The Home Improvement Thread

[blender]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

More for absorbed heat into the structure and comfort/cooling load. We put a dark roof on our house and panted it a dark colour (not black) and it's noticeably worse.

I could see it, although this home would be less affected than some, as it is step code 4.
R-28 walls, R-56 roof with rain screen strapping to seperate the cladding from the sheathing.
It is serviced by an electric heat pump and HRV and electric back up for -20 or colder. High efficiency wood burner for winter.
Very efficient.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

That sounds very similar to what I'm doing. Any suggestions on wood sroves? Also trying to decide whether to set it up freestanding or built in with a panel...

[Geraldsh]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

That sounds very similar to what I'm doing. Any suggestions on wood sroves? Also trying to decide whether to set it up freestanding or built in with a panel...

In my experience; freestanding you get more passive heat distribution, built in requires an electric fan to move the heat farther .

[Geraldsh]

Another feature often overlooked is the ease of ash removal.

[blender]

I have a Blaze King Chinook 20 in my house, and we've installed a few for clients.
It's a top quality product. Not cheap, but performs very well, easy to maintain, etc.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

That sounds very similar to what I'm doing. Any suggestions on wood sroves? Also trying to decide whether to set it up freestanding or built in with a panel...

My clients are putting one of these STUV models in. Can't really give a review yet as we're only at drywall stage and won't be installed for a while, but they look great. It'll even rotate (with the proper model)

https://stuvamerica.com/en/products/stuv-30/

[Locke]

Originally Posted by blender

I have a Blaze King Chinook 20 in my house, and we've installed a few for clients.
It's a top quality product. Not cheap, but performs very well, easy to maintain, etc.

That sounds like some sort of Helicopter or Industrial Strength Bong.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Locke

That sounds like some sort of Helicopter or Industrial Strength Bong.

You accountants always with the helicopters. Not everything is a helicopter!

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by blender

I have a Blaze King Chinook 20 in my house, and we've installed a few for clients.
It's a top quality product. Not cheap, but performs very well, easy to maintain, etc.

I was looking at Drolet, any experience with those?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

You accountants always with the helicopters. Not everything is a helicopter!

I did say 'or' Industrial Strength Bong!

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I was looking at Drolet, any experience with those?

I don't have personal experience with them, but my understanding is they're decent quality and good value. Not the highest end or anything, but if I was trying to keep costs under control, that's probably the brand I'd go with.

Presumably the wood stove is mainly going to be for emergency heat and ambience, in which case I'd just go with a cheaper one that you like the look of. People who rely on them for heat 24/7 are going to place more value on things like a really long burn time, efficiency, ease of ash removal, high quality draft control, and whatnot. But those are much less significant issues if you're just using it occasionally.

That said, a lot of a wood stove's cost in a new build is going to be the chimney and the installation. So you you may find that the final cost isn't terribly different between a really cheap wood stove and a higher end one. Still though, going with a modestly priced one will probably be one of the easier ways to save a bit of money on the build.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

You're correct - I mean I'll use it somewhat regularly in the winter I guess but it won't be the primary source of heat unless the power goes out, which is rarer and rarer these days. 20 years ago it was a much bigger issue, although even then, it's the west coast so it's not like you're going to freeze to death.

Chimney is already priced in - don't really know what installation looks like though. I guess the question is whether it's cheaper or more expensive to do an "insert" style stove or a "freestanding" style with a blower, taking into account the points about the latter being more practical in some ways.

Also, Costco sells Drolet which would give me some confidence... and there's FB marketplace and kijiji etc to be accounted for, for example https://www.kijiji.ca/v-heating-cool...wer/1708616552

[Fuzz]

My dad has an insert style, but added a blower and ducting above/behind it to move air into the basement and kitchen. Works really well.

[blender]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

My clients are putting one of these STUV models in. Can't really give a review yet as we're only at drywall stage and won't be installed for a while, but they look great. It'll even rotate (with the proper model)

https://stuvamerica.com/en/products/stuv-30/

That is a sleek piece of equipment.

[WideReceiver]

What humidity level do you target in your house and how do you achieve it? I aim for the low-30s. I refuse to use my furnace humidifier because of the water it wastes but run up to two electric vaporizers as needed. If humidity gets up to 35% I turn one off—or both.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by WideReceiver

What humidity level do you target in your house and how do you achieve it? I aim for the low-30s. I refuse to use my furnace humidifier because of the water it wastes but run up to two electric vaporizers as needed. If humidity gets up to 35% I turn one off—or both.

I hate the water waste as well, so I put one of these in:

https://www.desertspringproducts.com/ds3200

I use an Ecobee for my thermostat and use the mode that accounts for your window efficiency. It does a calculation based on the inside/outside temperature delta to avoid excessive condensation. It seems to keep it between 30-40% over the winter (we have some old windows and a few skylights that like to condense in cold weather).

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Got back to site now that the crew is off for a little while for the holidays and had a closer look... hoping those knowledgeable like Blender or anyone else who has done this can take a look and let me know if any of the result is of concern or if it looks like normal concrete imperfections that don't matter.

Spoiler!

[Fuzz]

Looks good, other than the spooky face in the bottom of the second picture.

[opendoor]

Looks pretty normal. Probably a few more surface voids than is ideal, which can be caused by a few things. But those shallow voids aren't a structural issue, so it only really matters if it's going to be visible anywhere that's important. If it is, then you can have them patch that to smooth it out. But if it's getting backfilled or is just in an unfinished crawlspace or something, I wouldn't worry about it at all unless there are some deep voids that aren't visible in the pictures.

[sa226]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I hate the water waste as well, so I put one of these in:



https://www.desertspringproducts.com/ds3200



I use an Ecobee for my thermostat and use the mode that accounts for your window efficiency. It does a calculation based on the inside/outside temperature delta to avoid excessive condensation. It seems to keep it between 30-40% over the winter (we have some old windows and a few skylights that like to condense in cold weather).

Do you have a water softener?

I've kinda wanted this one as well, but the hard water is an obstacle I'm not ready to deal with just yet. Meaning those disc's must get pretty gross. Or is it not an issue?

I see they claim it's not.