Well, we have been talking about this for a few years now, and finally did something about it. Let's see if you can guess what we did...
On Monday, we had a friend of ours come in and install some ceramic tiles.
The dining room became a bit chilly because we had to turn off and remove the electric baseboard heater to make room for these tiles. You can see the small electric heater we plugged in to help dry the tiles overnight...
Tuesday morning, I washed down all the tiles in preparation...please note that they are not yet grouted...nor will they be right away.
Tuesday afternoon, the next stage began. What have they done to my wall??!! Betcha just guessed what we are doing here now!
Yup, we are making a hole to the great outdoors. Yes, that is snow you see through the portal. We are turning our house into a submarine LOL.
Of course not, we are having a wood burning stove installed. And even better, it has an oven on top! This is a J.A. Roby Atmosphere stove with oven. And I am so, super excited. I can't wait to bake bread in this baby over the winter! It will also be just perfect for keeping hubby's supper warm waiting for him to get home LOL
My first time lighting this stove (about 6 p.m. Tuesday) taught me a lesson about the flue. Yes, it is supposed to be open when first starting to catch the paper and kindling, and it is also best if the door is not fully latched to allow a bit more air intake so that the smoke goes up the chimney and not into the house. I love the smell of wood smoke but you could have cut this with a knife...and I did prove that my stairwell smoke detector does work very well.
Once everything started burning nicely, we enjoyed the flames for a while but about 11 p.m. I put on the last big log and shut the flue down for the night.
About 5 a.m. (this morning) I opened the flue to see if there was anything left, because there were no flames or embers to be seen through the window...and lo and behold there was plenty of embers left. I know it is best to open the flue and let everything catch back on fire (if there is anything), because if I open the door first, I risk a back draft and any flames will come out the door towards me instead of up the chimney) Once safe, I just added more wood and it is burning nicely again.
So, now today, we are busy changing rooms (living and dining), but I will leave that for another day once we figure it all out. We could just as easily revert it all back, it would not be the first time. LOL
I have wanted a wood stove forever. One that I can cook on should the electricity go out. I do not like pellet stoves, and hubby does not like the price of propane. Since this house is not made for a cookstove (which I would absolutely love)...this is what I got instead. I am in seventh heaven! and toasty warm too! Harpo and I had a little catnap in front of the woodstove last night. Mmmmmm. Scrumptious!
