Fire

We have been living in the new house since Thanksgiving and all is going well. The biggest change is that we are heating completely with wood. Kent has been scrounging around Athens for wayward wood for 2 years now and has done 99.9% of the splitting. Plus we have so much scrap around the house from the build, that it's a great way to clean that up too. So far, I cannot complain about the temperature of the house. And I am thermally challenged meaning I am intolerant of cold. But I have to say the house is warm. Even at 60 degrees it feels so much warmer than the old house. We have 4 great south facing windows that collect the heat from the sun on days where we are lucky enough to get it, and the brick wall around the stove holds heat well enough at night that we let the fire burn out through the night.

The routine is to get a nice hot fire going at night. Stock it full before bed and let it burn til' it's done. In the morning it's usually about 60-65. Very tolerable. If it is 65, I won't even start another fire until late afternoon, usually 4ish. Then start the process over. If it's cold enough in the morning to start a fire (and someone is going to be around to enjoy it), I'll start one. But I might let it burn slower, since the daytime temps and/or sun will heat the place up.

And,

We don't even have shades on the windows yet. Once we install those (and we have to trim the windows first) We can lower them at night with the premise that they will help insulate the house some.

So I am optimistic for the winter. I know it's only December. We still have the sub zero days of February to get through. But we shall see. If we have to, we can supplement the heat with baseboards. Otherwise, I expect to save a lot of money by not heating the house with the old furnace.

Merry holidays to all.