Log Cabin Owners Install A New Woodstove And Tackle A Huge Driveway Project While Comparing Prices On A Nailer That Was $100 Different

A husband and wife who moved into a log cabin in a hurry are spending their fall upgrading it, and the list is long: a bigger woodstove, a stack of firewood, a new nailer, and a solar and battery setup that has them skipping the generator. The couple shares the work on the Wild North River channel, in a video titled “Upgrading the Log Cabin: New Woodstove + Huge Driveway Project, New Solar Panel.”

Log cabin owners install a new woodstove and plan a driveway, beside a cabin by a mountain lake

The move came fast. The husband says he was at the cabin in May, and the couple put their house up for sale in August or September. The cabin has some drafts around the windows, and he is realistic about the to-do list. “It’s never finished,” he says. “Our goal is to finish all of this in the winter. It will not happen. We’ll do our best because we got a big project.”

A Bigger Woodstove for the Cabin

The star of the video is a big woodstove that arrives on a pallet. The couple moves it into the house carefully, and the husband warns that steel-toe boots only protect the toes, so watch your feet. He puts the weight of the pieces at “around 50 pound, like 100 pound.”

“This is quite big stove,” he says. “We’re probably going to use about two cords less every year.” Before pulling out the old stove, he took a picture of how the pipes fit together so he would not forget how to put them back. The new stove has to sit on a plate, and he plans to change all the pipes to one big pipe with a turn, with the terminal set higher because the draft pushes down a little.

He also wants to see the fire from where the couple sits. “Enjoy your coffee in the morning,” he says. “That’s what we do in the morning.” The stove is rated at about 120, he says, compared with 70 for another one, and it has a fan option they have not bought yet.

Heating a 3,000 Square Foot House

The house is about 3,000 square feet, and the upstairs tends to get too warm. The couple is not worried about that. They also admit the new stove may be overkill, but he says he got a nice price on it.

Later they plan to add a mini split. Once it is in, he says, they will barely use the stove, “just for fun.” They have also talked about a back wall or half wall to hide the rear of the stove, with about 18 inches of clearance mentioned, and a spot nearby for cast iron cooking.

Counting Cords of Firewood

Firewood is a serious job at the cabin. The husband has been splitting wood, and he explains the math. “If I haul 30 loads today we should be close to eight cords. That’s not enough. I want 11 cords here at the house, because every year we say nine.”

The couple’s burn rate adds up quickly. They go through about one cord in November and two each in December, January and February, which puts six cords gone by the end of winter. March, April and May take roughly another two. It is late in the year, he notes, and it is already snowing in some places.

Why He Picked a Milwaukee Nailer

He also bought an 18 gauge nailer for a big project, and he says viewers will not see him putting in screws anymore. He already owns DeWalt batteries, but he went with Milwaukee. The DeWalt was about 2 pounds lighter, he says, but it nailed a little too slowly.

The price helped too. The Milwaukee kit came with batteries and a bag, and the DeWalt equivalent was $100 different, meaning more expensive. A bonus of the cordless tool is quiet: “I don’t hear the compressor anymore.”

Solar Power and a Quiet Week With No Generator

The biggest surprise in the video may be the power. A week after installing a new battery system and solar panel, the couple has not run the generator at all. Even with no sun, he says, they are getting about a thousand watts an hour coming in, and the system was redone properly.

The numbers explain why he is happy. A regular generator burns almost $2 an hour in fuel, and the noise is what he dislikes most. Before the change, the couple was paying about $600 a month in gas. Bringing grid electricity to the property would have cost about $30,000, so with solar they have a zero electric bill, and he figures the system will pay for itself in about three years.

He mentions hearing people on Facebook complain about $700 or $800 power bills, along with rising gas and diesel prices. A backup generator is still part of the plan. It will start automatically if the battery falls below 25%, and it can be set to shut off at about 60% to 70%. Wires also need to run through a water pipe under the ground before the freeze.

What Comes Next at the Homestead

Next summer, he plans to build a garage-like outbuilding to replace the cluttered shed. Four-wheelers and a side by side are sitting outside right now, and he expects a trip to Home Depot for supplies. The couple also wants to create a homestead area behind the woodpile, have someone clean the space up, and bring in sandstone and topsoil.

Hunting trips are on the calendar too, along with a second cabin that has its own channel and will get attention in January.

Takeaways for Anyone With a Wood Stove

A few lessons come out of the cabin. Plan your firewood by the month, not by the year, since the couple’s own tally shows how fast cords disappear in the coldest stretch. Photograph your stove pipe setup before taking anything apart. And if you are weighing a solar and battery setup against the cost of running a generator or extending grid power, write down your monthly fuel spending first, because that comparison is what made the decision easy here.

Willow and Hearth