yesterday, my dad came over and helped greg finish putting the chimney on the house and viola! we are now cooking with wood instead of gas...
this is such a huge financial relief. every winter for the past 3 years of living here, we have spent a minimum of $450/month in the winter to heat our house using gas (keeping the thermostat set at 58). now we'll be spending virtually nothing since we have lots of available firewood around us. i am thrilled to not worry about being sucked into the financial blackhole of juggling bills to pay the gas for the next 6 months.
it's a tiny stove but it's supposed to heat 2000 square feet which is what our house is. so far though, the upstairs is still pretty icy but i keep the doors to the stairs closed so that little bear won't climb them.
i'd have to say it was in the mid 70's in the play room (the room we installed it in) and 66-68 in the kitchen (the next room over) which is a HUGE improvement from the usual 58 that it usually is in the winter.
now for fine tuning the art of keeping the stove lit and burning fuel effeciently. i grew up in a house that used wood stoves for heating but i was never allowed to take part in stoking the fire so it's all new to me.
