Reinstate log burner vs central heating?

[yamin]

Based on these horrible fuel cost rumours, would you reinstate a log burning stove that will require
a. A new back (my much revered husband gave the back away to a scrap metal merchant who 'happened to be passing' as it sat outside our front door :evil: )
b. The rebuilding and reopening of a chimney that was taken down from roof last year as rotten (bricks just lifted off), damp and not used.

We have nearly a winters worth of logs from the sad sacrifice of a walnut tree last summer and can get pick up load for #40 a shot.

Oh, if cheaper, it would be possible to reinstate fireplace where wood burner could go......chimney prob main concern - it also shares chimney space with a cooker on other side of the wall - assuming the two could co exist????

Any idea what it costs to re build a chimney????

Thanks!

 

[sarahj]

Hi ,

We have a log burner and no central heating yet (and probably not for a long time now!). Have you looked at installing a log burner without reinstating the chimney - like they do in Scandinavia, where the flue disperses heat all the way up the pipe into the room so that this heat isn't wasted, and therefore also heats upstairs as well?


Sarah

 

[shelli]

Hi ,

We have a log burner and no central heating yet (and probably not for a long time now!). Have you looked at installing a log burner without reinstating the chimney - like they do in Scandinavia, where the flue disperses heat all the way up the pipe into the room so that this heat isn't wasted, and therefore also heats upstairs as well?


Sarah

Doesnt smoke till need to escape from the building by means of some sort of stack? - surely the flue doesnt just poke directly out of the roof (even capped with cute little hat!) - doesnt flue need some kind of exterior protection ?

 

[Maris]

You don't need a stack, but will require twin wall flue from (I think) 80cm above the top of the stove. When the flue goes through a first/ second floor the plasterboard, joists, insulation etc will need protection in the form of metal plates. The flue has to extend above the roofline for something like 60cm and must have a cap. Its over a year since we put ours in- no problem with building regs who gave us all the guidelines and signed it off. The twin wall flue goes through the first floor bathroom and does a good job of keeping it warm and dry. It's never become too hot to touch, and we burn wood and briquettes in the stove.

hope that helps

M

 

[Penners]

A wood burner and central heating are not mutually exclusive. If you have both, just make sure that your radiators are fitted with thermostatic valves, so that when the woodburner gets the room(s) up to temperature, the radiators shut off.

 

[jencast]

Hi, we are currently going through a major reno of our 5 bedroom Georgian house built somewhere around 1750. When Dad bought the house in 1980, he took down the 2 chimneys and boarded up 2 fireplaces. We suspect he did not have the funds to address the damp issues from the fireplaces and thought closing them off was the best and cheapest solution. Over the years, the damp got worse. He introduced 3 night storage heaters. We had the chimneys rebuilt, opened up the fireplaces but reduced the openings and inserted wood burning stoves. We found a cloam oven but because of the rebuild costs we choose to just seal it off until more money becomes available-the house will be let. The cost of rebuilding the fireplaces, and chimneys (labor, materials and stoves) were about L 3500 each. We found the original fireplace surrounds in the barn in the back. We have supplemented these with radiators in each room. We choose this route as the house has not ever had central heating and had been deprived of heat for over 20 years. This choice allows for the gradual warming of the house. I was concerned that too much heat too quickly might crack and split our lime plaster walls and old beams. I hope this is a warm solution for our dear old house. Good luck.

 

[Penners]

Was that 3500 Italian lire, Turkish lire or Devonshire lire?

 

[jencast]

That was 3500 pounds sterling. I am very pleased with the work and we had it done when we reslated the roof and installed 2 skylights in the loft. The chimneys had to be relined, reflashed and capped. To reinstate the original width, the fireplace had to be completely rebuilt as the stone was in poor shape. We surmissed that there had been a damaging fire at one point as some of the soot was leaching thru the stone/bricks due to the damp. Good luck to your reinstatements should you choose this route.