In Search of Heat

The road to a new wood stove was an unnecessarily long one. The first go round, I was told I would have to remove the entire mantel, because of clearances. I researched about a dozen models offered by one local company before I went on my own internet search.

Then I contacted another company that mentioned that fireplace companies are only associated with certain products, and I wouldn't get the whole gamut from one company.

I eventually ended up going with the second company, because not only would I not have to rip out my mantel with the brand they offered, but the heat output was the highest of any fireplace I had seen. In addition, it came with an additional feature called the GreenStart, a button you push to light the fire with a spark and hot air.

I decided not to be present because I had just spent the day at the house, freezing, while asbestos was removed from the basement. Just in case, I removed almost all the furniture from the room, left a key, and headed back to Portland.

When I got back to the house that weekend, there was a thick layer of dust covering the entire room, and soot hand and foot marks throughout the first floor. When I asked the installer about that, he said, 'yeah, that old thing was dirty. When we took out some brick it was just a big dust storm in here.' Great. And so this was your first time installing? Couldn't anticipate that one? I don't know.... a dust barrier wasn't a thought?

In addition, there was a big black cord coming out of the front of the fireplace. A fireplace that I had specifically had an electrician come and hardware for the blower. When I pushed the button for the Green Start, a very loud sound came out of this big, obtrusive box.

Lesson learned - always be there for an installation!!

So I came back yesterday, and the guy said, "well I've never installed one of these before."
So I said, "drill a hole through the bottom of the firebox and put that loud thing in the basement."
"Well, I will need another guy for this. I'll have to come back."

Arrrrgh!

So he came back, and, long story short, they were bent over backwards to make it right. They offered to clean up the dust, but we decided it would be an ideal time to rip open some walls.

I ended up purchasing a Lopi Large Flush Hybrid wood insert, because of the large viewing area and heating capacity. The website shows an arched door, but a rectacular door is also available (my choice).

www.lopistoves.com

The jury is still out on how well it will heat the house. We've fired it up twice, and only just figured out the blower. I'm hoping that when we start closing the house back up, it will heat a little better than it is now.

In the search for the perfect fireplace insert, I came up with some pretty nice ones. Maybe for another project or the little red shack sometime in the future. 

Aduro stoves are pretty slick, as are the Asgard.

http://www.adurofire.com/asgaard-stoves/stove/

Wittus stoves are equally as sleek and pleasing. My favorite is the Shaker stove.

www.wittus.com


Last but not least, the Morso has a really pleasing line of wood stoves. The 5660 standard is a real standout, but some of the free standing stoves made it a tough decision.

http://www.morsona.com/5660-Standard-547.aspx

Progress

Our temporary cellar door cover...

Gravelmania, an inexpensive landscape option, and the luxury of helping remove dirt from shoes before entering house. Also helps to prevent runoff. Bonus: dry basement!

The rest of the asphalt will go, because we'll be burying the power line, and planting a hedge between the house and road for more privacy.

french drain rerouting water from basement to orchard.

snapshot of the house, shingles repaired and laying in wait for some springtime beautification.

all the concrete had to go somewhere. there were some stones lining the ditch. we added to it a bit. 

Abandoned apple orchard

Husband wants to take down the giant metal triangles. I think it's art.

What do you think?

the work continues

We are, like the rest of the country, in a brutal cold snap. Daytime highs in the 20's and lows in the single digits. Meanwhile, we still don't have heat at the farm. But the work continues...

The contractor finished removing all the plaster and lath from the attic, and, aside from the 50 pounds of bat poo he found in the ceiling of one attic room, the rest of the other attic room had even more bee hives. Luckily, just abandoned bee hives and no more bees. I'm glad I wasn't there to see the mess, but kind of would have liked to see a picture. I did take these...

So much for leaving the chimney exposed. What a freaking mess. It's a kittywompus, sticky, yucky thing. Any ideas how to beautify this guy without breaking the bank? A coat of plaster? Brick veneer?

another frozen window...

Also, we are suddenly tasked with figuring out an electrical scheme.

The contractor thinks the easiest route is to leave the sub panel in one of the bedrooms. I don't like the idea, because I don't want a bed placed right next to an electrical sub panel. He suggested rerouting the wires from that sub panel to the living room of the attic, but again, there would still be electrical wires concentrated in that sleeping area. Upon closer inspection, we realized that almost the entire house is being fed wires from this panel. Why? Why would you run a wire all the way up to the attic to a sub panel and then wire everything off of that? We told him, just cut the wires to the rest of the house and have a sub panel feed just the attic. We'll figure out the rest of the house as we go on.

Then I schooled myself on EMF's. Holy cow, I guess sub panels are really evil. Now I am thinking of removing the sub panel altogether and running wire from the basement in an emf shielding pipe. I think that idea is the best. Concentrate all the breakers in the basement. He's on board with that too.

