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First Firing

I finally hooked up the new stove to the chimney. I wanted to have the room finished, the hearth complete; in reality though, the room is dark and the hearth missing finish masonry work. Still it was cause for great joy to give our second stove, the Alpiner, its first firing. Our first cookstove, the Sweetheart, which covered us for 3½ years will be able to take a break. We won’t have to fire it so hot on the really cold days.

It’s a big deal for us, this represents a lifetime of super nice and free heat, hence the celebration.

The Alpiner is a really nice stove, it has a lot of mass. Chimney draft seems to be perfect, we didn’t have to warm it up and the smoke went right where it was supposed to.

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Chimney work

I’m pushing my luck a bit here, getting the 2nd chimney ready in November. It’s not quite there yet but I made good progress. We’re at a phase in our adventure where we do not do temporary arrangements anymore. While I’ll have to redo the first chimney, this one is built for a lifetime and so it takes longer to do.

11′ of insulated flue, cement board in the casing

Closing it up foot by foot, siding first, then cement board added with spacing.

From the bottom floor

I’ll make the top removable to keep an eye on things, it’ll just be open for the first few stove firings. I love the crazy angles in this house.