Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[wmonroe]

Wood.

I have been meaning to ask about recommendations for that. I'm looking for a very plain look, maybe open with no glass doors, but I do want a blower motor to circulate the heat out out into the house instead of 90% going right up the chimney! The builder said he can get a plain insert with a blower motor for around $200. Does that sound like a decent setup? I really don't know much about fire places, but would like to get something that will be as efficient as possible without spending a fortune. This will primarily be decorative, but in the case of a major outage, it would be nice to have the ability to keep the entire house somewhat warm from this one heat source if possible.

One thing to think about, when I was building I was having a hard time deciding between a wood or gas fireplace. The builder suggested I put in a wood insert and install a "log light" and then if I ever wanted to go gas I could hook the logs right to the piping where the log lighter hooked up. Just something to think about.

Here is a quick cell picture of my fireplace. It's nothing fancy but does have a blower that does a very good job of keeping the house warm.

 

[FairfaxStu]

Wood.

I have been meaning to ask about recommendations for that. I'm looking for a very plain look, maybe open with no glass doors, but I do want a blower motor to circulate the heat out out into the house instead of 90% going right up the chimney!

Wow! Are you sure about that? Granted, the home will have generator backup, but I absolutely love my gas insert. Since I do not currently have a genset, it has saved my a** more than a few times during power outages. What I love about it is that is just works - all that I have to do is flip a switch to turn it on - even with no power. I have had it for 12 years and it has not let me down. The only maintenance I have done is to remove the fake logs and paint the interior with black header paint about a year ago. Since your Mom is getting older, I would suggest that you give that some more thought. Being able to flip a switch versus building/stoking a fire is a huge difference. Back before I had my gas insert, I used to have a HeatOLater wood insert with fan. It worked great, but I got tired of loading it up after about 2 years.

Also, if you want anything mildly effecient, it should have doors and the convection should do the rest.
-Stu

 

[s219]

Wood.

I have been meaning to ask about recommendations for that. I'm looking for a very plain look, maybe open with no glass doors, but I do want a blower motor to circulate the heat out out into the house instead of 90% going right up the chimney! The builder said he can get a plain insert with a blower motor for around $200. Does that sound like a decent setup? I really don't know much about fire places, but would like to get something that will be as efficient as possible without spending a fortune. This will primarily be decorative, but in the case of a major outage, it would be nice to have the ability to keep the entire house somewhat warm from this one heat source if possible.

You definitely want glass doors (some sort of door likely required by code anyhow), and blower is a very good idea. Code requires an outdoor air kit in most localities now.

Are you sure about that price? $200 seems ridiculously low, in fact I think I paid about $150 just for a fan kit on our fireplace!

We got a Heat & Glow Energy Master 42" fireplace with glass doors, blower, outdoor air kit, and I believe it was about $3000 installed including chimney piping, top cap, etc. Cheaper 36" units we looked at were about $700-1500 before install/chimney costs. Here is what ours looks like:

Some fireplace inserts are quite fancy nowadays, allowing you to hookup ducting to circulate hot air to other parts of the house. Those units are very expensive though.

 

[Obed]

Jim,The deck itself will be composite (Trex I believe is what the builder mentioned), and the railing will be this style (Handiswage):

I'm open to recommendations on both the decking and railing as that has not yet been ordered. I have heard good and bad things about the Trex, like mold and other things, but that is all in the past now? Aluminum decking might be an option, but I think it is even more expensive that composite? As for the railing, we're looking for something almost invisible for the view, but not frame-less (or framed) glass, so this thin steel cabling seems like a good choice.

Pete,
We built our deck using Trex. We really like it. We just finished the deck this past fall so I can't yet speak to the mold issue. Trex is expensive.

We were considering the cable railing like you are considering. That stuff is expensive. We wanted something that would not obstruct the view from the deck. However, we visited a friend's house who installed something similar. The first thing my 2 1/2 year old girl did was start climbing it. The horizontal cables are easy to climb. That made up our minds that we couldn't put that on our deck because one end of the deck is 12 feet from the ground. Counting the railing, if our daugher climbed the railing and fell, it would result in a 15 foot fall.

Instead, we installed vertical steel rods that we got a paint shop to powder coat. The rods were much less expensive than the cable railing but looks as nice, maybe better. We are extremely pleased with the results. The view is not obstructed and our now 3 year old girl cannot climb over the railing. Our porch building project is documented in my thread that is quoted in the links below.

Obed

On Saturday I took the day off and went whitewater kayaking. When I got home I discovered that my wife had moved the steps and started the prep work for putting the steps on their final base. She scraped off the gravel and dug out some red clay dirt. I took over and finished the job. I added gravel to provide a level base that would give the steps the correct height. Each step is a 6 1/2" drop. After leveling out the gravel we sat the steps in place. They feel rock solid when walking on them.



Also, you can see that my wife has finished staining the posts, railing, and rim joists. She also stained the steps.


We will take a break from working on the porch and deck for a while. At some point we will install removable screens on the porch.

My next priority is firewood.

Fall Pictures
I've enjoyed the fall colors tremendously this year. It helps not to have a bunch of projects with deadlines hanging over my head so I can look up and smell the roses. This is the last week of daylight savings time. Getting stuff done outside slows down this time of year with the shorter days. I guess there's a reason things are designed this way.

 

[FairfaxStu]

Obed:

I really like that look - great idea. If I may ask, how much did the powder coating cost and how many rods did you do?

-Stu

 

[aczlan]

My inlaws have had composite decking (might not be Trex brand though) for 6-7 years and it is holding up well. The regular wood under it has had some issues due to how it was installed (supporting the treads for your steps on a couple of small scraps of leftover wood stops working after a few years), but the deck itself has done well, it has even held up to being clipped by the plow on the BX2660 when someone got too close while clearing snow.

Aaron Z

 

[pclausen]

s219, love that Heat & Glow, not to mention the stonework behind it!

You guys are right, need glass door to control the air flow. I'm thinking of 30 years ago when you had a flute in the chimney.

Stu, I hear you on the gas option, but I have absolutely hated the unvented gas fireplace I have at my place, and mom, being from Scandinavia, is not likely to embrace a "fake" fireplace. It will only be used on special occasions, so I think the extra effort to get it going, and being that you're burning real wood, make it that much more "special". And if there is crazy storm, having a indefinitely replenishable heat source at hand is a bonus.

 

[Obed]

Obed:

I really like that look - great idea. If I may ask, how much did the powder coating cost and how many rods did you do?

-Stu

Stu,
We used 110 2 5/16" dia. steel rods at about $1.30 per 3' rod. In addition, I believe we paid $1 per rod to get them powder coated black by the paint shop. These are numbers are from memory but should be in the ball park.
Obed

 

[pclausen]

Obed, very good point about kids climbing the horizontal railing. I like what you did. Will have to show your pics to the builder!

Peter

 

[pclausen]

One thing to think about, when I was building I was having a hard time deciding between a wood or gas fireplace. The builder suggested I put in a wood insert and install a "log light" and then if I ever wanted to go gas I could hook the logs right to the piping where the log lighter hooked up. Just something to think about.

Here is a quick cell picture of my fireplace. It's nothing fancy but does have a blower that does a very good job of keeping the house warm.

"log light" seems like a good idea regardless of which direction we go. Since the basement will be unfinished, perhaps this option can be installed later with no additional overhead?