I follow Permaculture principles and use what nature provides to it's benefits. I also treat leaves and pine needles different. Left alone, leaves and pine needles won't decompose over winter. So I will run a mower over them to cut them up. I'll use some of the leaf's cuttings as mulch for trees, bushes and planting beds. I'll use pine needle's cuttings as mulch around berry bushes, other acidic fruit beds (tomato beds) and pine trees. I use a mixture of leaves and pine needle cuttings as a thick bedding around my chicken coops. This keeps the coops warmer in the winter, provides bugs for food, and scratching material for birds. To keep out snakes and other vermin, I wrap the bottom of my coop with copper mesh. I also have it about 1 foot underground. Snakes and vermin are unable to chew or push through copper mesh. It just cuts them up and kills them. A little something I learned from my GrannyB is to use frozen/frost bit leaves as cover for root vegetables. In a box, place a layer of leaves, a layer of vegetable, a layer of leaves, a layer of vegetables and so on until almost full. Top with a deep layer of leaves. This will keep them good all winter. I also have a cold cellar which is pretty necessary for living off grid or in the mountains.

MOST IMPORTANT PART OF ANY WOODSTOVE OR FIRE PLACE IS 4 BAGS OF CHIMNEY FIRE STOP AND AT LEAST 2 FIRE EXTINGUISHERS CLOSE BY.WHY IS YOUR WOOD NEXT TO WOOD STOVE?NOT ONLY A FIRE HAZARD BUT BLOCKING AIR FLOW,AND THE NO SEEUM SPIDERS N BUGS THAT CRAWL OUTA THAT WOOD WILL HAVE U SCRATCHING LIKE A MAN ON A FUZZY TREE.YOUR WIFE N KIDS WILL ASK WHY THEY GETTING BIT SO MUCH.THEYLL NEST IN UR BEDS,AND FURNITURE.LEAVE WOOD OUTSIDE.I BUILT COVERED CRIBS FOR MINE OUT OF FREE LUMBER AND METAL ROOFING.

REMINDER,IN USA ONLY EPA HIGH EFFICIENCY STOVES ARE ALLOWED.OTHERWISE YOU CANT GET FIRE INSURANCE

A handful of solar lawn lights can add useful light outside. Then… during a prolonged outage can be brought inside at night, providing light all night. Then back outside in the daytime to charge. Also… I run my generator and bar-b-q on propane. Much better than gasoline for the generator… and the grill is great year around anyway.

I like #4 but it’s totally up to you guys. This was hilarious but you did scare me cutting the wood with the chain saw right next to your foot so close like that.

well done

Some very good ideas. Important and lifesaving to have multiple backups. One thing that is often overlooked in building a new home is insulation. Insulation can make a huge difference as to how much heating is required for a home, and it is cheaper than sophisticated heat pumps and in as to how much wood or other fuels are used. Along with insulation, much cost can be saved by minimizing heat-loss and gain with modest window sizes, use of outside doors, and strategically placing windows and using light interior colors for light. A wood or pellet stove is a very nice option, but no always an option for the elderly or infirm to move or split logs; and not everybody has plentiful sources of wood. Fossil generators require fuel to store, and regular maintenance such as oil and filter changes, spark plugs, and valve adjustments. In historic Switzerland, the old chalets were built with living quarters located over livestock which provide natural heat (and smell).

Neat

Snowstead, Are you sure your use of the term, heat RECOVERY vent, is accurate for your application? Why don't you share your idea with Aardvark and post their comments/recommendations. Have you introduced a smoke generator above your inlet addition to verify flow direction?

Nice wish I had the money to buy this phone

Tyvek house wrap doesn’t have a long life. I would add 30# felt paper on top off it-cheap & easy- regardless of any further trim. You have great ideas. Thanks for posting.

In Alaska we used an airtight stove. Most efficient.

How do you think they turned out?

