Getting a woodburner squeeeeeeeee - tell me about yours

[noyouhavehadawee]

am a tadge excited - we have a flat wall with no chimney so they going to build us a pretend chimney breast to whack it in with a twin flu on the outside. Were getting a multi fuel jobby. I cant even light the bloomin chimnea so this will be some learning curve! Anyway I cant decide what kind of hearth to have or whether to have an oak beam across or to go more minimalist (our house is only 15 yr old so quite modern and in taste) . Tell me about yours.......

[BerthaTheBogCleaner]

We had minimalist (in our old house, sob!). But I missed not having a mantlepiece. And I would have liked some space at the side to stack the next lot of logs so they dried out nicely.

Oh I miss my woodburner. Make sure your thermostat is in a different room though, or you'll leave your nice toasty room to go to bed and the rest of the house will be freezing.

[noyouhavehadawee]

Our thermostat is in the freezing cold hall so not a problem, yes I am having that debate just so I can put some poncey shit and a picture of the dc on it . Im not sure if I want to stack ro many logs in the room as them scarey as fook spiders will moce in though I did debate asking the man to build in some log shelving but I might just get a basket thing instead. The man was very keen to run the pipe right through the bedroom but we have resited that option so it will exit at ceiling height all hidden mind. Did you use it a lot?

[Talkinpeace]

aarrow ecoburn 5
I just love it
tops up the heating in the winter and saved turning it back on this week

[noyouhavehadawee]

Well its ordered - gone for a nice flat oak beam, dh has decided over the weekend were going wood only not multifuel which im a bit unsure about but then he is the forager. I am guessing we will buy our first stashes of wood whilst any foraged is seasoning - buyers of wood - do you buy kiln dried or just that advertised as seasoned....... ?

[NotAnotherPackedLunch]

I use sawdust bricks from here
They are very easy to store and light easily. There are also no lurking spiders

[Pudden]

don't waste your money on kiln dried-buy seasoned & get a moisture meter from ebay. Test the wood as its been delivered (should be no more than 21%)

Build as big a wood store as you can and start to fill it. Ask around for local tree surgeons as they will often offload timber as they have to pay to dump at the landfill sites. A few quid and a bottle of whisky at Xmas reaps rewards!

Scrounge pallets (the ones with HT branded on the side- 'heat treated' to preserve the wood rather than chemically) and break them up; the slats make fab kindling and the chunks burn well

Tune your ear to chainsaws being wielded in the near distance and see if there are any trees being cut down. Ash and sycamore dry quickly, oak can take years to season, hawthorn burns brilliantly and cherry and apple smell wonderful

[Pudden]

mine is a Morsø Panther and I love it; central heating very rarely used and ours is used for boiling kettles, cooking jacket spuds, soups etc and is great at drying clothes on an airer. Pic on profile...and me lovely kettle

[noyouhavehadawee]

we do live in a new estate detached but rather close to our neighbours, do your neighbours ever complain about smells or is there non - i am more worried about being a nuisance more than anything though one getting is defra approved.

[noyouhavehadawee]

i am takin over our old pottin shed for a wood store, but i have seen ones like a shed with no front but surely rain would wet the wood or am i missing something

[PotteringAlong]

I love mine more than DH :o

[PotteringAlong]

We have no smell if burning smokeless coal and a lovely smell of burning wood

[noyouhavehadawee]

i can see i am going to have to become educated to what used is what, dh just come home with a rather large log he found but no idea what it is

[noyouhavehadawee]

i mean what wood is what

[stealthsquiggle]

A vague, comforting smell which is lovely to come home to and will make your neighbours very . We only burn wood. I have noticed a much stronger smell from coal fires.

We don't buy kiln dried (would cost a fortune - we went through more than 10 tons last winter) - just seasoned, a day either mixed or all hardwood. If your shed is accessible then someone who delivers in ton bags would save effort on moving and stacking. We reckon every log we burn has been moved at least 5 times by us (even though we buy seasoned, cut and split).

[noyouhavehadawee]

Pudden just looked at your pic now not on phone, that's similar set up to us getting - purpose built false chimney breast, stove sat in, beam - our stove only has one door mind maybe not as wide so not sure if I will be able to sit a kettle on it - does it really boil on there?? And how do you your do your spuds - just sit them on?

[noyouhavehadawee]

sadly I reckon they would dump a dumpy bag on our drive then we would have to hoick it round the back to the shed so some effort needed, it could be an exiting family activity though

[stealthsquiggle]

Good luck selling it as fun . Our DC sigh when they see a pile of logs on the drive (but to be fair they do muck in, and it is faster with them than without).

[Selks]

I'm getting a wood stove fitted soon - I can't wait! I'm renovating the whole downstairs of the house including new kitchen but the thing I'm looking forward to most is my lovely new stove .
My fireplace is the original stone fireplace which would have had a range in it. It has a chunky wooden mantelshelf too, and I have just ripped out the hideous imitation stone hearth stones and have replaced them with huge old stone slabs.
The stove I have chosen is the Broselely serrano 5 multifuel stove.
Need to get a wood store for outside, too.

[noyouhavehadawee]

Oooo nice Selks - ours is going to be a charnwood c5, i was hoping it would be fit before it got summery but our fitter seems to be a bit lack in returning our calls, he clearly doesnt realise how impatient i am!

[dufflefluffle]

Stoves are very easy to light (proof: I can light one!) and they are just brilliant so good luck: enjoy it!
We use wood and briquettes and can use very little for lots and lots of heat.

[echt]

Ooh, we're having one put in in a few weeks, and very excited. The open fireplace is there already, as is a woodstore next to it - open fireplaces are very common in Australian houses, even those built in the 80s, as our was.

We're lucky in that we have a large garage to store and dry wood, and a good supply of fuel, as people can hardly wait to cut down trees in their gardens. Feckers.

[Pudden]

noyouhavehadawee we do our spuds in an lidded enamelled cast iron shallow dish (like Le Creuset) and they cook in about an hour or so. Smell lovely and fab crispy skins. Kettle takes about ten mins. I also do welsh cakes and dropped scones on a small skillet on top and also poached eggs. It's also very good for things that take a long time to cook i.e casseroles as you can put the pot of a trivet to diffuse the heat.

Your potting shed prob not the best place for wood; it needs to be slatted or open sided to allow ventilation but with a roof covering to keep off the worst of the rain. If it is closed up then you will find that moulds and funghi will start to grow esp if wood not fully seasoned

Again make friends with tree surgeons; earlier this year we got three transit vans full of cherry , ash and sycamore for fifty quid. Chap didn't want any money for it but we saw it as an investment

[Pudden]

Charnwood extremly well built and efficient fires

[Pudden]

selks make sure you bung some photos on here when it's done- sounds lovely

[noyouhavehadawee]

funny enough today someone was selling a le creuset kettle at work today for fifteen pound, i couldn't believe my fortune mind our quote is only small so probably won't fit on but its nice all the same. would it mark the stove or do you pop it on a stand? also wood wise dh just took up on a nature walk down the river and we managed to fill our boot with some drift wood and fallen tree bits - i can see this is going to take over our lives