House – Insulation

The house is all insulated thanks in no small part to my brother. R30 in the floor, R23 everywhere else; with this and the stove we will be just fine this Winter. We lost 64ft^2 to wall insulation.

Working against gravity

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Sealed.

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House – Chimney & Stove ready for action

It took me much longer than anticipated to get the chimney in place. There is a lot to know about it and I can’t afford half measures for this one needs to be perfect. It took a lot of research and an ton of measuring and thinking to do. Also a couple of tough days spent on the roof, again. This is probably the most emotional project of this whole ordeal. Cutting a hole through the roof that cost us so much in worry, sweat and money was hard. Messing up design or tolerance could bring an abrupt end to a dream coming to fruition. On the other hand it means getting wood heat on the coldest days. It’s hard to think straight with this much at stake.

 Looking up the chimney through the 2nd floor to its topIMG_0450

The house looks more complete with a chimneyIMG_0364

Everything went well with the chimney and the stove took quite a bit of work too, most of it was done a while back when we acquired it.

Weights a ton

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We bought the stove second hand & disassembled so there was quite a bit to figure out.

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To line the sides of the burning chamber with fire bricks, we had to chip them to shape with a hammer and chisel. I then coated every hole, crack or worn surface with refractory cement.

First time I got to use the expression “chipping at it” literally.

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Nice fit

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One clean looking burning chamber

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We fired the stove last night; first time since we own it, first fire in our house just as the days are starting to get colder. The first of many ritualistic fires to come.

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House – the bytes must flow

Thanks to the solar install, we’re able to power a modem. I bought a 35Ah battery and the modem draws 1A. Of course we’re powering a few other things but this is by far the biggest consumer right now. 3Mb  isn’t bad at all where we are. The Fairpoint guy who showed up was awesome and didn’t mind hooking into a rudimentary shed with a 12V battery and wires all over :).

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We’ll clean this up in due time IMG_0489