I wish I would have noticed the time that the installers arrived this morning. It was early - maybe 8 or 9am. They left at about 3:15pm.
While the outside chimney work is complete (it was very hard for me to watch / hear them drill a hole in the exterior wall), the interior, while largely done, still needs to be completed. The hold up is a custom hearth pad that we ordered (back in the January time frame). It's still not done and we weren't sure when it would be done. It was custom in terms of its size and the low diameter profile we wanted for the rounding of the corners (we didn't want sharp corners on the pad and yet we didn't want overly rounded corners either). It turns out that Ed and my selection of finish on the hearth pad was also somewhat unusual. We went with a black pad that has bronze and blue "highlights" such that it's not solid black. Apparently, people just don't order that finish even though it is an option... (We've always marched to our own drum so to speak and this is yet another example...)
Because we've still got time before winter is here again, we said that we could wait on the interior hook-up until the pad arrives. If the pad is not complete by the time winter comes, the company will hook up the stove and provide a temporary pad.
The wood burning stove is now our second heat source with propane being our current primary source. I've been the one to drive the wood burning stove install even though Ed is on board. My thinking is two fold: 1) I want a back up should something happen with respect to propane supply or should prices of propane get out of control and 2) I want a "no-cost" heating option for our retirement years when all we'll have is time and acres of wood.
We went with a Hearthstone Green Mountain 60 model stove. It has a smooth top that will get hot enough for boiling water should the need arise (and to cook). It also has a soapstone interior which will provide for thermal mass heat retention and allow us to "in theory" go for 19 hours without having to fill the firebox (although, I'm told that a more realistic # is 9 hours or so and that will at least get us through a night of sleeping or through a day spent away from home).
We don't really plan on using the stove for a year or two yet; but, with prices rising and supply questionable and with worker shortages, we (mainly I) just wanted to get it done. We're almost there...
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