie 🙂
I know! The glass window is awesome. 🙂
Where do you get your wood fuel? Do you have dead/dying trees on your property, or do you have a local source to buy it from?
We have some cut-up logs that we are using right now (leftover from some pens there were on our property) but we’ll eventually have to purchase wood–we don’t have timber on our acreage.
It looks great, I must admit I wan’t really sure what it was. I expected it was an actual stove you would cook on, I guess that’s what you get from a Floridian. It looks very pretty.
Yes– it’s mainly for heat–but you can cook on it too. 🙂
That turned out great! I soooo goofed up when I didn’t plan for a wood burner when we built this house. Didn’t want a fireplace again, because they are totally inefficient. But a stove would have been very nice, especially since we have plenty of sources for wood on the property. Good job!
Really neat ! A friend bought an older house in a tiny village and renovated it. It came with a huge, wood furnace, which he kept. He installed heat vents to downstairs and upstairs, and it warms the entire house nicely! He had to pipe in fresh air to the furnace, though, as it was creating oxygen deprivation.
I like the idea of it being able to heat two stories!
So jealous! We actually have a wood stove sitting on our house that isn’t installed. This year was supposed to be “the year” but now that we’re planning to move in a year or so, we’ve put it off. Can’t wait until we can use it!
I am jealous! We love wood heat and have used a Brunco wood furnace for the last 10 years. Unfortunatley, we had a chimney fire last year and didn’t know it. When we had the chimney cleaned and inspected this year they told us that we needed a new liner. When they started the repairs, the entire chimney started to fall apart. We are getting a whole new chimney for Christmas. The problem is that the mason can’t start on the chimney until the weather is above 20. We are spending a fortune in propane to freeze this year. Any time we are in a house with a fire, my husband and I huddle around th stove to soak up the warm wood heat.
We have used a wood stove as our primary heat source for about 20 years now. I love it! We put in a heat pump as a backup a couple of years ago. Mainly comes on if the stove goes out or we are on long trips. The idea of the kind you have is interesting – a thermostat and it burns all day? I will have to look into those. Thanks for the idea.
Are you insured? If so who allows for a wood burning stove these days? 2017. I built a 3/16 inch thick air tight stove, followed the plans of a company making them for over 100 years then I made it thicker to last 100 years. It isn’t UL approved obviously and I’m not sure I want to call my insurance company to ask them..if you know what I mean!
Not sure why this was not answered as you asked it twice so I’ll pipe in with my experience. I’m in Canada, in the Maritimes. It’s cold but not as cold as where Jill is, which in Canada would be equivalent to Alberta in the prairies. We have trees here and no natural gas, so wood heat is common, as are heat pumps now. Insurance here is concerned with a few things- is there a backup source of heat for when the power goes out? That leaves wood. It’s by far the only reliable heat. Our insurance said as long as you don’t use more than 3 cords a year, they consider you are not heating with wood. Our stove is new, EPA certified, and was installed by the wood stove company. Our home is small, insulated, etc.so we don’t use that much. We also have a back up heat pump, if we don’t feel like doing the stove. The stove installers are WETT certified, which insurance often requires. Another insurance company we checked required that the stove be EPA certified, a good idea anyway. If it’s not, they give you a year to get a new one. If you don’t, they cancel your policy. Maybe more folks in the US reading this blog can weigh in with their experience. It’s never a good idea to try and dupe your insurance company (as much as I loath them). They will find out if your place burns down. Also, if you are installing it yourself, be sure you know what you are doing. I’m amazed at the You Tubes by people without a basic clue on just about anything, except watching themselves talk.
Looks great! I love what you did with the stones. We are going to be adding a woodstove to our master bedroom and I think I’ll convince my hubby to put the stone all around. 🙂
We are not going to cut a hole in the ceiling though, he wants to cut the hole at the very top of the wall, makes me cringe, but I think I’ll hide outside while he’s doing that part.
Yeah… hiding is good! 😉
Thank you for sharing this! I am still trying to convince my husband to let us get a wood stove. I never knew they could be so efficient.
One thing I would suggest to anyone wanting to put in a stove is to first take with your homeowners insurance agent. Most insurance companies have specific rules on how a stove is installed if they are going to insure it. Some will not insure you if the pipe goes through a wall instead of the ceiling.
Your stove looks great. ENJOY!
Yes– we called our homeowner’s insurance before we started–good idea.
