woodstove installation

[totoro]

We bought a great certified woodstove but the installation quote is $3000.  It is a pretty straight-forward project (straight up through the roof) but the materials are $2000 out of the $3000 quote.  Does anyone have a good source for double wall stove pipe and accessories?  Seems pretty darn expensive on the quote.  I'm in Canada but would be willing to cross the border to Washington state if the materials were significantly less.

[chatsc]

We just had a  new woodstove installed at our cottage (I know, very unmustachian, but not everyone wants to retire early).  The doublewalled stove pipes were  the most expensive part.  We got a few quotes that varied a few hundred, but they were pretty much the same (in Ontario).  We also took into consideration the WETT inspection.  In ON woodstoves cannot be insured without a WETT inspection, which costs about 300$ (but is included in the installation cost).  So, even if we busted our butts and did it ourselves, we would have to pay that amount for the inspection (plus mileage for the inspector)....

[totoro]

Yes, we need to have the stove properly installed/inspected too re. WETT.  We are fine with that.  Just seems $2000 for chimney materials and $3325 total with tax is really high.  How much did you pay?  Here is our materials list.  We can tile the floor ourselves and have no problem paying $475 for the install itself but I really dont want to pay $2000 for materials.

1   Guide legs      $120.00
1   Deluxe raincap      $160.00
1   Roof flashing +storm collar   $165.00
3   6”x48” lengths of chimney   $855.00
1   6”x24” length of chimney   $150.00
1   Roof support      $110.00
1   Radiation shield      $63.00
1   Round ceiling support   $179.00
1   Ultra black telescopic length of dwl smoke pipe   $264.00
1   Combustion air kit      $45.00
1    Thin set, grout ,sealer and wood trim .   $100.00
         
   Labor for chimney , woodstove ,air intake and smoke pipe installation.   $475.00
         
   Labor for tiling floor protection area to accommodate woodstove clearances $285.00

[totoro]

I looked online and it seems the markup on parts on the quote is more than 140% from retail...  So perhaps we can buy our own parts and save $1500 right away.  I don't mind buying some used materials either - it is just finding them that is hard when you don't know about what is best.

[Spork]

We put in a wood stove and had similar experiences:  the piping was more expensive than the stove.  We priced it at 2 local stores and took the less expensive.  (Same brands, same everything.) 

In general I am very pro-DIY.  And if you're comfortable with doing it yourself, more power to you.  But... there are a boatload of codes here.  Make sure you're meeting all of them.  There is both the danger of fire above/behind/below the stove from hot and dry lumber and the danger of CO in the house.   You'll also need to make sure you're feeding the stove with outside air for combustion or you'll end up with a negative heat gain.

I'd also mention: Wood stoves are awesome.  We've run our central heat for a grand total of 2 hours so far this year.  One of those was at a family Christmas gathering where some folks went out in the snow and got wet and cold.

[totoro]

Nope - not comfortable with doing this ourselves - just don't want to pay 2 grand for parts.  Seems crazy.  Given the dangers I think there is room for markup by contractors here because people don't know how to get the parts themselves and are worried about fires/co2 etc.

We are very excited about the woodstove - lots of free sources of wood around here.

[chatsc]

Ours came to about 4500$ including tax, installation and stove, and a 250$ baby gate.  We also bought a pre-made floor pad.  I believe our actual stove was about 1850$.   I think the installation itself was only about 600$ of that.  We got 2 quotes and there were about 800-1000$ apart. 

We were not at all comfortable doing it ourselves either. 

I can dig up the itemized receipt, if you want.  but i recall the numbers looking very similar to yours.  the stove pipe and the chimney were the most important.

[totoro]

sounds like your install was cheaper!

[chatsc]

have you gotten any other quotes?  our cottage is a little remote, so we only had 2 outfits to choose from. 

[totoro]

We are getting a couple of other quotes.  The actual labour cost was low so my thought was to get the parts myself if possible.  Seems easy and affordable in the US, not so easy in Canada.

[Budget nazi]

Build.com.   Installed ours 2 months ago for $1700....class A chimney pipe all the way, only 2 ft of double walled pipe.   Stove was $3500

[totoro]

Thx.  Will look at that .  We were in Cranbrook and it turns out the materials are much cheaper in these small close-to-the-Rockies towns that have lots of woodstoves.  Like half price.  I think we are getting them shipped down.  It is amazing and disturbing how different quotes are.