New fireplace.....

WE have bought and picked up our new fireplace. It is a gas stove with the log set in it. We would have preferred to have bought an actual wood stove but were advised against it. Not because of all the red tape required to keep our homeowners insurance valid. Rather because the heat from a wood stove would be so hard to regulate that we would likely not be able to stay in the same room while it was burning. Even with a small unit. So we made the next logical choice. A small wood style gas stove. It is a 20000 BTU unit that outputs a variable 10000-15600 BTU. http://www.napoleonfireplaces.com/Webshare/gas/gas%20stoves/gds20.html


Chances are we will operate it on the lowest setting as our electric fireplace rated at 4500BTU already keeps the living room @ about 25 degrees Celsius if it is left on all the time. Sometimes it is warmer then that even. We have gotten in the habit of turning it off at night as it is. Anyways on Thursday we will likely be getting the gas hooked up. I intend to do the venting install myself but want to wait till the guy whom will be hooking up the gas is here so I can be sure I do it to code. Doing the vent should not take long. Nor should the gas line I hope. We really can't wait to see what this thing will do for heating and ambiance. Again we have still yet to turn on the furnace to heat our house.

On another note. We have found some cool places within a hours drive of here that are great for finding old building materials. The one place is where the stain glass window came from. These places specialize in going into homes or building destined for demolishing and salvaging as much as they can. From door knobs and electrical plates to whole gables are wrought iron gates. http://www.legacyvintage.com/
http://www.timelessmaterials.com/

These are the 2 places we have found so far. I'm sure there are more around and I hope to find them as I am looking for an old armourer that needs to be refinished so we can have a closet in our bedroom. There are some deals to be had at these places if you are willing to do some of the work to bring items back to their former glory. However you can also pay a premium to get items that are already refinished. Often it is a sizable premium.

Window roughed in

Well I spent about an hour so far today getting the window roughed in for the bedroom. It looks very nice. I picked up the thermal pane of glass yesterday and fitted it today. It was a perfect fit. Measure twice cut once. Not bad only taken me 31 years to figure that one out. Anyway I need to make a frame for the inside so I can fit some insulation and drywall. Then I will need to come up with a plan to make a window frame. The bottom of the window should be easy. The rounded part on the other hand will be a challenge.

We went off and visited a friend yesterday and ordered a gas stove (wood stove style) from him. Hopefully it will be available for me to pick up later this week. After that we are hoping to have it installed quickly. We are still warming the house sufficiently with the electric fireplace however the few weeks in Janruary and February will likely be a different story. Plus we want the ambiance of the fireplace.

Anyway here are some pics of the window roughed in. It will really change the front of the house when the flashing is done.

Oh and yes I fixed the string of christmas lights that fell down in last weeks wind storm.

Window is here.

Now granted I have had the window for about 2 weeks now. I really should have posted a picture of it but hey I'm lazy. I can admit it. We love the look of it and are waiting on the needed thermal pane of glass that will install directly behind it before it goes in. Further progress includes a functioning door on the bedroom to keep our former roomates (the felines) out at night and to keep the cool in. When we made the master bedroom we installed SAFE AND SOUND in all the wall cavities that weren't exterior walls. As a result one can now watch the television or do things in the rest of the house while the other is sleeping. Also it makes this room much cooler then the rest of the house when the door is kept closed. This makes it ideal for sleeping and we suspect ideal for a window airconditioner in the summer. I have yet to put a thermometer in there to get the true room temperture but I suspect it is keeping around 12 or so at night. Great for sleeping!!. Here we are on December 7th and we are still able to use the electric fireplace to keep the house warm and toasty. Our gas bill came in yesterday and their estimate for the prior month was way off. WAY WAY off. We are currently investigating tankless water heaters to further reduce said bills. Anyway that is about all there is to report. Heres the window.