When I mentioned that I want outlets in the baseboard molding, he mentioned that a former client of his read something about the positioning of the outlets sideways causes some kind of electrical current action that is worse than if the outlets are vertical. I found it pleasing that I am not the only one out there OCD'ing on all things electrical, and am now tasked with learning about that. Luckily he gave me her number, so we can obsess together.

Look, I just want a retreat that is healthy, safe, and away from the noise, pollution, and craziness of the modern world. Does it have to be that complicated?

Before we left, I took some pictures of the orchard and pasture. So pretty in the snow.

On the way home, I convinced my husband to cruise down the Old Historic Columbia River Highway. I have always wanted to see the waterfalls in a deep freeze. Here are the pictures I took.

Multnomah Falls:

and Horsetail falls:

Stay warm out there!

A case for double hung INSULATED windows

When ice forms on the INSIDE of your single pane windows, maybe those replacement windows make more sense? Sometimes you have to learn the hard way.

Searching for heat

Our main source of heat is an old oil furnace, wrapped in asbestos tape, wrapped in old insulation, covered with many years of dust.

Once the cold weather came, we knew we were in trouble. Probably doing something about this when we moved in, say in July or August would have been a good idea, but we were so involved with the exterior, we didn't have a chance to address this very important problem.

The oil tank is in pretty good shape. The wet floor below isn't from a leaking tank, it's from rainwater pouring through the cellar door and travelling to the drain at the opposite end of the basement.

This is actually a wood fired furnace. The oil furnace is to the left. Note hairy octopus arms coming out of furnace.

And here is our lovely oil furnace. I am not sure when the last time it was serviced, but I got a call from the previous owner right before heating season, telling me I should probably have it serviced.

Last week, I had an asbestos abatement crew come to remove the duct work containing asbestos. Because it was on the interior as well as the exterior, it had to be completely removed. We didn't know the extent of the tape, because quite a bit of it was covered with insulation. But the translation was lost, so every time the crew told me they were finished, I pointed to something else they forgot. It was a frustrating experience, but I am so glad I was there for the entire 8 hour process, in the freezing cold.










































All the boots were removed as well. My beautiful registers no longer have ducts to cover, but this gives us the opportunity to open up some walls before we decide what kind of heat this house will have.

Originally, we were thinking of ground source heat. However, the price is astronomical, even with government incentives. One company quoted us $30,000, another quoted $18,000. The incentives are pretty good, 30% rebate. But it's still so high, and now we need to replace ducts as well.

Radiant heat is an option, but having the house laid out properly, and making sure we have a plan in place first is paramount. Looks like heat won't happen this season.

Downtime in Portland

We ended the weekend back in Portland. The dogs needed a thorough cleaning,

and the kids needed to release some energy. So we hit our old standby, Hollywood Bowl.

I've had some good memories here, but boy, is this place hurting. Exposed wires jutting out of walls, filthy bathrooms, and different stages of construction throughout. It's generally falling apart. But we like it. There's never a wait, and it's straight up, no frills bowling.

A chilly weekend, indeed!

Another day full of vibrant scenery in Rainbow City. 

Even at our new favorite breakfast spot.

We decided to try out a new place, called Egg River Cafe. Got some great reviews. We agree - eggs are local and organic, bacon delish and staff is friendly. We were in and out pretty quickly, too. I really, really like this place.

Time to take that nasty carpet out. The pictures don't look so bad, but the carpet is filthy, and I cringe every time the kids roll around on it. 

This time it's Jesse's turn.

Strike a pose, Jesse!

OMG, look at all that dirt underneath!

Momma got to play with her little nippers again. What a great workout. My legs are sore from crouching down to pull nails out of the floor.

I've been using a HEPA vac instead of a shop vac to get the dust out. The local vacuum store (Stark Vacuums in Portland) will completely sanitize it when the renovations are finished.

Halloween in Portland

Halloween is intense on a school day. There are the school parties, parades, after school parties, visit to dad's office, Halloween parties, trick or treating, and if you're trying to do two neighborhoods, another round of trick or treating and parties. Our kids were wiped out by the end of the day. Oh, but what fun we had.

How cute are these tinies hiding out, eating candy?

And the best line of the night, by a five year old, "this is the best day ever!"

Decorating was fun....

We dipped local orchard apples in Franz Caramel - mmmmmmmmmm!

I think the kids had the most fun handing out candy.

We pulled a double header by heading to Hood River the next afternoon and hitting the Pfriem Dia de los Muertos party that night. Boy did these kids sleep in all weekend - sweet.

Super family-friendly event. The kids got to do a cupcake walk through the restaurant (where every child won eventually), and mom got a beer sampler.

We froze that night. It was fun to get all cozy with the family in a big flannel bed, but it's time to get a working furnace and or fireplace in. The fireplace appeared to be working, but it's so old, the door broke just after Jesse put in more logs. We propped it up with a metal poker, but I'd say that's the last time we'll be using it.


And the ducts are filthy and lined with asbestos tape - on the inside as well. An asbestos removal guy suggested we not use the heating system until it is remedied.