Hello,
I have a few questions about the installation of wood stove piping and the stoves. We are builing the 1 1/2 cottage with cathedral ceilings. We plan to place out stove we just purchased a quadrafire 3100 in our great room area going straight up about 2 ft or so from the peak. I got a quote for the piping and install lumped together for $2668! :o ???
Needless to say thats more than what i paid for the stove. I seriously doubt the stove pipe is more than $700. I think they are trying to rape me here... Any thoughts on this and has anyone had their wood stove installed by a company?
Lastly - how hard is this really to do yourself?
You might be surprised. I paid about $700 for all my piping and other essentials and it was only single wall. They might be quoting double wall which is probably better in most situations, I may replace mine with double wall someday. I don't think it's uncommon for bids to be at least double, if not triple the materials.
I did mine myself and it wasn't that bad, cutting the hole and installing the flashing at the peak was the only real hard part.
It is not uncommon to spend more for a chimney than for some stoves, especially when a long run of insulated pipe is required. Nice thing is you don't have to go up on the roof either.
It's not hard to do yourself, but you have to follow the stove and chimney manufacturers' instructions to the letter. The professional price is high, but usually makes getting insurance, etc. easier.
If you go over to hearth.com they have a lot of people there who have done DIY installs. I did my own with a bit of research, and didn't spend more than a few hundred dollars on pipe.
The main points are:
1. Proper hearth protection, often a non-combustible pad with a minimum R-value spec'ed by the stove manufacturer, extending out a sufficient distance.
2. Minimum stove clearances from combustible materials, such as walls, wall studs, etc., even if behind masonry. Some manufacturers allow heat shields to reduce this distance -- you have to check the manual.
3. Minimum pipe clearances, eg single-wall pipe has to be out 18 inches, and the chimney has to maintain 1-2" from combustibles on the way through the attic and roof.
4. Pipe has to extend above roof peak (if within 10 feet I think), with structural supports beyond a certain height. Snow protection is up to you, and not warranteed.
Just to give you a sense I spent ~$1350 for piping materials AND install.
I paid roughly $1000 for all of the piping (double wall on the inside and insulated double wall for exterior). I have a cathedral ceiling as well - 1 1/2 story, but 28' wide with a ridge beam that I had to "go-around" with the interior piping. That included 15' of 3' sections of double wall piping, some bends, some small sections (think I used a 1' piece between the bends), a telescoping section (up to 5'), the thru-ceiling kit for cathedral ceilings, 2 3' sections of exterior insulated double-wall pipe, and the normal exterior pieces to make it all work (e.g. storm collar, etc).
I planned to install it myself, but ended up having a chimney installer/cleaner doing the install, which cost me $350 in labor. IOW, I supplied all of the materials and he did the install. Hope that helps with the perspective.
Earlier this year, I was quoted $1,350 for the install. They said it might be a little higher now. This included the parts for the flue as well as the cold air intake. It did not include the hearth pad.
In rural Northern California (i.e. expensive), I paid $4K for everything. This is for about 15ft in the cabin (all triple insulated due to clearances), a dogleg on the way up, and maybe 8ft above the roof with a custom snow splitter. Given the stove was just under $2K, this was about $2K for chimney and installation. I think that broke down something like $400 install and $1600 materials (although I'm sure there was a good mark up on materials). This was all done before the roofing was on and with scaffolding around the house - I'm sure it would've cost more if done after everything was finished.