Come On Baby Light My Fire

Fall is by far my favorite season. The leaves in full color. The cool crisp air. The harvest. Thanksgiving. Halloween (not my favorite, but surely a favorite of the boys). I only wish it wasn’t winters precedent! Autumn makes me want to nest. Pull out the warm quilts, add a few extra pillows and cozy up by the fire.

Fire.

There’s nothing better than the smell, the crackling, and the warmth of a real wood burning fire. 

We have a wood burning fireplace insert in our basement family room. It does a great job at heating the basement, but because of the layout of our house not much of the heat makes it to the main floor, therefore keeping us dependent upon electric heat. When we first moved into the house I had hubs change the baseboard heater in the living room (remove the big one that was under the window and install a smaller one further away) JUST so that I could put my couch under the window (because there was no other LOGICAL place for it might I add). So for years we’ve been um… freezing in the winter. True, our basement is now a “finished” space but for some reason I prefer the main floor, plus it’s where the bedrooms are. Sure, cooler air might be good for sleeping but we don’t want to have to crank the thermostats just to want to be in the room.

When it comes to green living there are differing opinions surrounding the carbon footprint created by wood stoves. Firewood is a renewable resource, yet it leaves a carbon footprint when burned for heat. However, a carbon footprint also has to take into considerable how the fuel source was prepared, and in that, firewood has a tiny footprint compared to natural gas, electric, or heating oil. The carbon produced by log cutting machines and chainsaws is miniscule compared to that of processing crude oil into fuel stocks. And of course, in many parts of the world, most if not all of the wood cutting is done manually, so there’s no footprint at all.

So, we’ve decided to invest in wood heat for the main floor too. Sure it’s a big expense on the front end, but it should save us significant amount of money during heating seasons to come. (And Canadian winters can be… well cold!) Now the question is whether to go with a wood stove or a zero-clearance wood fireplace…

I have a thing for fireplaces- I’m drawn to them, I think they add ambiance to a room, even when they’re not in use. I would get a mantel (OK, I know that a mantel is essentially just a shelf as my husband so eloquently reminds me every time I bring it up).

So what’s the problem? Well… the fireplace route costs much more than the wood stove route. Much more $$$$$$ and technically the heat output isn’t as good with the fireplace as it would be with a wood stove, because the woodstove radiates heat from all 4 sides and the zero clear is specifically designed only for heat from the front so that it can be installed close to combustible materials. It requires the use of blowers and hot air vents can be installed.

OK… so the wood stove is a better choice right? Technically yes, aesthetically not so much. My living room might not be overly traditional but it isn’t exactly country or rustic either. It isn’t lodge like or cabin like. In the basement family room a wood stove would look appropriate, ironically we have a fireplace down there. A huge fireplace. Clad in black/grey slate though, with a rustic mantle. So I have been trying, with very little luck, to find a wood stove that doesn’t look as though it belongs in a lodge, or a cabin, or a big old country home. All the while trying to convince Bruce to build me a fireplace instead!

I do like the enamelled ones… again $$$$$

This is about the only instance where I have seen a wood stove in a traditional room.

I would rather the fireplace, I’ve said that it will help with resale some day because women like fireplaces, more than wood stoves. But when it comes right down to it economics will probably be the deciding factor.