[mostie]

I'm just curious, and I'm hoping that someone can enlighten me, here!

I have noticed since we've been living in the U.P., that there are not very many homes at all that have a fireplace or wood stove. In fact, in California there seem to be more homes with fireplaces than here (although I think the majority were for that random fire, and not an actual necessity-not there, lol).

It gets cold here, it gets snowy- last winter I don't think there were any power outages around here, but still, I'm curious. You would think practically everyone would have one 'just in case', but strangely, they don't. I really don't understand it at all- our house was built around 1918, I believe...and there is no sign of there ever having been a fireplace, or even a wood stove (how I wish- I have a wood stove, but I was given an estimate of almost $4,000 just to cut a hole in the wall for the pipe, attach it to the stove, and run it to the roof line...just don't have that much laying around, and because it involves fire, not willing to do it myself!)-nobody in the neighborhood seems to have one either...

Does anyone know why this is? Am I missing something here?

[SpaceGhost79]

$4,000 to hook it up? What was included in that price?

I live in Marquette and had a soapstone wood stove installed in my house two years ago by Superior Stoves & Fireplaces for like $800. I bought the stove and all the pipe for it separately and built my own hearth pad, and they supplied the labor. Now, when you total the cost of the stove, pipe, and labor, then I'd be around the $4,000 range.

Soapstone stoves cost more than a common wood stove and I probably could have slashed $1,000 had I gone that route. Doesn't help that I have a 1 1/2 story house with a steep pitched roof, either, and the pipe has to clear 3 feet above the roof top, I believe, so that was a lot of pipe to buy and it's not cheap (figure it'd be half the price for a single story house). So I could have saved some money if I wanted to, but a nice federal tax credit helped offset some of the higher cost, too.

That said, I always thought more of the older houses would at least have a fireplace But my 1950s built house didn't have one of those, either.

I love my wood stove and use it as my primary heat with hydronic electric baseboard heaters as backups. Perfect setup for me living in the north. My wife sure loves laying in front of the stove in winter time

[mostie]

The guys who came out and gave me the estimate were from Marquette, actually- for the life of me I can't remember the name of the company, but it was 50 for the estimate- given the gas prices, I thought that was fair, lol.

What was included in the price was the pipe (we have a 1 1/2 story too), whatever goes with the pipe (like the flashing or whatever that goes against the wall), and cutting a hole in the side of the house and putting the pipe together. He was quoting me 100 a foot. I was going to do my own pad, and I already have the stove- I've checked at Home Depot and I know the pipe isn't cheap- but it sure isn't 100 a foot- of course, that included labor, but let's be honest here....there is not that much to putting the pipes together- however....they know what they are doing, and sadly, I don't- and because it involves something that could potentially catch fire if done wrong, I won't touch the job with a barge pole, even though I think that I could read up enough on it and do it myself-it's like electrical, I won't touch that either, lol.

[mostie]

I actually checked with a place here in Iron Mountain, but the lady looked so shocked when I asked her if they could do everything else if I already had the stove, and she said no, that they would never hook up a stove unless I bought it there.

:|

I had pretty much given up on it, I just don't have that kind of cash sitting in the cookie jar, at the moment, lol.

[ktyprsn]

A fireplace is not efficient for producing heat. I'm not surprised houses don't have them. I don't want a big hole in my house that is not sealed.

The wood stoves are a bit less easy to explain. I will say that I haven't come across all that many places that use electric heat (other than some apartments). If gas or propane is used for heat, power outages are not a heating problem. A wood stove is a fire hazard and increases insurance costs. Wood stoves can produce uneven heat depending on the layout of a home. So are you surprised that places don't have a wood stove in addition to another primary heat source? That can be purely cost based. If they already have a heat source that is not susceptible to power outages, and money is a factor, what reason would they have for putting in a wood stove? The UP is not a place known for having a lot of discretionary spending money. California in general does have that spending money and can put in whatever makes it feel like home to them.

[mostie]

Originally Posted by ktyprsn

A fireplace is not efficient for producing heat. I'm not surprised houses don't have them. I don't want a big hole in my house that is not sealed.

I'm not talking about 'efficiency' so much as I'm talking about emergency heating- I guess 'efficient' would be central air/heat, but it's also very costly to run. We don't have central air in our house, but most people around here don't, either- some will have a window a/c for the few hot days, but that's about it.

