Do your guests use the woodburner?

[Laurence-and-Dominique0]

Hi, we are quite new to hosting.

Summer lets have gone really well. We have started to accept winter bookings as the house has central heating. On our profile, we also mention a woodburner. The house has 100% wooden interior ie ceilings, floors AND walls! We're a little nervous about inexperienced guests using the woodburner. Any tips? Do you leave instructions/ video? How much firewood do you provide?

Much appreciated 🙂

[Victoria567]

Hi @Laurence-and-Dominique0

We have 2 woodburners but I don't host in winter due to heating costs making it unviable as we get rotten winters up here.

If I were  to use wood burner and no other heating in the house, Inwoukd Provide first log basket of logs free and subsequent one at a fiver a basket.

[@ mention updated]

[Laurence-and-Dominique0]

Thank you, Victoria!

[Sandra126 · Accepted solution]

I have several ways of heating, but guests love to use the woodburner and it goes all winter long, April-October. I provide unlimited wood, it costs me approx AUD 700 a season. I normally have it going when guests arrive, and I show them exactly how to do it. Most importantly is to show where the metal ash bucket is so noone uses a plastic bag. My house is all wood as well.

Many places where I am provide 6 logs per stay. Service stations sell expensive bags of wood to supply the rest. I think the nicest thing about winter in the country is a woodfire so I have chosen another way. Also I have seen many accoms where the fireplace is  bolted shot to prevent usage.

Make sure you have a fireextinguisher nearby and a fireblanket. If you show guests on checkin, point them out.

[Pete28]

All good until they forget to open flu, or start burning trash etc to light the fire and stink up the house.

Just not worth the hassle and cost, and to be honest burning wood etc doesn't heat a house it's just aesthetic.

[Sarah977]

@Pete28    It appears that you've never had or used an efficient wood stove. I heated my 1500 sq ft two story Canadian house all winter with a wood stove for 25 years. We could walk around in tee-shirts. And it never needed re-lighting all winter- in the morning there would still be coals, the house would still be warm, and all you had to do was throw some more wood on.

@Laurence-and-Dominique0  There is no way I'd let guests be in charge of a wood stove in a wooden house. All they need to do is cluelessly leave something hung near the stove to dry, go out for the day, and the next thing you know, they've burnt your house down.

[Victoria567]

Hi@Sarah

Here in the UK many new houses are of timber frame construction.

Here in the UK many houses have wood burning stoves, it’s become a very middle class thing apparently and now very fashionable.

Here in the UK we have amongst the most tightly regulated building control measures, regarding potable water supplies, building regulations, electrical installation and gas heating regulations which are all tightly monitored and controlled with certification required from registered CORGI installers for gas heating etc.

We have tight regulations regarding the installation of wood burning stoves where the back board must be fully non combustible, a minimum distance away from any combustible material, including the floors, etc.

I have beautiful wooden parquet flooring throughout and to comply with building regulations I had to place my wood burning stoves on top of a minimum required thickness of a non combustible material, in my case Caithness Slate.

Here in the UK if a home does not pass our strict planning regulations, or building control, it does NOT get a completion certificate and you are not allowed to live in it.

Council planning departments are notoriously picky.

[Sarah977]

@Victoria567    Yes, those building codes are in place in Canada as well. But whether there is non-combustible material around and under the stove (I had to do this in Canada also) is immaterial if guests were to leave some item of clothing or a towel to dry draped over a chair set close to the stove. As we know, guests often do clueless things in other's homes.

[Sandra126]

@Pete28, doesn't heat the house? Used to be the only source where I lived before. It is an EXCELLENT way of heating the house. There are many houses in Sweden which rely on it, and we are talking minus 20 C.

[Helen-And-Mario0]

I will be very nervous about it! Even though most guests are careful enough, but 1 simple ignorance will ruin it. 

[Sandra126]

If you are going to be nervous, don't do it. I choose another route: Not nervous.

[Letti0]

Both my places have wood burning fireplaces and so does my Venue. Due to the fact that they will probably only be used a couple months out of the year maybe January or December I supply the wood. We have instructions in the manual for proper use and ask that they let us know if they plan on using them so we can go over a brief safety talk with them. Also I have a soap stone wood burner and I can tell you that it really heats up a house. 

[Rob11815]

Hi @Laurence-and-Dominique0

Guests love our stove. Bear in mind that (at least in the UK) you should get your wood burner checked and swept by a chimney sweep and most importantly they should leave you with a 'chimney sweep certificate' as proof that you're meeting your obligations:

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If your guests are using the log burner then it's also important you have a working Carbon Monoxide alarm in the same room.

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