Daley Ponderings

Since we're now into the second year of using the woodstove, I thought I would post an update about it.

I bought five cords of wood this year, (we bought around four and a half last year, and used around three).  I got around one cord of black locust each year, and that wood is really nice for long burn times.  I think we've spent somewhere around $1300 on wood, and I expect (hoping at least, we've been using almost no gas heat so far, so we've been burning more wood than I originally estimated) that this wood will last into next year.

Our gas bill has dropped to almost nothing this year (November's bill was $30, which is a little higher than it is in the summer, since we use gas for cooking and hot water - our oven is inefficient, and I'm trying to decide whether to simply replace the burner, which might entirely fix the problem, or get a new oven).  Last year we used a little more gas than this year, but given that our gas bill is usually $1500 for the year, I figure the woodstove saves around $500 a year, and it is nice having a nice toasty fireplace to sit in front of - I do most of my work in front of it, though sometimes I go to the "computer room" when I need to work on that computer.

The boys still love sleeping in front of the fire (though the allure of new bunk beds from the Weavers kept them upstairs for a week or so)

We have the wood stacked under the tree in the front yard, and we can fit a surprising amount (over six cords) under the tree - I have sixteen foot rows that are around six to seven feet high.  My job is to bring the wood to the porch every couple days, and the boys stack it in a rack, and then bring wood to the living room each morning.  They mostly enjoy that job, though occasional dawdle so much with the door open that it makes me wonder whether we are losing more heat than the wood that they are carrying in will produce...  This morning they decided to try to get all of the wood on the porch inside, and so brought in probably twice the amount that they usually do, but they stacked it very nicely, so I am not worried about it falling over, which is sometimes an issue.

The rest of the house is a little cooler than it would be with the gas on, but we basically close off the guest room, and try to use the dining and living rooms as much as possible.  The upstairs doesn't get heat with either the gas or wood, mostly due to not having any insulation, and since it is a finished attic, I am not sure how much can really be done to it now.  I have been wondering how much the blow-in insulation for the walls costs, and that might be worth looking into at some point.