Advice on brick house, oil AND wood-burning furnace, etc.

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Hi; wonder if anyone could give me advice...am trying to buy a house, OLD brick house on 1.6 acres (only way I got a bid in is no-one else wanted it, it's in such bad shape!). It currently has an old oil furnace plus a wood-burning furnace next to it in the basement. From what I've read here, solid and liquid fuel can't use the same chimney. Besides, the house has been sitting empty for a couple of years, and the oil furnace "blew up", and every register in the house has a mound of oily soot next to it. I am probably too old (61 and single) to cut enough wood for a wood-burning furnace, and can't afford the expense of an oil/gas/electric-only furnace. Thought of a woodburner or corn burner on the main floor, using the existing chimney, and a back-up propane high efficiency furnace in the basement (just 2 pvc pipes out a window). Also, did anyone ever have to clean their duct-work? How did you go about it? (My "We'll MAKE it work" son suggested gasoline on rags pulled through the duct-work with wires...) I can clean the house up, paint, etc. but I'm concerned about heat (Northwestern Illinois). At least the house has new windows. It just needs a lot of "loving".

Also, has anyone had experience with brick homes regarding insulation? This is a 2-story home, and upstairs someone took some of the baseboard woodwork off and there is just old brick behind it. I think most brick homes were built with 2 rows(?) of brick with just an empty space between for insulation. Can insulation be blown in somehow, or would that make the bricks fall out if there was too much pressure? Would you put furring strips on the existing plaster INSIDE and foam board and drywall on top of that? I could really use some ideas. And some prayers! I haven't closed on the house yet, but I am really looking forward to it, and I can take my time cleaning it up because I live in a paid-for mobile home now, and can continue to live there while I move into the other one gradually.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions or advice - I am really addicted to this forum! I've learned SO much! Blessings....

-- Bonnie (chilton@stateline-isp.com), March 29, 2001

Answers

The issue with the chimney first. First is to check local code when it comes to most things involving your home.

Most codes dont allow more than one device to exhaust up a single flue, Some codes will allow a gas furnace and a gas water heater to share a single flue. It should be noted that more than one flue may exsist in a single chimney structure. You will have to check the chimney as to how many you have. If the house is that old and much larger than 1ft square then you may have multi flues. If you have a lot of soot in your registers it would be worth having someone come in and clean them. Gasoline should NEVER NEVER NEVER be used as a solvant like you suggest. You should also clean the chimney flues as well.

A wood or corn burner may work, if you can get the wood and corn is a cost effective manner. Around here about $90/cord split, cut and delivered. I havent seen any convient way to get corn to burn.

The air space in a "real" brick home is very small and while you could get into the space the amount of insulation you could put in there would not make a difference. Using furing stips still dont give you any room for any insulation of any size. If you 2x4 then you have enough room for batting to make a difference.

If you cant afford oil/gas/electic what would you be able to afford propane. Propane (at least here) is more expensive than gas or oil. Electric is never a good choice for whole house in an old home. High effeceny gas and oil furnaces are available. Gas can be vented via the same PVC. In function gas and propane use the same furnace.

-- Gary (gws@redbird.net), March 29, 2001.


Brick houses can be either "double brick" or "brick veneer" (outside brick wall, something else as the inside wall). Water will get through a layer of brick, and particularly through old deteriorating mortar between the bricks. It should stay on the inside of the bricks, though, and building was done so that what water did penetrate the first (or only) brick layer would then either run down the inside of that layer, or drip into the cavity. If you put anything into the cavity, you have to be careful not to bridge the gap and make a path for water to seep or trickle onto the inside wall. This can even be a problem with sloppy bricklaying, where excess mortar drops inside the wall and bridges the gap.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), March 29, 2001.

Another option you might consider is unvented gas area heater which are quite inexpensive, other than piping the gas to each location. I wouldn't recommend it in a newer airtight house but older homes usually have more than enough ventilation. Not from a safety standpoint but they do introduce water vapor in the air and in most colder climates, this is a bonus in the winter time. The good news is that they are 100 % efficient. No wasted btu's up the chimney. They are equipped with an oxygen depletion sensor for safety. They have been used in Europe for decades and have an excellent safety record. I have had radiant ceramic models which I liked because the heat was radiant like a wood stove and required no fan . They are great zone heaters and our cats will back me up on that one. I have owned a few and installed them for several people and everyone has been satisfied. good luck Bonnie

-- jz (oz49us@yahoo.com), March 29, 2001.

With the rising fuel costs, go wood stove instead of propane. if you cant split all of your own, ask folks with blown down or about to be removed trees if you could have the tops- no splitting, just sawing. Furring strips with under the siding type insulation (comes in varying thicknesses) between with paneling or dry wall over top does fairly good. A few things I did around my place was to cover all registers after installing a wood stove- really helped. To clean your ducts, they rent a machine that plugs into the duct trunk and sucks all the juunk out, its been a while since I used one but I remember having to cover the registers with a cheese cloth type material for some reason- perhaps the machine blew instead of sucked the junk out.. at any rate, they are available. Good Luck!

-- kevin (vantravlrs@aol.com), April 04, 2001.

Thanks to everyone who answered! Your ideas were great, and I appreciate the help.

-- Bonnie (chilton@stateline-isp.com), April 07, 2001.


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