Barndominium/Shop or "real" House?

[Duds13]

I should add, if anyone here is looking for a catalytic stove, you’d do well to limit your search to Blaze King (BK) and Woodstock. Many other companies engineered catalytic stoves 35 years ago, and some continue to produce them, but most are finicky and more trouble than they need to be… hence the bad reputation catalytic technology developed 25-30 years ago.

BK and Woodstock are really the only two companies that have not only continued to develop and refine this technology, but also have top-notch customer support and warranties. They’re not the cheapest out there, by a long shot, but there are very good reasons for this.

I’d go so far as to say I’d not even buy a catalytic stove, if it were not one of these two brands… and I’m a guy who cycled through a clean half-dozen wood stoves in my first 5 years in the present house. I put 6 - 10 full cords thru my stoves every year now, which is less than what I used to burn, but still double or triple what most “full time” burners do per year, due to owning a large and older home.

I dont know anything about Woodstock stove other than reading comments and it seems they are highly respected and often get recommended. I can speak to Blaze King and agree 100% with WinterDeere. I believe we both have the same stove, the Ashford 30.2. It's been an excellent purchase. Dry wood (,20% moisture) is imperative though!

 

[WinterDeere]

I dont know anything about Woodstock stove other than reading comments and it seems they are highly respected and often get recommended. I can speak to Blaze King and agree 100% with WinterDeere. I believe we both have the same stove, the Ashford 30.2. It's been an excellent purchase. Dry wood (,20% moisture) is imperative though!

Same stove, but mine are the older 30.1 variant. In fact, they're transitional stoves, built as they were re-tooling from the original 30.0 design to the 30.1 update, each has a few lingering features from the older 30.0 design (like numbers dial vs. swoosh).

I've been running them since 2015, which means I have more than 100 full cords through the pair now, at our usage rage. I'm on my third cat in each, not that I'm sure replacements were even that necessary, and still running all of the original door and bypass gaskets. They're as close to "zero maintenance" as any stove I have ever owned, despite what inexperienced non-cat owners would like to try to claim about cat stoves.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

Same stove, but mine are the older 30.1 variant. In fact, they're transitional stoves, built as they were re-tooling from the original 30.0 design to the 30.1 update, each has a few lingering features from the older 30.0 design (like numbers dial vs. swoosh).

I've been running them since 2015, which means I have more than 100 full cords through the pair now, at our usage rage. I'm on my third cat in each, not that I'm sure replacements were even that necessary, and still running all of the original door and bypass gaskets. They're as close to "zero maintenance" as any stove I have ever owned, despite what inexperienced non-cat owners would like to try to claim about cat stoves.

The cats on Blaze King stoves can last for decades if you run them correctly. The secret is to stoke it, get it burning, and then shut it up, until that load burns completely. One of the guys who worked for me bought a Blaze King and installed it at the same time his father and sister bought the same stoves. He loads it with as much wood as it can hold, lights it off and closes the door. They would load it half way, then open the door frequently to load more wood. He had to change out the catalysts in theirs every other year at the most. His was still going strong fifteen years later.

 

[WinterDeere]

The cats on Blaze King stoves can last for decades if you run them correctly. The secret is to stoke it, get it burning, and then shut it up, until that load burns completely.

True. But cat life is highly dependent on what and how you're burning, too. They're usually rated around 10k - 12k hours, but burning low on softwoods can shorten that, or at least really highlight any diminished performance. My higher burn rates on hardwoods can either extend that or at least mask diminishing performance, as increased burn rates consume more of the wood gas volatiles in the firebox.

I'm actually one of the beta testers for BK, which is why I've been thru three combustors on each stove. When they came out with their latest experimental catalyst technology, I'm one of the 3 - 5 people in North America that they sent it to for testing. They said they like to use me as a test case, because I have two of the same stove on different chimneys, and because I'm runnnig two at a time in a house with high heat demand, I probably have more hours or cords of experience than anyone else they know on this particular model (BK 30.1).

 

[ETD66SS]

Just about done with the interior framing. Hopefully getting it inspected this week.

It has been a real slog doing 100% of it by myself.

Rough electrical should be done this week.

 

[gsganzer]

Just curious. Why is there so much blocking between the studs?

 

[ETD66SS]

Just curious. Why is there so much blocking between the studs?

There will be steel siding on the inside walls, so those are for the screws. The pattern will match the bookshelf framing on all the other shop walls.

 

[Carl_NH]

I've been following the build since the early plans, and thought the living area was all above the 3 garage bays? It seems you have an additional section right of the stairs and above that I don't recall seeing in the original plans.

Do you have a new layout you can share showing the living and shop areas?

It's looking real good, the framing looks tight and straight - nice work.

 

[ETD66SS]

I've been following the build since the early plans, and thought the living area was all above the 3 garage bays? It seems you have an additional section right of the stairs and above that I don't recall seeing in the original plans.

Do you have a new layout you can share showing the living and shop areas?

It's looking real good, the framing looks tight and straight - nice work.

In that area I added upper and lower workshops. Neither of which are living space.

I wanted working areas that were separate from the larger shop. Areas that had better heat/insulation. Both areas will be for tinkering and assembling stuff, not areas that will have equipment. I want them to be sealed off from the main shop space which will contain dust and chemical fumes etc.

The lower workshop will have an 8x8 OH door in it for rolling in engines/etc that I can assemble in a clean environment.

Those areas were in the original plans though the upper portion was labeled "attic space". I've since added a transom window in the upper workshop overlooking the primary shop space. The building inspector might not like this due to fire code, but my argument will be it is a transom window between shop spaces, not between shop and living space.

 

[hayden]

Just about done with the interior framing. Hopefully getting it inspected this week.

It has been a real slog doing 100% of it by myself.

Rough electrical should be done this week.

View attachment 4281675

I see that your overhead door track follows the slope of roof trusses. Was it a problem to have it installed that way? Do you know if there are limitation on what the slope can be? I would like to do something similar on a steel frame building where the slope is 5:12. Yours looks less steep, at least on the inside.