How awsome! we love our stove: it’s from the late 40’s, and is hooked up to our duct’s…we went to bed last night at a nice 78* it was just bout perfect for me, We have not had to purchase oil now for close to 11 years…the stove will save you so much money in the long run! Love that you have a flat top stove, now if you ever loose power: you have a valuable tool also to cook upon, keep a t-kettle on ect….that will come in handy dandy for sure…Merry Christmas to all…..
Yes– I am very excited to do some cooking on it!
My husband wants to know if you bring the wood in through the window!! Looks great!
Haha–yes we have! 🙂
We put in a Blaze King wood stove in our new house this past year & are thrilled with it! We also built the raised hearth & used the air stone for surround. We’ve been considering installing a shelf atop the airstone.
How did you attach yours to the wall?
Did it require bracing? Could you post another pic of shelf up close?
Thanks!
Cool!
We were able to screw the shelf into the plywood/2×4 backing that we hung the airstone on. 🙂
HELLO, JILL! WE ARE HOPING TO INSTALL A WOOD STOVE DOWNSTAIRS THIS JANUARY. WE HAVE A TWO STORY HOME, BOTH 1360 SQUARE FEET. DO YOU KNOW IF THE BLAZE KING WOULD HEAT THE BOTTOM LEVEL AS WELL AS THE TOP? THANKS!
It’s hard to say Ashley– I think it just depends on the layout of your home.
Check your stove’s specs to see how many square feet it will heat… also, your layout is important, as Jill mentioned. The options might be to cut your ceiling (upper level floor) to install a passive or fan-boosted vent in that opening… you may need a couple of them. If there is a large open stairway to the second floor, that might be good enough to allow the rising warm air to effectively heat that space.
I love this idea. We’re are building a new house that will be heated by natural gas. But if the electricity goes out, we’ll have no central heat. I’m going to try to sell hubby this idea!
I truly enjoy the blog and your life’s focus (Christ, family, living simply). At least, that’s how I see it.
I enjoyed reading your blogs. I would like to know why you chose a wood stove with a catalytic converter? My wife and I are trying to replace our old inefficient fireplace insert and are confuse about the different models.
I have had wood stoves and fireplaces off and on thru my life. They can be really messy when you have carpet. I have done away with the carpet and went to tile and throw rugs. Wood stoves are great for cooking on when the power is out as well.
We love our wood stove also. It’s a Blaze King from the seventies I think? It works pretty good for us. I traded a pool table I had for it. We needed the stove and the pool table not so much 😉 We load our up with wood too and set it midway and we do have to check on it though. I wish ours was not so hands on. BUT, it serves its purpose well. We are remodeling our little homestead and soon the living room wall will be opened up to let the heat get back to the rest of our house. It tends to be cold in the back part of the house. We have to run fans to try and push the heat. Our electric bill went down some but not much. I’m afraid to see our electric bill this month since the cold temps have been hammering us. I think your stove is beautiful and such a smart choice. Enjoy it 🙂
Hey, farm girl! Thank you for this informative article. Question. If installed properly, do you think it’s safe to stock a wood burning stove, such as the Blaze King Princess, and leave it running all day while you are at work? THANKS!
I have left ours on the low setting when we’ve been gone and it’s been great!
Hi Jill,
Thank you for an excellent article for those of us considering a wood burner for the first time. The pictures were really nice and the project looks just how I want ours to turn out! My family and I live in an old fixer Wisconsin farmhouse and heat with propane (You know what that’s like!) and we want to switch to an affordable source of heat.
On a side note, I wonder if you would be willing to give my middle grade novel, JOURNEYS: AN ICE AGE ADVENTURE, a read and if you like it give it a plug on your facebook page. Certainly no pressure and no worries! Tim Fox
Can we have the good old fashioned ones installed…we cant afford one like this one…..is it pretty much the same process???? My home is superrrrrr freezing!!! I need one like this.., ASAP!!!!!
Hi Jill, your living room corner looks identical to ours. From the placement of the cable wall plate to the heating vent and the window. I see you guys covered over your heating duct. Is that because you won’t need it anymore or did you reroute it? We have a small house, 1100 square feet, and I’m looking for wood stoves. Someone pointed me to your site and I’m glad!
I’m glad you found me too! Yes, we did cover it. We didn’t reroute it, but there is another duct opening in the living room, and hopefully we won’t be using our furnace much at all anymore. (That particular duct wasn’t very efficient anyway)
i’m keeping this link for “one day”! I don’t have that much room to spare at the moment, but we’ve talked about putting a small addition on the front of the house, and I’d definitely plan for it then. We had a gas stove in the sunroom of our last house – how I miss that room and stove!! When I was in college my whole little converted barn apartment was heated with a wood stove (it didn’t quite get to the bathroom, way at the other side of the house, though), and I loved it. It got me through being stuck for 6 days after an ice storm – I cooked on it, and wrapped stuff in foil and put it right in the fire. REally great for homesteading!
