When we were looking for a forever home, one of the things that appealed to both the HH and I were the giant cooking hearths on some of the older homes we’d see. If you’ve ever taken a tour of a home built back in the 1700 – 1800’s, then chances are somewhere in the home, there was an enormous cooking hearth.
Cooking hearths are crazy cool in my book. Practical? No. I mean, aside from maybe lighting a fire in the giant 5 foot opening for a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, the cooking hearth would pretty much go unused the other 363 days of the year. Not to mention the fire hazard of having a roaring 3 – 4 wide fire in a home with wood floors and beams just feet away.
So, when we had a chimney fire in the cozy living room off to the side of the kitchen back in April, it was really a blessing in disguise. For starters, the old wood stove was just too large for the fireplace area in the living room. Second, if we were going to try to heat {the majority of} our home with wood during the winter months, having a wood stove in the living room just wasn’t practical, as most of the heat would be towards the front of the house instead of the main living areas {family room, kitchen, dining area}.
So, we decided to take the plunge and order a larger wood stove {a Jotul 500} and have it installed in the more centrally located cooking hearth area. Honestly, I was sad to see the wide open-hearth area go {even if it was pretty much decorative} but the practical person in me knew it was the right decision.
And so, yesterday while it was a whopping 90 degrees outside, 3 guys showed up to clean out the chimneys and install the new stove.
Chimney sweep guy said there was about 3 times as much creosote in the chimney than they usually see, and they had to haul it all out in giant trash bags because it kept filling up the shop vac.
I wonder if Mike Rowe has ever done an episode on chimney sweeps? Because seriously, it is a dirty job.
Goodbye cute little wood stove in the living room. Hello pretty logs.
Goodbye beautiful cooking hearth {and the stuff Pilgrim dreams are made of}. Hello winter heat and sitting around the kitchen table playing board games, writing the blog and family meals.
And {hopefully} lower heating and electric bills, copious pots of tea, dinners cooked in cast iron pots atop the stove, and to the HH making wood fired pizzas and bread rising in the little brick oven.
Winter. We are ready for you. Bring it on! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Have a great Tuesday everyone, stay cool.
~Mavis
Lisa Millar says
How exciting!!! You won’t be able to pry yourself away from this area in winter! They give out the most beautiful cosy heat!!
yes I laughed at your aesthetically pleasing wood arrangement.
Its fab!
And you have got a fantastic lot of wood ready and stacked! Will be interesting to see how much you use over winter. It was a few seasons before we got things really sorted out!
(BTW I am not sure if you know, but cleaning the wood heaters glass, we just use water, wood ash and newspapers. Nice easy and free)
Jenny says
Can you use the living room fireplace as a fireplace?
Mavis Butterfield says
Yes.
Deborah says
We have a propane fireplace. Actually 2. One is in the living room and the other, smaller is in the Master bedroom. They heat the whole house. We do use the circulating fan on the central heat/air unit. We also keep the heat on about 60 if it’s really cold. I would love to have a wood burning heater like you have.
Laura says
Dirty Jobs Season 1 Episode 16! Mike goes to Chimney Sweeping Safety Institute.
Mavis Butterfield says
Awesome!
Karen says
After having my chimney swept, learned it is supposed to be cleaned after every cord of wood you burn. Being in Texas, never again in my lifetime. LOL. In your world, every year maybe?!!?
Mama Cook says
Good info! Thanks!
Nancy D says
Yay!!! Loving the brick design on your chimney! And your wood stacking skills are pure poetry!!! So happy for you and your family
Tanya says
We hear with a wood stove and usually clean the chimney once a year. Twice if it’s been really cold because the creosote tends to build up more above the roofline. There are also products out there that you can add to your fire periodically to help keep the creosote from building up. Check with your wood stove seller.
andrea d says
Looks great. We clean our chimney at the beginning and the end of each burning season. Also, in case you weren’t already aware, it’s best not to burn pine in your woodstove- it creates huge amounts of creosote at a faster rate than hard woods. (In small amounts it can be okay, but not as a primary wood source; we find it’s best just to avoid it)
Enjoy!
Rebecca in MD says
In our former house we had two wood burning fireplaces. We had the chimneys cleaned every summer as recommended by our chimney sweep. You can also buy special “logs” that help clean the chimney during the season in between professional cleanings. I have personally never used the product, but a friend of mine said they work. https://www.amazon.com/CSL-Creosote-Sweeping-Fireplaces-Pack/dp/B001EPRAGM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530632862&sr=8-1&keywords=chimney+cleaning+logs
Deborah says
Looks like you have a lot of wood cut for the winter….IDK how much you need. Did you ever see the PBS reality series about the pioneers?
They didn’t spend enough time cutting wood for their
“Winter” and the expert said they probably wouldn’t have survived because of that.
Diana says
Sigh. I share your wistfulness about the changes. The new stove will be fabulous, though, and…safe! I’m expecting regular wood stove cooking segments from now on. Okay, you can wait until the weather is not so hot, but not too long. 🙂
CSirca says
Love the fireplaces, your home looks so warm and inviting. I’m also in awe of your woodpile!! Nice work!!
Peggy says
The woodstove looks great in there, and you didn’t lose the cooking hearth, you’ve kept the integrity and that wonderful space. Thank you! It looks great! My parents years ago did something similar. My dad was a bricklayer and he built a beautiful fireplace in the livingroom with a huge opening….huge…twice maybe three times as big as a traditional fireplace, but they put in a huge wood burning stove to heat our house, it’s a 1900 traditional farmhouse. He also bricked the whole house. 🙂 So yours’ looks great!!!
Robyn says
I’m loving the little glimpses of your home’s interior! I can see why you fell in love with it. Your new stove looks dandy! Wood heat. It’s the very best!
debbie in alaska says
We sprinkle creosote destroyer on the hot coals after every fire. The new stove looks great and the pretty logs are perfection in the living room.
Lissa says
The floors are just spectacular. Are they waxed? Sealed?
Mavis Butterfield says
I think they are just stained? I sure do love them though.
Tracy says
Mavis, I do hope you will be able to get all that wood under cover soon. Even aged, if its kept uncovered and gets rain on it, it won’t cure and you’ll get tons of smoke and poor burning all winter. I’ve seen great wood sheds built out of pallets but with a solid roof. Gives great air flow and is practically free to build. Pretty too. But keeping it just stacked outside without cover is no bueno.
Crystal says
The new wood stove should be great for heat. But wood stoves that work well for heating a house are not generally great for cooking on- you want a specific design for cooking on a wood stove. Heating stoves tend to have bricks in them, to help disperse the heat. Which is great for heating a room, but makes for a crummy cook stove. Spoken as someone who has had wood heat my entire life, and spent the first ten years of my life with a wood cook stove (and a wood-burning water heater as well!).
Debbie - MountainMama says
Thanks for the reminder to schedule my annual chimney cleaning!! I have a Jotul insert that I had installed when I bought my house – I took out the antique wood burning stove that was in there, it was so inefficient and was huge, jutted way out into the living room – an eyesore as well as not being an efficient way to heat my house. I absolutely love my Jotul insert, and it’s my primary source of heat from Oct – April every year….this year into May. Good luck with your new insert!!
Mrs. Mac says
Looks like a good setup with the wood stove. How wonderful you are living your dream.