Stove For a New Build

No more or less than any other cellulose based insulation. They make bats out of recycled jeans aka cotton as well. The only difference in my case is there is NOT a vapor barrier in the wall assembly. The plaster is vapor permeable, so its allowed to move freely inside and out.

That seems like a really great compromise. I would never ditch my stove for a pellet, but I can imagine by March I'd be pretty tired of going down to the basement, and spending the 20-30 min to load and wait to set the air to cruise.

 

Getting back to the OP, for 1500 sq ft, reasonably insulated, I'd be looking at a cat stove w/a long burn time. Depending on layout, the fireview is probably an awesome choice. On my keystone, I can easily do 2 burns per day, on a bed of coals. That would be even easier on the FV. Our first floor plan is very open, so it heats like a dream. A normal cycle is fire at 68 on both floors. 2/3 of the way the first floor is at 72 and the 2nd is 69. After 12 hr back to 68 at both. On a really cold day 0F or below, I might toss in a few extra splits 1/2 way through my morning fire.

 

I go back and forth on pellet stoves. It probably scratches the itch of seeing fire but paying for pellets and not having the work of processing wood would make the itch come back. I am thinking of a wood chute to the basement. We have one now and it’s a speedy way to move splits inside, especially back when the owners had a wood furnace. 12” cast iron pipe through the foundation, maybe bigger. Never measured.

 

My buddy's dad had a neat passthru on his hearth with an exterior door so you could load firewood directly into the cubby next to the stove. Pretty smart idea.

 

Yup, my buddy's old house had one of those too...pretty slick, especially since that place was in the woods and the woodpile was on that side of the yard.

 

Alot of lenders won't touch them fwiw so if you ever sell it may take a while.

 

Are you able to do a walkout or daylight window?

 

This would be true 15 years ago, but not so much now. The place is fully insured, I have a mortgage, and it was fully inspected in New York where we have pretty tough building codes.. Since Strawbale was added to IBC, and further adopted by NY residential code, there's literally no reason for it to be an issue for anyone else here in the future.

 

Not really. Property is flat like a table. I would like to bring fill in and add 1’ elevation to house to slope water away.

 

Sorry, I just keep thinking of this when it comes to straw houses!

 

Does that make you piggy number 2 in your stick built house.

 

There was a time when I lived in house of bricks.....

 

I thought it, I just wasn’t going to say it!

 

Take a guess on how often the guy who lives in a straw house has gotten the 3 little pigs joke?

In order, most conversations go

What about fire?
What about vermin?
what about water?
What about the big bad wolf?

I've thought about laminating a little card to hand out.


Is it perfect? No. But after 10 years, if I were to do it over, I would still build strawbale. Certainly some design choices would. change, knowing what I know now, but the advantages way out way the negatives.

-My house was built primarily with materials within a 50 mile radius. (straw, rough cut lumber, sand in the plaster)
-Incredibly energy efficient. In update NY, I'm averaging 1 to 1.5 cord per year, and I cool the entire place in the summer with 1 6000 btu window AC unit.

 

beardley my aunt built a tire home in early 90s people laughed but it was easy to heat and cool. All building techniques have good qualities and challenges. Every person that have designed and lived in a home has am I wish/shoulda/coulda list

 

And if they don't.... they surely ain't a thinker.

 

The biggest is I wish we had done the barn before the house. Def leveled up my timber frame skills, so the barns a real beauty.

 

Wow

 

This is top notch work!

 

I would highly suggest NOT using spray foam. Use double offset studs. It provides a thermal break and boosts r value. Spray foam has some major drawbacks that can far outweigh the extra r value. The gasses it releases are the biggest. Lots of folks will say there are no gasses, but there always are, and you can’t always smell them. I have heard from people who built new houses and they were condemned after installing foam.

A house needs to breathe. Carpet, cabinets, counters, etc… all release gasses. If you tour a model home, there are warnings all over about the gasses released. Air exchanges help reduce the levels. Closing a house up tight concentrates them. They’re not good for you.

A double offset outer wall will make up for the r value of the foam. Triple pane windows will make a huge difference in your heating/cooling bill. We have double pane windows in our living room and the draft that comes off of them is huge. We stick bubble wrap to the glass in winter and it takes that draft right down to a trickle.

An insulated foundation, or at least the top few feet, will make a big difference as well. A lot of btu’s go through that sill plate.