Boy quite the journey you've had over the last 2 years. Remember it's a marathon not a sprint. You have made great progress with lots to show for it. Your future wood cutter is a cute one for sure. Enjoy every moment with him.
Finally got a real baby gate for the stove. Pretty satisfied, decent quality and finish. Still have to do the wall anchors.
Welcome c hardy! Glad to have you here. If you like all things wood, you've come to the right place. Feel free to post some pics of your stacks, pets, chainsaws, equipment, etc, etc. You can say hello to the whole gang here... Introduce yourself here !
Looking good, CtRider! It's been a while since I touched on this thread, how's the wood burning? Does the house seem efficient? I remember this thread and the nice big woodstack you got with the house
Thanks. Things are going ok. Dug through most of the previous owners pile and trimmed up what wasn’t pukey and got it on the deck. Still messing with the all night burn configuration with the new liner, the stove definitely behaves differently. Also battling moisture. The Mrs seems to get a sore throat and wake up coughing up if the humidity levels are at or below 35%. I’ve got the whole house humidifier going plus one in our bedroom and the pot in the stove to keep it in the mud forties. The stove really dries out the air in our house. Our windows aren’t the greatest and we have a lot of them (great for viewing the back acreage but not so good for heat). I’m not sure the current stack is going to last all winter so I’ll need to split some of my first splits and check moisture content to see if it’s ok or needs the 3rd year. Next year I’ll be doing good as my 3yr plan will kick in. Have about 6-7 cords that are in year two.
Don't run the bath fan during showers...also, if you have an electric dryer you can also get one of those heat re-claimer deals, blow the moist heat back into the house. Or just slip an old pair of pantyhose over the end of the hose...that would keep the majority of the fuzzballs in. Our place rarely dips under 40% in the winter doing this...has really reduced the static too! ⚡
Today I had a local tree guy take down some tall ash trees near the barn. Not much to say diameterwise but tall and dangerous. You see when the previous made the barn and cut into the hill, they did nothing for erosion, no retaining wall. So here you have trees with roots exposed dying and not much soil to hold them there. He had a helper notch the tree and then used a mini excavator to push the tree over as the helper cut the back cut. Pretty efficient system. He even made me a righty stack of logs for cutting because obviously I’m keeping the wood haha. He was happy he could send the chips into the woods on my chip trail vs hauling them away. He comes back tomorrow to climb a dead white oak near my neighbors. I hate paying for stuff I think I can do myself but these were way out of my league.
Nothing wrong with paying for expert labor, and now it's done before spring. And you have new logs to play with!
Well I've bee up since 3:00 A.M and finished catching up, you've really come a long way's since you first started here. Accomplished quite a lot on your place and other projects. Really enjoyed following your ''adventures'', lol. Enjoy that ''new'' son, and include him in helping you, he'll be grown up way too soon. He's a cute little guy. Thanks for taking the time to take pictures, and write some good stories, keep it up.
Sometimes paying for expert help is like buying PPE. Way cheaper than repairing buildings that may get damaged.
Spent Saturday helping my dad cut up round 1 of the trees he had taken down. All big red oak, all killed by multiple years of bad gypsy moths. There’s still several big ones that need to come down close to the house. Put a new chain on the 550XP and man, that little saw rips. At times I do wish I had a saw the next size up or two but it’s a great one saw plan.
CTrider I am glad to find this thread and am particularly interested in finding out what kind of stove you are using there. At home now we are thinking of upgrading our masonry chimney with doors to an insert or a free standing stove like yours. Can't wait to take time to read all of your ongoing experience.
Welcome to the club hovlandhomestead , tons of good info here to help you with your upgrade. Enjoy our addiction!
