Our Thoughts on Wood Heating

This excerpt is from Janet Whittman's 2022 Article in East Coast Living Magazine title Building With Stone 

Cow Bay, N.S. mason Patrick Mullen built a custom four-foot-by-four-foot Rumford fireplace and chimney with granite river-rock veneer a few years ago for a customer from the United Kingdom, where the design took over from the large walk-in fireplaces that were common before 1795.

"He knew what he wanted and specifically requested a Rumford design, and he's quite happy with it," says Mullen, who owns Briar Masonry. "But I'm still certain from a tech perspective he would have gotten a better heat value from a factory built, zero-clearance fireplace. You really can't beat the the comparison to an insulated chimney. The warmer that pipe stays the better it's going to draw. Masonry takes quite a while to heat up."

Mullen says the aesthetics of inserts and factory built steel fireplaces are comparable to classic open flame masonry ones.

"With the new factory built fireplaces you can take the doors off and light a fire so it would look like you're looking at stone. When we put those in there's very little steel showing. It's mostly cladded in masonry."

The Modern Choice

Mullen seldom get requests for open flame masonry fireplaces. When money is no an object, many homeowners opt for large, factory built steel fireplaces with stone cladding, or wood-burning inserts with Selkirk flues to go in existing fireplaces, which can throw off heat like a wood stove. 

As storm like September's hurricane-force Fiona becomes the norm rather than once in-a-generation-events, demand is heating up for fireplaces and woodstoves.

"We've had a ton of calls from people, For the first time, it's crossed their minds, 'Hey I wish I had an insert in my fireplace,'"  Mullen says. "A lot of people inherited a home so there's already the infrastructure there. Rather than set up a wood stove, a lot of people will choose to retrofit their fireplace. It's usually a little cheaper if you already have a masonry chimney. 

Wood Still Strong

Wood is this country's original heating fuel and continues to be an efficient and economical  way to heat a home as a primary source, or to supplement other heating systems such as an oil-fired furnace or heat pump. "It's still in our blood in Atlantic Canada. Anybody you meet here generally enjoys sitting around a campfire and enjoys burning wood," says Mullen. "I worked in Alberta and it doesn't cross their minds to burn wood as a source of heat. It's a part of how things have always been done here."

But natural gas, propane, and electric are also gaining in popularity. Many homeowners appreciate the ease of flicking a switch, and are glad not to have to lug firewood, or deal with the mess of soot, ash, and dust.

"It's definitely a different type of heat," say Mullen. "I've explained that to people. Wood is going to give you a nice, longer-lasting dry heat, but it's going to take an hour to heat that room up. If it's a Saturday and you like to light it first thing in the morning, you're going to have a nice warm room all day. But if you're coming in to watch T.V. and it's freezing, you may just want to flick a switch and turn it on.