Sorry I know this may sting but rewatching this and showing wife - I know Tyvek is good and all, but put some damn siding on or dont bother to decorate with a wreath, it looks like an abandoned hobo camp. Other than that its great. Sorry I hate people finishing homes with Tyvek - its an Alaska/Canada thing but it looks cheap!

A great project. A great build. Thank you for sharing. Only problem -- that is a pre pandemic price you are quoting. Most of us don't have spare solar batteries or a diesel heater lying around. In today's dollars (and the prices at my local "Habitat for Humanity Restore" have skyrocketed) you are probably now looking at $6 Grand (January 2025). Still affordable for the "do it yourselfer".

Good to know

First I’m going to say I know nothing about intake air stuff but y not put in an intake fan to help with the flow

You had me at no smell.

You forgot to put a damper in your chimney just above your stove, hence why u have that issue

Ideally, you would want the stack to go straight out the roof unobstructed, but that's not always possible. Using a 90* creates a restriction that is likely to cause a hot spot in the transition through the wall. Is there a reason you went with a 90* instead of a 45*?

Wow you did a great job . Really nice.

Install a hrv or erv

Best option will be to use at least HRV (ventilation , ERV is more expensive but better) You can build it yourself or buy small ones that only need small hole in wall (need power to run) Remember HRV and ERV maybe look simillar but works bit different , HRV is like if u open a window but without heat lost , ERV will also keep moisture inside at same level thats why its expensive and need more power . HRV is super simple , you can even make it by putting smaller pipe in bigger one and have exhaust in one, suction in another to exchange heat inside of them (look for "diy hrv")

You clearly have no idea what you're doing.

Wet wood is bad for chimneys , it's your first year so it is what it is , I think you already know this , but you should really be planning for future years as it can destroy your equipment

install a tiny window and buy a tiny dehumidifier. a window with a 4 inch by 4 inch would be beautiful. Don't forget to make a tiny screen and some custom tiny curtains.

We used to have a con-ex as an office and break area. During the winter when using a heater it would sweat in the inside and conservation would come down like rain. Even with it insulated the condensation would run to the seams pour out.

Open a window.

No, your house doesn't need to breath. You need to breath. That's why you need to install an ERV (energy recovery ventilator). When your bath exhaust is on it can bring extra air in to make up for it.

Cool video mang that's a awesome idea

Really bad idea, you can end up with carbon monoxide issues. Get a heat exchanging ventilator, or next time you change out the windows with ones that have trickle vents installed.

The tight sealed homes that cannot breath has mold problems .

Nice that's awesome great idea 😁👍

Why you couldn't put it throught the roof? I don't understand

What do you prefer: Wood stove or Pellet stove? 🤔

Enjoyed video the most on its last 3/4. Would have liked to hear the specific length of your heat shield spacers. I suspect 2" is the magic number in Ont from any combustible or combustible prevention surface. Yours looked like 1.5"? Hard to tell tho. But if it doesn't get hot behind, excellent as long as insurance doesn't use any caveat as an excuse to not pay if something bad happens. (a child or pet drops something down between the heat shield and your nestle bench, as an example) . Also, it wasn't clear if your heat shields were raised off the floor? I don't know the spec but I'd guess any amount that let's a reasonable amount of air to get under and up the inside of the shield. This air gap (let's say an inch at least but even half an inch would create huge effect) is not optional, it's key to the design of an airgap heat shield function. I like your T design on the cold air intake with the cast-iron register idea. Perhaps with a future build you could use a 5” inlet that then reduces down to 4" for the stove hookup if necessary. On this topic, (of outside air breaches into house) here's some advice for the off season. Make sure to remember to close your drafts on the stove after your last burn and door is secuely closed and latched. The idea is to prevent any animal from being able to breach any crack. Specifically mice because they can flatten out to just over ¼". And a small mouse can clear a ¼" crack. But especially BATS! Twice in 35 years I've forgotten to close my drafts and found that I was lucky enough that the bat didn't have quite enough room to get out into the room and died stuck in the draft. I don't use a cold air intake but obviously you'd want to ensure it is bat and rodent proof. The bats fly right down the chimney! Happy for you guys to have a completed home you enjoy and hopefully quiet neighbours that don't put extra loud exhaust on every ICE they own and fire off fireworks 6 out of every 10 days year-round. And don't boom boomvboom you to mental distraction/destruction with their subwoofers stereo systems both in the car but worse in the house. Then there's the "duh...oh ya" car alarms day and night, auto LED headlights that light up your living and bedroom windows like the Vegas strip, one after the other..Noise pollution in our tech filled world is becoming our next epidemic. Sorry I got derailed.. I so wish I had a place like yours on wheels so you could seek out peace as needed. All the best 👍✌️🇨🇦

