Well, I think we have green-lighted the wood stove project. We are shopping for an insert for our existing fireplace.

I spoke to our normal chimney guy this morning. Small business, just two guys and the wife runs the office. They carry many wood stoves and will be dropping off brochures with prices based on our exact specs (they have measurements,since they've worked on our house before) this week.

Over the phone, they estimated the cost of buying the wood stove we are considering at 2,000, with the option for a blower and for the surround.

I chuckled, because this is nearly $1,000 less than the cost of the same stove at the fireplace "showroom" retail outlet where i priced them out earlier this week. $1,000!!!

Looks like it might pay to just buy directly from the installer, than through a retailer who then farms the work out to an installer.

Anyway, I'll be interested to see how much the estimates are.

We've wanted a wood stove for a long time, and have plenty of free wood to burn in it. My secret motive is to use it as back-up heat during our many power outages (none of which have been in winter yet, thankfullY) and, since DH and the kids love to build fires all winter, we can use it instead of the furnace for at least part of every day.

Looks like wood stoves have come a long way. Many are much more efficient than I would have guessed and have decent burn times per load. And, if you buy before the end of this year, they're eligible for a $300 tax credit. I'll take it!