Originally Posted by ktyprsn

wood stoves are a bit less easy to explain. I will say that I haven't come across all that many places that use electric heat (other than some apartments). If gas or propane is used for heat, power outages are not a heating problem. A wood stove is a fire hazard and increases insurance costs. Wood stoves can produce uneven heat depending on the layout of a home. So are you surprised that places don't have a wood stove in addition to another primary heat source? That can be purely cost based. If they already have a heat source that is not susceptible to power outages, and money is a factor, what reason would they have for putting in a wood stove? The UP is not a place known for having a lot of discretionary spending money. California in general does have that spending money and can put in whatever makes it feel like home to them.

Actually, yes, I am- lol. Our heat is gas, but has an electric fan- our gas bill is astronomical in the winter, and there is absolutely no way to bring it down because it gets cold enough that we have to run it the majority of the time. Our electric is also sky-high in the winter because we have a disabled person here who has a first floor bedroom (previous owners insulated and converted the attached garage into a master bedroom, but it is open to the rest of the house), and has to use one of those horrifically expensive (yet advertised as 'money-saving', but not according to the person I talked to at our electric company....only the manufacturer!) electric heaters, because it gets really cold downstairs. Money could definitely be a factor here (like it is most everywhere these days, I'm guessing), and our gas/electric can run to 600 a month together in the winter- maybe that doesn't seem like a massive amount to some people, but it definitely is to us. As far as being purely cost-based, no doubt it is- because it's expensive to put either one in....but it would seem to me that if a person could do it, they might save a little on heating costs, other than sweat equity for the wood. Of course, higher insurance rates don't help as far as saving money goes....

The biggest reason I could see for doing a fireplace/wood stove, would be in case other heat sources weren't available, for whatever reason- and that could happen even with gas or propane- I've never been one to put all of my faith in the fact that if I flip a switch in the house, whatever it is I'm flipping it for is going to come through for me- things happen sometimes, and in the kind of cold we get here and the length of time it lasts, it's a concern. I suppose some people could buy kerosene heaters- as for propane, I'm not sure if you are talking about propane tanks outside, or...? I know there must be people who have them here, I would assume probably those who live outside of town- but I haven't seen a propane tank in anyone's yard around here (I'm in town). I'm saying that heat sources can go down, regardless of what they are-and I would hate to have it happen in the winter, here, and not have some sort of backup.

I guess I'm just one of those people who wants to be prepared 'just in case'.....I was born and raised in California, and I've lived where it snows in the winter for seven years, now- it's bad enough trying to bear the heat there if the a/c breaks down (which has definitely happened there on several occasions when the grid is overloaded, not to mention a couple of blackouts that lasted several days...during the summer, of course!).

[jeeg]

Almost everyone I know in the Marquette region has a woodstove or an outdoor wood furnace.
Very interesting (I'm not very familiar with your neck of da U.P. )

One thing I always thought odd (for all of Michigan) was that only a small percentage of houses have an enclosed porch or vestibule at their main entrance.
They would save a lot of heating costs with one, especially if there is a lot of traffic at the doorway (multiple kids etc.)

[DONNIEANDDONNA417]

I love fireplaces only because they create a warm feel in your home...but using them solely for heating purposes....I don't know. I had one in my last home and it stayed so cold in my house...even when it was burning. I eventually had to turn my regular heat on.

Fireplaces do rock though

[mostie]

Originally Posted by DONNIEANDDONNA417

I love fireplaces only because they create a warm feel in your home...but using them solely for heating purposes....I don't know. I had one in my last home and it stayed so cold in my house...even when it was burning. I eventually had to turn my regular heat on.

Fireplaces do rock though

Yes they do, lol. I would never think that a wood stove or a fireplace could heat an entire house, unless a person had a one room cabin, or something (I could live with that, hahaha)....but more in case something did happen, and there had to be at least one heat source, somewhere, as opposed to no heat source whatsoever, you know?

When we were in Omaha (ugh, ugh, patooey! ), we rented a big place- our furnace just knocked out, and it took a couple of days for the owner to get someone out there to fix it- it was in the middle of winter, and it was coooollllld. We had no other heat source (unless we opened the oven, and huddled in the kitchen, lol), and no matter how many layers of clothes we had on, no matter how many fleece blankets we were wrapped up in, the cold just ate right through it- at that moment, I would have given anything to have had a fireplace or a wood stove, lol.