Firewood Consumption
Posted on 26. Feb, 2009 by Laura-Jane - Whimfield in House, Outdoors
As the temperatures dropped and winter started to set in this year, we were a little nervous for three reasons:
1. Insulation – We’d never been through a winter trying to heat this house before. We’d taken our house from 0% insulated to 100% insulated, but the only way we were going to find out whether we’d succeeded was to live through this winter and see whether we could keep the house warm.
2. Woodstove only – We’d also assumed that our new woodstove would be enough to keep our house warm and toasty for the winter. With no back-up heating plan, we were hoping that my research about wood heat was right.
3. Firewood – We’d cut and stacked over six cords of wood, which we’d calculated to be enough.
We were convinced that we’d been making educated decisions, but we weren’t really sure–especially since our firewood was nowhere near as dry and seasoned as it should have been.
Once the first snowfall hit and winter was upon us, we crossed our fingers that our house could hold heat inside, and that we had enough firewood to last through the winter.
Here are our three separate piles of firewood. In total, they were equivalent to approximately 6.5 cords.
Here’s pile #1: We called her Short-and-Stout. Short-and-Stout lasted for a long time. Short-and-stout is gone now. Thanks for keeping us warm, S&S. We love(d) you.
Here’s pile #2. She was called Tall-Skinny-Vixen. She was a tall drink of water. Even so, she still went up in smoke. We just burned her tiny toes last night. Tall-Skinny-Vixen is no more.
Here’s pile #3. She’s called Pangaea (also known as Lonely Mary), and she’s the matriarch of the pile-herd. She was off-limits for many months. But this morning she sighed. With a grimace, she said we could take a few pieces every day if we asked nicely and promised to build her a barn for next winter.
Insulation – The insulation is keeping the heat in so well we’ve put away our winter quilt.
Woodstove only – The woodstove generates more than enough heat to warm our entire house.
Firewood – The firewood has lasted longer than I dared to imagine.
Our two wood piles, Short-and-Stout and Tall-Skinny-Vixen, have served us well.
Our last remaining pile, Lonely Mary, is still standing strong–relatively untouched. She still measures 4 cords and most of her will be around next year, I guarantee it.
Michelle
Feb 26th, 2009
I’m impressed.
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
Feb 26th, 2009
Thanks! We’re rather relieved about the whole thing, to tell you the truth.
warren
Feb 26th, 2009
Awesome! We were inspired by you and have started the process of moving our house from 0% insulation to much more% insulation. I am so glad to hear that yours paid off. We have finished the crawlspace and the attic. Now comes the ugly part…the remaining ceilings (w/o attic) and the walls…thanks for the inspiration!
Andy Collier
Feb 27th, 2009
Yay for insulation! And yay for (almost) free heat! ;)
Andrea >> Become a Consultant
Feb 27th, 2009
This reminded me of how, when I lived in Ottawa, my bedroom had no insulation in three walls, the floor or the ceiling. It was about -40C that winter on many a night and sometimes even during the day. I would wake up and see my breath. Scary now!
Gary Gray
Feb 27th, 2009
Hi L-J
Wow sounds like you got through October, November, December, January and February with about two and one half cords of wood that you cut last summer and fall.
Your insulation, wood stove and firewood combination seems to have worked out quite well for you.
Even if you had had to buy the wood @ $175.00 a cord your cost would have been only $300.00. That would have only bought a quarter tank of furnace oil when the prices were peeking last year. Even at today’s prices it would cost nearly $800.00 to fill a 200 gallon tank (900 liters )
How was the house for moisture build up? Had you installed an air ventilation system to take care of that concern.
With reference to your last post and comments I do think that a podcast would be an interesting experiment for you to try.
Also I was in Charlottetown again today and found the most interesting gadget for making videos. It is called a Flip Video by Pure Digital Technologies. Here is a link to their site. http://www.puredigitalinc.com/index.html
Smiles :o)
Gary
CWJ
Feb 27th, 2009
Now *that’s* self-sufficiency. One more note of caution, however, although you’re probably well aware of this, Laura-Jane: get your flue cleaned annually (I can recommend a really good chimneysweep…), all the more so as you said “our firewood was nowhere near as dry and seasoned as it should have been”. Damp fuel means buildup in there, which can be deadly.