Would love an updated post on this. How did it work out for you over this last frigid winter? Did you have to use your furnace much? Did the heat spread beyond the living room? How much wood did you end up using? Did you reduce your propane use by much?
We’re on the high plains as well, although a state away, and have no easy access to (cheap/free) wood. A cord runs $250+ so I’m guessing it’s similar where you are. We have propane for hot water, furnace, and stove so it’s hard to track how much is *just* the heat but I know it’s of course the vast majority.
We’re researching like mad now as I know the sales will be in the summertime and not in October. 😉
It was wonderful!! We didn’t use our furnace a bit. It kept the house toasty warm. It did use a decent amount of wood, especially when it was super cold. But, it was still cheaper than buying propane. (I can’t recall the exact number of cords we purchased–I’ll have to ask my hubby).
Wow, that’s encouraging! We’ve got two books on heating with wood from the library (who knew?!) but on one of them, early on, it basically said if you have a ranch style house (as we do) you either get one that makes the room it’s in too hot but heats the house or you get multiple (!!) small ones throughout the house. So that was pretty *discouraging*. Our propane costs topped $2,000 this last year… and we kept the house at 65 during the days and 55 at night. Brrr. Trying to do the math to see if we could make this work!
Great post..
We have been heating with wood for 30 years now ?????
Normally I don’t read post on blogs, however I wish to
say that this write-up very forced me to try and do so!
Your writing taste has been surprised me. Thanks, very
nice article.
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Really nice to see your stove going in. Inspirational, in fact. Your stove fan looks to be working well! I have been making some upcycled versions of a similar thing, but I kept having problems with them overheating and the TEG modules burning out.
I got round that by adding in a mechanical overheat protection. It’s not too difficult to make if you have a bit of DIY skills and some scrap (I use an old chainsaw cylinder for part of my stove top sculptures/fans). Anyway If you are interested do check them out on my site – which is all about upcycled makery – from experimental wood stoves to oak doors: floweringelbow.org
Hi:
Did you find any info about using Airstone as wall protector without an airgap to reduce clearance of stove to wall?
Did you mortar down the pavers?
On getting wood:
We live in southeastern Wisconsin (quite a bit of wood around) and have good luck in obtaining all we need free. Most of it we get from the brush heap at the local recycling center, where we often find some nice wood to take home in our 5 x 8 trailer. To get it reduced to burnable size, a splitter and chainsaw are needed and quickly pay for themselves. I’ve got my Dad’s 60 year-old [well-known German brand–the kind that all the pros use] chainsaw, and it’s still going strong, and an electric hydraulic splitter–small but very heavy and tough. Handle all this equipment with care, especially the saw–it’s dangerous. Also, know your woods so you only pick up hardwood–e.g., oak, maple, ash, locust, mesquite, pecan, hickory, etc. You don’t want to get your chimney gooped up with creosote from resinous softwoods like pine, spruce, or fir. My favorite is ash because it burns well whether it’s green or cured. Thanks to the emerald ash borer, there’s lots of it around these days.
More on Getting Wood:
Businesses that use pallets to stack and move merchandise frequently put them in a give-away pile when they’re done with them, or when they’re cracked or broken. If you can get some of these, you have some great fuel–they’re oak, which burns long and hot. Don’t bother with the horrible job of removing the nails from these. Just avoid them when you’re cutting up the pallet (which I do with a regular circular saw), and use a strong magnet at the end of the season to remove the nails from your firebox, or if they’re non-ferrous, sweep them up.
I have the same layout with a window in the way. Can you show how you capped the faux stone under the window sill? Did you take the sill off and just use the rustic wood cap? Also, the sides of the backsplash, do those pieces wrap around or did you need to cut little pieces to trim the sides/edges with stone?
Thank you!
Hey Jill,
Was just wondering: what did your husband use to secure the pavers to the base? Any adhesives / caulks? Or did he just butt them up against one another? I’m in the process of installing my stove as I speak.
I’m so happy you talked about how a solid and reinforced base could be just the perfect safety feature for our woodstove as it would protect our flooring from any damage. My neighborhood baker has been considering opting for a more unique baking device for his pastries to enrich their flavor. I’ll suggest this mechanism to him so he could install the right appliance later.