We were all pretty sad when our old farmhouse burned around 1980. It was probably for the best though, as far as the heat energy consumption goes. It had likely been built around 1860. My great great great great grandfather homesteaded our farm in the 1830’s and lived in a log cabin for a few years. My dad remembers seeing some remains of that, but it was long gone when I was born.Nice setup, there!
I average 10 full cords per winter, but our house is large, old, and mostly uninulated stone construction. We have 60 windows, more than half of which were installed in 1775. We have 14 exterior doors, some of them dating back as far as 1734. This place ain't exactly the picture of optimum efficiency.
The last two winters, we got off easy, just 6-7 full cords. I was actually beginning to tell myself we were more efficient than we had been in the past, but the reality is that we just experienced two very short and very warm winters. This year having been more typical, until this week's warm spell, we're ripping thru a good bit more wood.
Grandpa and grandma replaced that big old burned down farmhouse with a fairly well insulated 1200 square ft ranch house. While grandma was still living in that, my wife and I nailed an 800 sq ft, “3 room shack” apartment onto the back (also fairly well insulated). Grandma passed away 14 years ago.
Now we have a 2000 square ft L-shaped ranch that only takes an average of 6 face cords to heat. That’s a very manageable amount for me to make in my free time. I love wood heat and there’s no way I would live way up here, near the Canadian border, without it.