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
Feb 27th, 2009
@Warren – Will you be blowing the insulation in the walls or removing the plaster/drywall/etc?
@Andy – I know you three are busy busy busy. Have you used your stove much this year? I recall seeing a photo of it, but I don’t recall whether it was hooked up or not. It’s a lovely stove.
@Andrea – Wow, that is nutty. Sometimes I forget that it gets cold, like, everywhere in Canada except where we were living in BC. :)
@Gary – Good question about the moisture. We don’t have very much ventilation at the moment, but the woodstove has kept the air really dry and we haven’t had any problems with condensation. Thanks for the Flip Video idea. I really would like to get something like that. It looks cool and handy.
@CWJ – I agree, we will definitely be cleaning the chimney this summer. Speaking of “we,” I say “we” when sometimes I mean “he.” CWJ, you mentioned that about cutting wood a few months ago. And even here, I say “we” cut the wood, when I guess I mean “he” cut the wood. But I carried it and stacked it and said encouraging words while he was cutting it, so I feel like I can say “we,” although technically it’s not very accurate. No?
Nora
Feb 27th, 2009
We clean out our own chimney……we went to the local Home Hardware they asked us for the height of our house and got us all the supplies we needed. Its a really easy process and the parts are easy to store. We tend to clean out our chimney at least 3 times during the winter, because the house is 130 years old . It cost us less than $100 to buy the equipment to do it. Its worth a look. My husband does it from inside the house, so there is no climbing up on the roof in the middle of winter. Good job on the insulation, we have burnt 8 cords of wood so far and we have a back up furnace. Our house is a little bigger than yours it has 5 bedrooms and I know it is not isulated as well, there are still a few areas that need to have the walls ripped out, but the wood is free and the oil only amounted to about $650 for the year. Go see the people at Home Hardware, they are always very helpfull.
Andrea
Feb 27th, 2009
Good information from you and Gary – your comments combined will help us very soon!
Michelle
Feb 28th, 2009
I’m jealous of your wood heat. We have electric and propane back up (in the dining room, sort of like a woodstove in style). All in all, our heat and hydro costs equate to about $200/per month. After speaking with Savannah’s mom, I’m amazed at just how fortunate and/or conservative our needs are. They heat with oil and the cost is through the roof!
mom Marjorie
Feb 28th, 2009
a big loving hi to you, Laura-Jane and Cam. I remember when we used to live in our heritage log house at the end of Chinook Avenue, I was inept at building the right temperature of fire to prevent creosote build-up. I was told this ineptitude on my part could contribute to possible chimney fires. So, even though I really don’t actually know what I am talking about – I still hope you will check your chimney (and woodstove) now, for creosote build-up! Thanks! love mommy.
Andy Collier
Mar 3rd, 2009
We haven’t been using it too much Laura Jane, but we were burning wood for heat when we were working up at the house, we ran out of cut firewood in January after burning about 1 cord of wood.
I suspect when we move in that 3 cords will be all we need from chilly September mornings through to warming May afternoons, maybe less. It is really hard to calculate when we don’t have a house full of appliances, hot water heaters, people living inside all giving off their own heat. These will all lessen the need for wood burning…
Sal
Oct 10th, 2009
Just stumbled across this blog. I haven’t read it all. Do you have a composting toilet?
We have one that is usable in the winter. No water, no odour, no electricity. It is very good in the summer when there are water restrictions. I recommend Envirolet by Suncor. You can get pretty ones too, but ours what we wanted. And we use the compost for our plants – not the garden ones because we are old enough to be on medication and that would not be good for the garden.
And I used to work in a store that sold wood burning stoves. I am sure that someone mentioned to you by now the idea of 1. energy efficient wood burning stoves, and 2. if you line it with brick you can burn garage.
This is very interesting! I always wanted to do this, but no one wanted to come along with me!