Wood Stove ideas... (1 Viewer)

[Jay H]

Hi Brandon, I haven't told my insurance company yet, but I will. I doubt they would care though (Allstate), as they never sent an inspector out to inspect my home before writing me a policy. I got my policy over the phone and was done in like 20 minutes.

Jay

 

[Brandon_T]

Pre policy inspections are rare on homeowners unless they are very high value. It is not uncommon, especially these days for inspections to happen. I get people all the time say to me "I've been with x company for ten years and never had an inspection". Sometimes they just order them for no reason. I have done some work for Allstate, but they seem pretty leniant.

 

[Jay H]

Considering the real estate around NYC, I'm not one of their high-valued customers by a country mile!!!!

I tried to get HO insurance through NJ manufacturers but they are one of the more careful insurers out there (I already get my auto insurance through them). They will 100% send an inspector out before a policy is written, hence it takes a good 4-5 weeks to get a policy, which means that you have to get HO insurance before you reach an agreement with the seller. Especially when people like to close within 30 days. The way around this is to bend the truth and don't disclose anything to them til after the policy is written cause you can always have it ammended.

Anyway, NJM wanted me to add balusters to my outdoor deck, 4" apart (right now, it has three horizontal railings and then 4"x4" posts every 10' or so. Works fine but not for NJM!

Anyway, since I have to pay a mortgage, the less housework I have to do, the better. I can't afford to go willy nilly on improvements unless there is a financial gain (i.e. saving fuel costs with the wood stove) or improving my insulation in my crawlspace.

Jay

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

The balusters thing isn't uncommon, it is a requirement so small kids can't fall of the deck, or get their heads stuck between the rails.

Around here you need to get your stove/insert inspected by a certified technician. These just happen to be the same people who sell the stoves, so it isn't too far of a reach to say that there are sometimes improvements required when there aren't. There are also differences between what the building code requires and what the stove manufacturers require. When you consider that if one of these things fails your house could burn down, I'd err on the side of caution. I'm assuming you have fairly easy access to the top of the chimney for cleaning?

 

[Jay H]

Yeah, it's not bad. I also have a straight run from the top of the stove for the chimney so there's no 90deg turn for the creasote to build up. There is a simple cap at the top that has screws that tighten it to the chimney so water doesn't fall in and 2 legs to keep the chimney from flying away.

Jay

 

[Jay H]

I've had my first small fires in the stove the last week or so... I was up camping in the catskills in NY this past weekend and came home to a house that was like 46degs... Started a fire and after about 3 hours of a small fire, the thermometer in the dining room was reading 56deg... Using about 4 average sized logs (not all burning at once). not bad, my bedroom got to about 54deg and it was very toasty by the stove. My smoke detector went off so I took out the batteries...

No fans installed yet, but thinking of putting a curtain in the dining room/living room split so I can channel more of the heat away from the dining room towards my bedroom.

I find myself hypnotized by the thing.. I'll simply watch the logs burn and sit in front of the stove in my ADK chair and reading my book....

Jay