When/if I ever get to build my log, lodge home, I want a huge fireplace in the great room for ambiance. I'm talking large center piece, don't need anything else in the room because everyone is forced to look at it.

Something like this size....

ehh have to find new image.... it was big had 2 people standing in it.

Only more ornate.

More like this....



only more rustic.

I want to be able to throw on 3, 4' long logs, "it'll likely take 2 grown men to carry them in and load it". But would only be lit on special occasions.

 

keyless entry with remote start, an dual climate control, get it right man

 

Not only do you get more satisfaction, it's also very therapeutic and relaxing. To get one's self out of doors, cut down a dead, or, still living green tree, gives one a sense of satisfaction knowing that if the world does indeed come to an end, you know how to fell a mighty oak or elm tree for heating, or, perhaps shelter.

 

that would be one dumbasze snake to hibernate in split logs. I though they liked it under huge rocks, tree trunks, and such.. no draft.
IMO gas heat is the dryest heat. A good thing about fire places too is they suck up the dust in a room.

Snake do get in stumps and downed wood in the wild. We were at the lake several years ago, it was dark and we had a bonfire going. Somebody dragged piece of small pine trunk to the fire. A few minutes later an unknown species snake about 2.5 ft long and 3 in. diameter came out of the log. The fire instantly seared it. It saw us and just froze, it was instantly a crispy critter and fell back into the ashes.. It was freaky looking.

 

That insert looks great WMR. We almost went with one that had the bay window type glass but ended up deciding on one with just glass in the door. I'll take a picture of it tonight if I don't forget.

 

This pretty much describes me when I am in the great outdoors. I have always said, "There are only three kinds of snakes that I don't like. Live ones, dead ones and sticks that look like 'em and I've killed a lot of sticks."

 

You are where I got that from.
I knew it was someone on here, just couldn't remember who.
I like it, enough that I've been using it.

 

Maybe thats it, I don't split very much wood, if I can pick it up, the fireplace can handle it.


It's ussually just little ring necks.
Like this



Thats about as big as they ussually get. (no thats not my hand, I use the fireplace shovel to remove them.)
It's small and not poisonous, no matter though, it's still a freaking snake.

How ever 5-6 years ago I did find a copperhead in my dinning room, in dead of winter. About 3 weeks after I'd brought in a bunch of wood to store inside. It was moving real slow, obviously fresh out of hibernation. I can only assume I carried it in.

 

At that point my list of things to do would have just gotten longer. First off, kill the snake!! Then I would need to change my shorts and shower to wash all the poo off. From there I would need to do laundry otherwise my pants would have big brown stain that starts at the top and runs down both legs. Finally I would need to patch the floor where the shotgun blast went through.

 

HAHA

2 stories

Story 1
The first time of the few times there has been a snake in the house.
My wifes cousin was over, my oldest daughter was just a baby. I seen something fall from the mantle, went to investigate, it was a freakin' snake of some kind. I jumped back 20' across the living room in one effortless bound and started for the gun cabinet. Then realized the hearth is marble and concrete, couldn't shoot it indoors on that it might ricochet and hit my daughter. (Screw myself and everyone else!) It started crawling for the carpet. My floors are concrete too, so that wasn't going to help except make a bloody mess on the carpet because I knew I was going to have to cut it's head off somehow. So I grabbed the shovel off the fireplace set and cut it's head off.

Story 2
When I first got this place, I didn't have a lawnmower or anything. Dad was bringing his over to help me maintain it. So we just kept the main part mowed.
The field with 2 sheds had grown with weeds over 6' tall. I decided to get to teh sheds, so I took a double headed axe and started clearing a path to them. About 1/2 way there, I thought, man I hope I don't see a snake, then didn't think about it anymore because I didn't want to scare myself. I get to the shed and there is a HUGE black snake about as big around as my thigh laying in front of it wrapped around the corner. I could see about 4' of it and couldn't see either end. I screamed like a girl and took off running down the path I just cut. About 1/2 way down the path I stopped and realized, I had an axe.... So why am I running?

 

We've had three snakes in the house in 7 or 8 years, but not a single snake since the vented remote control gas logs have been installed. Mighta been the wood, might not, but I'm just sayin'.........

We had an ash dump that emptied outside the basement, and a wood box built into the side of the fireplace that could be loaded from outside via a hinged door. Two years after we moved in, someone broke into the house through the wood box door. My wife had the brick mason at the house when I got home from work the next day. She told him he wasn't leaving or getting paid until the wood box door was bricked up.

Gas logs, instant heat, no smell, no mess, no screwin' around in the cold or rain trying to stack enough logs for the evening. No covering wood to keep it dry. If you want a wood burning fireplace, build it in the back yard where you can smoke your cigars, throw your beer bottles in the woods, and pee off the porch.

With all that said, nice fireplace Kobi, and if you like using it that's all that counts.

 

That made me so homesick I nearly broke down and cried.

 

Thanks Larry. We got the bay window simply because it was the insert that offered the most BTU's for heating this wide open space we have here. But I do like the bay window style.

ETA: My truck earned it's room and board today (i.e. garage space and gas!!)...it hauled home the first ton of pellets from the city. Boy did the back end sag when they sat that pallet down on it!! It rode about an inch off the bumpstops but we made it home in one piece!!

 

You big tough guys and your fear of snakes

I have a story too. We had a neighbor several years ago with a 7 year old son, Johnny. He came running over to my house one day and said "Karen, Karen, my mom just found a snake by the house and she wants to know if you can tell her what it is." So I went over and looked at the snake, about a foot long Garter snake. I told them what it was and that it was harmless. Then Johnny says, "can you catch it?" Well, I thought the boy wanted the snake...so I reached down, picked it up and handed it to him. That boy freaked out!! He started screaming and jumping up and down...Turns out he didn't want the snake, he just was asking if it could be caught!! Oops!!