Holler Homestead is Warm

We have been using an indoor kerosene heater to keep warm so far this year and it has worked well because the fellow who built this house was a genius. He insulated everything.

Kerosene is nice, but not the best choice for a country home. What happens if we get stuck out there for weeks and run out of kerosene?

In December, we began preparations to install a wood burning stove. There are trees everywhere and they grow back quickly. I did a little Internet research on building a safe hearth:

http://hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/wood_stove_clearances_installing_it_safely?id=63_0_1_0_M1

...and we also read the installation instructions on our brand new wood burning stove. We found conflicting recommendations, so I called a friend. He told me the codes in Oregon. Finally, I got in touch with the local fireplace store: Custom Fireplaces and More. They were quite helpful and explained why some plans include a one-inch air gap and others do not. We opted for the gap so the stove could be a few inches closer to the wall.

We started by building the hearth:

This is the tile bed...

The finished hearth, sans Mosaic work (coming soon).

While the tiling was being done, the chimney was installed.

I got to put together the stove over Christmas...

The neighbors and Mark in the day the stovepipe was installed...

The FIRST FIRE...