I like that hearth, nice an big. Any reason why the brick was put down perpendicular other than because it could be and was?
I have no idea other that the house was built with a wood stove originally. The previous owners used it up until a few years ago when they replaced it with a pellet stove. The best part about it is the mess stays off the carpet because it's so big. Not sure why it was built that way but I'm glad it was.
So far all I'm burning has been old pallets that I've cut up. Haven't had any weather here yet that requires more than 2 consecutive loads to "take the chill" out of the house!!! NE Illinois/SE Wisconsin area...................so far it's been a relatively mild fall...............lots of rain and damp though.
On a side note here..........................the pallet wood I'm burning lights off easily and nicely. Without looking at my stove top and stack thermometers; I'm shutting down the air based on the "look" of the fire. When I do check, it's crazy low when compared to burning seasoned/split wood. But everything continues normally. I would've thought the pallet wood would go "nuclear" easily................but it hasn't. The torn apart pallets have been in my shed for over 6 months also!!! Just saying here.................
The pine splits I have been burning , acting the same way I keep checking and It's all 14% MC fresh split
55°F and rainy here, burning Doug Fir and Madrone mixed. Just starting off the burning season with some older stacks, I hate to burn that Madrone this early but it was three years old and needs to go to make room for the trees I downed this summer and am bringing in now. Both are running about 12% MC, which is low for my wet climate. We had a dry, dry summer.
Low 50's and windy now. Supposed to drop down to about 47 tonight. Have some maple, ash, and mystery uglies rolling now. Ahhhh.. Feels good.
Took until 1430 this afternoon to feel warm outside, breezy fall day. Possible frost tonight, had to get the palms at cactus plants off the deck inside this afternoon. Stove's cruising on some red oak and winged elm, planning on an overnight load of pure oak - it was still blowing this am but a bit too chilly for my liking. I'm ready for the time change, this darkness until 6:45/7 is wearing on me
It's been rainy with highs in the 50's here all week, lows in the 40's. The house has usually been around 65-68 when I get home from work. One load of aspen in the evening has been enough to get it back up to mid 70's. It's been doing the trick quite nicely. Burns hot and fast - the house is usually back up in the 70s in an hour. And there's almost nothing left when I'm heading to bed, so I open the draft all the way, and it's all ashes by the morning. I've been restacking some maple onto the front porch this week, so I tossed a couple shorts and punks on last night before heading to bed - stuff I didn't want to restack. When I woke up this morning, the house was still at 76, and I had a nice bed of coals. Didn't bother reloading, just opened up the draft - should keep it in the 70's all day hopefully.
Lumber scaps and a full load of slab at nite. I'm 5-7 years ahead on wood but this is the first year in a LOOOONNG time I haven't had 2 years worth in the shed by August. Been workin mega hours. I may have 1-1.5 years in the shed. Hopefully things slow enough I can finish it off. I like 2 years by the house/shed so if we get mega snow/cold here in the belt I don't have to dig for wood. Even with kong equipment its still a paininthebawlz.
JustWood - another Western New Yorker huh? You in the 'Southern Tier'? I'm about 5 miles south of Lake Ontario.