Quote:
Originally Posted by skeet
Well what kind of "piping" is in place?? Woodstove and pellet are 2 different things. If I were you with young'uns in the house..who have never had wood heat...I'd go with a Pellet stove..and I'd put it in the basement if I used a woodstove...Heat the floors..heat the whole house that way. Either are kinda messy..Woodstove very much so. I use wood for most of my heat..but have done so all my life. In my opinion wood heat is a way of life..but a LOT of work. I cut my own. I also use a couple of pellet stoves..one in the basement and one in the garage for when I work on guns(and reload) out there. I have hot water in the floor in the garage to keep it up to 45-50 It was 21 below yesterday morn only 8 below last night
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Skeet,
You know what the weather is like around here. Nothing even close to 8 degrees below zero.
Right now, I have at least 3 farms I can get wood from for free. That is what I am looking for, free. I also don't mind cutting and splitting wood. Done it forever my entire life with my dad. He has several chain saws and a splitter. He even has a relationship with a guy that does grading for new developments who told him that if he ever wants wood he will drop the trees off in his backyard for him in lieu of having to pay to dump them. I have the ability to drive the truck/trailer right into the backyard of this house we put an offer on and stack the wood right below the deck on the patio. The garage has a door that goes out onto the deck and the "bonus room" below the garage has a door out to the patio. The wood stoves would be right next to the patio and deck doors. Wheeling a shop vac out of the garage or the bonus room wouldn't be that big of a deal. Plus, the house has a central vac which is probably going to be nice.
What I am looking for is the cheapest way to heat the house because I am cheap. If/When time becomes such a big deal to me over money, then I'll just use the oil heat furnace to heat the house. Problem is, oil heat is $3.25 a gallon and that is a rather large tank. Right now, I would much rather save that money and invest it instead of giving it to the oil company to invest. Eventually, when I buy my own farm, I am guessing that will be another source of wood.
If the wood stove really ends up bugging the crap out of me, I will go out and buy a pellet stove, and if that really bugs the crap out of me I will go with the oil heat.
People look at me like I have 3 heads when I talk about using wood to heat my house. Initially, I wanted to go with a wood burning furnace that would use propane as a backup. Problem is, the furnace is located in the middle of the basement right underneath the steps and I like its location for when I want to finish the basement. Anyway, people look at me like I have 3 heads when I tell them I do my own remodeling, my own car repairs, etc. Had to fix something on my truck last year that the dealer wanted $500+ for. Guess what, it takes me 7 billable hours at $145 an hour to make that $500 after taxes. I am paying 50% on the first dollar I make because my wife's salary gets us into the 25% federal tax brackets and one of the highest Maryland tax brackets.
federal: 25%
FICA/Medicare: 15.3%
Maryland: 6%
Montgomery County: 3%
Total: 49.3%
Add the 6% sales tax to that and we are talking 55.3% tax on anything we spend that I make.
So, if it is going to cost $500 a month or more to heat the house with oil, then I can spend 7 hours a month getting wood and I will break even time wise, assuming I have so much work that I just don't have time to do it. Another bonus is that I will most likely be spending time with my dad cutting and splitting wood. I'd rather spend time with him than working on legal/accounting stuff. When my son is older I would rather spend the time outdoors with him cutting and splitting wood. Yep, I have thought this through to a certain degree. It isn't a life changing decision, so I am going to try a wood stove out first and find out for myself how dirty they are and whether it is just too time consuming to go this route.