What a good man, right? yes. i definitely win!
Our mechanic friend came over to help lift it out of the car and bring it inside for assembly. It weighs well over 200lbs for sure, and although my intentions would have been for the best - i never would have been able to help V carry it. Not to mention i somehow hurt my wrist a few days ago (doing what, i have no idea) and it hurts to turn it too far one way or another, let alone lift anything very heavy.
We were slightly concerned with how the stove would work out when we first considered the idea. We would have had to fit a pipe several feet up the chimney and make sure it was all insulated and etcetera... and we might have even had to call in a professional *GASP* which costs money that we dont have.
While talking to someone about the whole process, it was suggested that we block the fireplace with a sheet of aluminum and cut a hole in it for the stovepipe. Genius!
Our mechanic friend was wonderful enough to donate an unused car bonnet to our cause and kindly cut a perfect hole in it for the pipe in just the right place. Measurements are a good thing. :)
That night, V and i set to work sealing the fireplace hole with the cut piece of bonnet and used high-temp sealing caulk for around the edges.
The next evening, it was already noticeably less cold in the cottage downstairs without the heat being sucked out by the chimney, and we were ready to actually install the stove! We placed the stove on the stone pad and positioned the pipe into its respective placings. It's such a perfect fit, that i doubt we'll need to use much sealant around the edges at all.
After a few minutes of excitement of having a heatsource in our place, we finally decided to "fire" it up (heh heh)!
As you can see, the caulk is red. BRIGHT freakin' red. Needless to say, we'll be painting it, and the car hood a nice solid black in the near future. BUT look at our STOVE! Isn't it neato? The first night, our house smelled like... i dont even know. Some awful chemical that the stove was covered in. We had our windows and doors open to air it out for a couple hours, and fortunately the smell dissipated after a while. We were able to wear plain t-shirts and i even ran around in my bare feet for the first time in a long time. It is so nice to be warm!
We have even discovered that we can use the stove top as a green way to cook things like soups and we made toast on it too. Hahaha!
Looks like V won our little bet. We got our stove first... time to go pay up. Talk to you later ;)
