Has anyone fitted a woodburning stove in a modern house - how?

[jumpyjan]

We need something extra to heat up our lounge but feeling uninspired by the choice of gas fires.

I would love a woodburner but its a modern house with no chimney. I have heard its possible but no idea how it would work and how much it would cost.

Anyone done it?

You would need a twin walled metal flue, either running through an outside wall and up the side of it, or it can run internally up through the house and out of the roof.

Neither option is cheap. We did this in a new extension last year and it cost about 3K. This was by sourcing the flue and stove on the internet and then paying someone to install it. I had quotes from people to supply and fit the whole thing and they were all about 5K and up, depending on the stove.

£5k I had figured it would be a couple of grand. A place near us sells lovely stoves for around £400 and up so guess its the flue and fitting thats going to cost.

We could go for the outside wall option due to where it is going to be situated.

I would love one - so cosy.

We love ours and it was worth every penny - so much so that we're having another fitted soon (in part of the house where we have a chimney, so a lot cheaper).

We paid almost a grand for fitting - it might be cheaper where you live. It took two men a day to do, and isn't massively skilled IMO. You might be able to find a builder who will do it for less and then get it signed off by building control at the council. We did consider this but went for the convenience and reassurance of having a HETAS registered person to do it in the end.

Thanks Mrsmc think we will get some quotes from someone HETAS registered - I am the same and prefer the reassurance of doing it this way.

I guess what we should have done is thought about this before it got cold!

We did this with a woodburner in our garden room, which is an 80s extension. The guy basically put a hole in the wall at about 5ft, then it goes thru' the wall at an angle then straight up the outside of the house.

It wasn't a big deal to do, the whole exercise only took one day.

We have a Stovax in dark green with glass doors and love it.

Cost wise I think the guy charged about £2,2.5 k (six years ago) for the flue and the labour and the stove was around £1.7k ish iirc. Oh and about £300 for a piece of black granite for it to sit on.

Your stovax sounds lovely mumble. Our house us about the same sge as that. Good to know its not a massive job even if it does cost a bit.

Where did you get the granite from if you dont mind me asking?

Yes, I wouldn't hold out too much hope of getting it done this year!! From bitter experience I know good fitters usually have long waiting lists from late summer onwards

We've enquired about this. From about £2k including stove and fitting. We are in Scotland though, where I think labour is cheaper.

ooh thats a good price Lindor - v encouraging. We are in an area where labour is cheaper too. Am going to look at pictures of cosy stoves to see if I can persuade DH now .

The granite was supplied by the company, who did all the supplying and fitting They're called Flaming Grate. We're in Bucks, and I think labour charges are q high here; I have a guy coming to rebuild a smallish section of garden on wall on Monday who's charging over £1800.

Thanks mumble - sounds ideal - just need to find an equivalent company in my area. Good to know you can get all the bits plus fitting from one supplier - off to do some googling. Thanks for your help

where abouts are you jumpyjan? I can recommend three hetas fitters in different parts of England with vast experience of twin wall flues

Where do you all get the wood from? wholesalers? blocks of paper? or foraged wood?.

There are lots of suppliers round us who will deliver seasoned wood for stoves by the truck load.

woodburners are great but beware. They need TONS of fuel. You will rip through logs like you won't believe so you need a good supply and storage facility

We have just installed a Morso 10 in the lounge with twin walled flue up and out the roof, all in was £3,500 including air brick installation. Looks fab.

All thru the Low Carbon Energy Center in Dorset.

A reasonable apple log lasts a few hours at moderate airflow and gives out good warmth.

Yes, they do use a fair bit of wood. We used about a hundred pounds worth last year However, we spent about 150 pounds less on central heating and were far warmer in the evening than we were before.

Plus, we found it gives us a whole new topic of conversation eg. shall I light the fire; shall I turn the fire up/down; shall we put another log or is it time for bed etc etc. It saved our marriage (joking )

Do they save you money compared to central heating though?

You still need central heating, Fluffy, unless you have one with a back boiler to heat your radiators. Ours heats our garden room, and if we leave the double doors to the main living room open it takes the chill of that as well, but it couldn't heat a whole house unless v v tiny house and open plan.

I normally get 3 lots of logs delivered over the course of the winter at a cost of about £300 altogether.

we don't use our central heating as the stove heats through the whole house. At the moment I am also cooking welsh cakes on it and boiling a kettle for tea

our wood is mostly free or for very little as the local tree surgeons drop it off on our drive to save them paying to get rid. A few months ago the council were cutting down a 150 yr old plus ash tree from along the lane and thirty quid plus cups of tea and cake secured most of this cut up into lengths. Find out and befriend your local chappy