get outta the kitchen
A week after I moved in last March, the oil furnace in my basement died. It was ancient and had never been maintained and I didn’t get it fixed. I wore sweaters and awaited warmer weather.The warmer weather came, and now it is gone again.
After several months of research into every possible way to heat a home, I’m getting a woodstove. It’s pretty and it fits the era of my house, and it works even when the power goes out and when fuel prices go up. And of all the options I explored, it’s the one I feel the most excited about. I'ts green and efficient and just a little unexpected. If it’s a hassle and a headache I’ll add something more conventional next year, but for now it’s all woodstove all the time.
The woodstove itself was cheap compared to any other system, but the extras quickly added up. There’s the pipe from the stove to the chimney, for starters, and a different pipe for the chimney to the roof. There’s the special legs I wanted, which cost extra. There’s the guy who shows up to put it all together in a way that won’t burn down my house.
A woodstove also needs a hearthpad, so that sparks and heat don’t set the floor aflame. The prefab hearthpads sold by the stove store were made of NASA material trying to look like stone. I just couldn’t pay so much for something so ugly. I decided to make my own.
I’ve had moderate success, so far, at avoiding Home Depot. There are two great local hardware stores in my neighborhood, and no fewer than three used building supply warehouses in Portland. But this time it seemed inescapable: the project required clean fresh supplies and an assortment of appropriate tools. Also – did I forget to mention this? – I waited until the day before my scheduled installation to get started. So I needed everything in one place, and quickly.
Home Depot hooked me up. Three different Home Depot employees and two helpful Home Depot customers provided thorough and only occasionally conflicting advice on tiling supplies and techniques. I left with a full cart and a plan.
At home I spread everything out on my dining room floor. The dining room and kitchen are essentially one big room, and the wood stove is going between them against the wall with the old chimney. I started by screwing cement board into a four foot square piece of plywood. Then the cement board needed cement, but there were no directions on the bag about proportions. One of the Home Depot guys had said “like oatmeal,” but I realized, as acrid clouds of powder filled the air, that there are all different consistencies of oatmeal. Oatmeal like soup? Oatmeal like clay? I aimed for something in the middle.
I also had no idea how much cement I would need. I consulted three DIY books and each said Follow the instructions on your cement. So I guessed.
Ten minutes later I put a skim coat on the cement board. The excess wet cement slopped over onto my hardwood floors, which of course I had forgotten to cover. Then I put on a thick coat of cement, and sculpted it into even little teeth with my trowel. This was ridiculously satisfying. It turns out I hadn’t made quite enough, so I had to scoop out every last oatmeal-like deposit from the bucket bottom with my hands. My hands, and then the trowel, and then my clothes, and finally the floor, became encrusted in (oatmeal-like) cement. But the cement-drying clock was ticking. I ignored the mess.
I pressed the tiles into the stiff cement ridges, slipping little plastic spacers in between to keep the grout lines even. I wouldn’t have time to grout before the stove came, I learned, because it turns out cement needs two days to cure. I would just have to grout around the stove.
For the sides and the front of the hearthpad I cut the tiles in half with a cheapass tile cutter from the Depot. It was awkward and cut rough, crooked lines, but I decided this would add to the Did It Myself charm. Lastly I tried to even out the tile heights. I’m sure there’s a trick to this. I don’t know it.
All in all, though, the hearthpad looks pretty good. It has maybe been my most successful home project to date, saving me three hundred dollars and involving neither blood loss nor despair. And I even had time to grout it, because when Monday came the installer’s wife went into labor. So my stove is arriving next week.
posted by tortaluga @ 4:11 PM
5 Comments:
My cousins in Norway heat with a woodburning stove. It's always very cozy.
Muriatic acid will get cement off anything and shouldn't damage varnish, paint or wood.
I could be wrong about that not damaging the wood part.
If you use it, open all windows and doors, wear gloves and a mask and maybe plan to stay at a friend's place that night. It's pretty nasty stuff.
I second the muriatic acid. I use it on the drill rigs in Canadia sometimes to check for limestone in drill mud. It's nasty, nasty shit.
It's a little late to mention this, but one of the houses I lived in in Massachusetts had a Ben Franklin Stove in the living room. As I recall, the person who'd has it installed had essentially built a layer of single brick, which were held in place by a frame of solidly secured two-by-fours. Maybe if you get a second one...
hi all. thanks for the advice.
brick was actually what i most wanted to do - but in the end i chose tile because it's thinner. the hearthpad is in a major walkway, and i didn't want it to be too much of a step up.
it is definitely time for me to learn about muriatic acid.
yay norway!
Post a Comment
<< Home