New guy with a couple questions.

Woodstock uses ABF Freight. I payed $328 I believe, to have one shipped to Western Wi, so all the way across the country for $600 sounds about right. Air seal and insulate like crazy! I kept an eye on my build while it was happening and my builder was air sealing where I never would have thought about doing it. Every floor or ceiling penetration of wires, pipes, etc. at least got a shot of great stuff around it. All the inner plastic vapor barrier also got a bead of caulk around the outside perimeter of each run! I was amazed at how tight it got sealed up.

 

I hope you have some sort of a exchange system... being too sealed up causes health and moisture problems.....

 

Yes there is plenty of ventilation where its needed/supposed to be. Fresh air supply to the furnace room, attic ridge venting, etc. Its all code stuff now for energy efficiency to save on fossil fuels ya know. I do understand it can be too tight.

 

look into an energy recovery ventI later if you start having high humidity or stuffy air....

 

Thanks for the advice about the foam installers. I am meeting with the our builder tonight. This will be one of the subjects discussed.
The area we are relocating has some very high electric rates. So I have been exploring different ideas about efficiency, cost savings with this in mind. It is a never ending rabbit hole.
I talked with one of our local hvac guys last week regarding air flow with the "tight" house. We discussed ERV, heat pump, geo thermal heat pump, etc. I am keeping all options open. He was leaning towards heat pump/air handler to move the air. I haven't had the best of luck with our heat pump. This house we are in now is the first house we have used one in. We've had a guy out to work on it every year averaging about $200/yr.. We finally had to replace it this year, it was only 9 years old. Probably a lemon, but many people I know have problems with them. They are nice for keeping the house comfortable in the "shoulder" season and summer.

 

Forgot to mention the most important part. I am no longer leaning toward the Woodstock Ideal Steel, I am in the expecting delivery category now. I put down a deposit, its gonna happen in a few weeks. I'm excited for the stove and to put one decision behind me.

 

Sconnie, I was going to ask you what the freight was to our part of the country. I doubt you could drive out to pick it up for that.

Remember all, " Insulate tight and ventilate right". I just signed up for my continuing education class on, " New advances in Foam Technologies". Feb. 21st.

 

I will be interested to hear what you learn. I talked with the builder tonight. He echoed some of the "cons" as mentioned above. The biggest being the permanence of sealing the wall for future stuff, routing wires, etc. He hasn't done a house with spray foam since 2005. It was about 2x the cost back then. I am going to be researching it more, but like I said... it isn't too common out here. I will be curious to see why.

 

If you want to compromise, do flash and batt.

www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/flash-and-batt-method

It has most of the pros of foam, at a little less cost, andyou still have room for the future routing.

 

Greg,
Great points and great article for making your point. I am also a fan on that technique in the ceiling. Fills all the tiny little penetrations that can be missed. I then use cellulose as the top fill layer. Again, I can float in all the cavities that make for a quality job.
Another thought would be to build in a wiring/plumbing chase in an adjacent interior wall.

 

Welcome reprod You're gonna like it here, I guarantee it! Interesting that my home and yours are nearly identical. My great room peak is at 23', same sq. ft., etc. Insulation and all the other points of significance as pointed out by my brethren notwithstanding, ceiling fans are so very critical. I placed 2 90# Hunter Originals on 6' downrods in the great room splitting the vaulted ceiling as they should be roughly 9-12' off the floor and 1 of the same on a 3' downrod centered over the loft bedroom. I have found my best combo of usage is to of course have the one upstairs pushing down and those in the great room rotating opposite one another. Makes for a great air circulation/heat distribution in my set-up. Just food for thought.

Again, welcome to the hood and nice to meet ya!

 

Nice to meet you as well.
Great to hear you have a similar place.
I will look at those fans for sure. I was envisioning 2 pretty large fans. Great to have a size/model to reference.
Out of curiosity... Do you have any additional air circulation (duct work, etc)?
Thanks again to everybody for the great info.

 

I had my walls spray foamed a few years back (had no insulation) This a different process and foam than what you'd get on new construction, but if I had it to do over I'd use Airkrete...
http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LE...ete.com//RK=0/RS=O7yC6nB85PQQE_iuNwi6V3YcHeA-

 

It was going to be about half again more than foam...the guy that did my foam job may have been a little cheaper than average though too...

 

I have a gas furnace and accompanying duct work in the crawl space underneath the house serving the first floor and took the duct work up the inside garage wall to the upstairs with two vents wall mounted towards loft bedroom and some flexible duct heating the storage space over the 24x24 garage-The gas heat never runs!!!! I hate it and my gas bill, (I cook with gas) is the minimum $10.10 per month---Call me a crazy wood hoarder anyone???? The fans are simply Hunter Originals-you add oil one time,,,they have been up 11 yrs now, not a sound from them

 

Good move. From my experience with the Woodstock stoves, I'd be hard-pressed to switch brands....the quality I've seen is that good. You got the ash pan, right? If not, call 'em back and add it, quick! I've been hooked on grated ash-handling since I got the Dutchwest...never going back if I can help it....it's that much cleaner and easier. Now, I've heard the IS grate slots may be a little narrow compared to their other stoves, and it takes more passes with the poker to work the ashes down. I wonder if anyone has yet tried widening the slots a little, or is there some reason Woodstock designed this grate differently?