You never mentioned anything about the solor Watts panel , how many watts you have on the roof

Wow! I was thinking 5- 8 thousand to build! You did great job & it's refreshing to see a video from Canada.

Thank you for the video. To people watching, this issue he has, to this level of severity, is very rare and you won't have this problem unless you have an extremely air tight, newer, smaller home. He is correct though, vent fans in the house CAN cause reverse draft or poor draft problems in wood stoves. For example, the stove may allow smoke in the house when the vent fans in the house are on, if the glass door is opened to load more wood. If the wood stove HAS an outside / cold air intake so the stove does not get air from inside the house, for a fan to STILL affect the stove, that is extremely rare. Always use an outside air inlet on a wood stove if at all possible. Then the stove will not take (steal) the warm air from the house. Many wood stoves, especially the "good ones" that are over 20 years old do not have a hookup for outside air. However, you can get under there and see how the stove gets it's air, and then make something. Even if you have a pipe of fresh air 1/4 inch away from where the stove gets its air, a pipe just laying there, the stove will pull most of its air from this pipe. It's worth doing, but of course, metal and no PVC. Of course, you would need to install and shut off some sort of valve in the pipe for most of the year when the stove is not burning so cold air doesn't keep coming in. For any stove that has an outside air line, always check the flow of the draft with a lighter BEFORE lighting the stove, to make sure things are going in the right direction. In rare cases, outside air lines can have a reverse flow and if you light the stove during this flow, it's a big smoke mess / disaster.

Learn something new every day! Thank you

What part of Canada are you in?

Put an intake near your dryer intake. Use a flapper that is locked until you dry clothes. Close the door to the washer dryer area when in use.

Its great but the bears like it too, hope u dont have unwanted vistors

Open the window in the kitchen. Doesn’t have to be wide open. Doesn’t cost a penny & problem solved.

Grab a flashlight, we can't see behind the stove we'll at all

From combustables

The code in Massachusetts 3 feet away on all sides

A little recommendation: On the intake you should put a valve so that you can shut off the airflow to the stove when you aren't using it. Also, instead of an exhaust fan, please consider installing a heat recovery ventilation unit with both intake and exhaust, they aren't that expensive and they are totally balanced.

Look you should build your own…. Why .. cause you can put pipes through the stove and hook a fan up to the pipes … blowing out …25+ heat out of each pipes… heats the place up faster … uses less wood cause it heats up faster and you need to use less wood to heat your house … get rid of your gas furnace and pump the heat from the pipes throughout the house …. Hook the water heater up to the wood stack be and there you get rid of your gas bill use the boiler you have to heat the house as well…….. get this …. Every house has 2 heating systems…… one is not used to heat the house and sits and wastes gas or electric to keep it heated all day… it’s called your water heater ….. but yet you have a furnace to heat your house when the boiler could and you can get rid of the furnace…. Go wood stove and get rid of the gas bill…. Go with solar and you get rid of the electric bill for the rest of your life…. Buy an acre of land for 20 grand give or take that can have a well and you could be mortgage free with no bills except you phone bill and insurance… and save -12-20+ grand a year and build a house in 5 years paid off in cash you saved and now you have a 100-500,000 dollar house all for 100 grand or less … paid off no bills to pay except taxes….. for the rest of your life ….

Awesome problem solving. I think you just have to make your air intake bigger 4 inch pipe with a 4 inch vent.