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Spring Work Weekend: A Warm Welcome to the New Stove!
Another successful Shang Work Weekend is in the books! This year's crew included Peter W., Peter C., Mary, Vince, Rosemary, Bernd, Scarlett and friend, Beck and friend, Katie, Tessa, Dan B., and Cole. A terrific turnout, with plenty of helping hands!
Special extra credit goes to the Madsens, who arrived several days early to oversee the installation of our beautiful new fireplace insert. Thank you for getting this major project across the finish line!
The Big Project: A New Fireplace Insert
The star of this Work Weekend was undoubtedly the new wood-burning stove, which solves several long-standing problems with our old fireplace.
The new insert is remarkably efficient, extracting far more heat from the wood we burn. It also features a catalytic combustor, which helps produce a cleaner burn with significantly less smoke and soot.
And here's the really impressive part: One fire on Friday night kept the house comfortably warm throughout the weekend! We were all pleasantly surprised by just how effective it was. Shang has never felt cozier!
Of course, there's a bit of a learning curve to operating the stove properly. The instruction manual is on the sideboard for anyone using the house. I'll include a photo of the quick-reference guide here, and we'll soon add a video tutorial and operating instructions to the website so everyone can become a confident Shang fire tender.
A Few Important Technical Notes
The new flue extends approximately 26 feet, projecting about three feet above the masonry chimney.
One issue we'll need to address is the tree growing close to the chimney. Fire-safety guidelines call for adequate clearance—generally 10 feet around the chimney—and some of the nearby growth will need to be trimmed back. This will be an important follow-up project to help keep Shang as fire-safe as possible.
Many Hands Make Light Work!
The fireplace wasn't the only accomplishment of the weekend. Our industrious crew also tackled a number of other projects, including sorting and clearing debris from the corral, splitting firewood, and gathering and stacking wood in the shed.
All that hard work means we're better prepared for the colder months ahead—and there's something particularly satisfying about seeing a well-stocked woodshed!
The Best Part of All
As always, the real highlight of Work Weekend was being together. It was especially wonderful to see so many of the younger generation rolling up their sleeves, pitching in, and carrying on the Shang tradition of taking care of this special place.
A huge thank-you to everyone who contributed their time, energy, muscle, and good spirits. Shang is warmer, tidier, and better cared for because of you.
Here's to many more cozy fires, productive weekends, and happy gatherings at Shang!
First step in fireplace insert project. They also extended the chimney.
This is the second step crew performed, removing brick for the S curve of flue pipe. I missed the photo of damper removal, which involved a cutting torch . You can see hose lines in foreground, but work was complete.
The finished product.
