Over the past years as we’ve been building at White Sky Woods, we’ve been gifted two wood stoves from different family members. Both stoves were in working condition, but needed some TLC. As we continued to plan our home, we decided that we’d like to have a wood stove as supplemental heat. We have radiant in-floor heating which we predict will be the main supplier of heat. The in-floor heating is run by electric, so to offset costs we’ll be able to burn wood heat. Eventually our goal is to supply the in-floor heating energy via solar hot water, but it will be a little bit of time to save up for that investment.

After investigating both wood stoves that we have, we decided to go with the smaller wood stove based on its condition (an easier refurbishing project) and also based on it being a better sized fit for the space we have for it (it’s smaller, more compact).

We will be moving the other wood stove with us and we have some ideas on how we plan to use it. More to come on that once we get to that project!

While we regretfully forgot to take a BEFORE picture, the best way to describe this stove was rusty and old looking. But, look at her now 🙂

Tim’s synopsis of the work he did:

took apart every individual piece of the wood stove

used a wire brush to get the rust off (it had rust on the inside and outside)

replaced all rope gaskets for a more efficient seal

applied stove polish

put it all back together

recaulked all joints

took it outside and started a fire to cure the polish with the heat

Total cost of the refurbish: Approximately $18.

Total time: Approximately 6 hours.

Can’t wait to put her to work!