Les & Gill, Stockton 8 Double-sided, New Build

Les & Gill, North Devon
December 10, 2015

Les & Gill took 18 months to build their dream home. Their detached house sits in a conversation area. In their last two homes, they had Stovax woodburners and loved them so much that they decided to integrate one in their new home. Find out more about Les & Gill’s testimonial.

Q. Please briefly describe your renovation project including the style and age of your property.

A. It’s a new build. A detached house in a conservation area. Built with ICF blocks (insulated concrete fill polystyrene blocks) with air source heat pump and SIPS roof so built to a high level of insulation.

Q. How long did the project take?

A. 18 months from the start of the build to the finish.

Q. Please give the make, model and size of your fire or stove – also is it woodburning only or multi-fuel?

A. Stockton 8 double-sided (woodburner only).

Q. How long have you wanted a fire/stove?

A. Always had woodburners in our homes so difficult to answer. We put a Stockton Inbuilt Convector in our last house (a renovation project in North Somerset) and also put a large multifuel stove in a timber frame selfbuild project we did in Wales about 16 years ago.

Q. What were the key reasons for installing a fire/stove? For example were you motivated by ambience, environmental, cost, style and/or warmth?

A. We’ve had Stovax woodburners in our last 2 houses. We love the ambience, they are relatively cheap to run and excellent backup if you get power cuts as we do living in the country. As our new build is so highly insulated we have sited this fireplace in the centre of the house to benefit from both sides. It’s proving extremely effective.

Q. What drew you to your particular model?

A. It had to be a double sided one to suit the fireplace and we liked the clean lines of the Stockton. There isn’t a vast choice of double sided wood burning stoves on the market anyway, but we were right in thinking that we would find a Stovax model to suit our needs.

Q. What type of installation do you have (including the flue)?

A. Block build chimney with brick fascia and Isokern flue system. The chimney is insulated.

Q. Describe the journey to owning your own stove. Was it enjoyable, straight forward, more reasonable/expensive than you thought, did you find a retailer and an installer easily and locally? Did you have to wait long for the fire/stove and the installation?

A. We did some research online and came up with a budget ahead of putting our planning application in to build the house. After obtaining planning approval we visited local stove dealers. Although the stoves were cheaper online, we chose to buy locally in case there were any issues. Both local retailers were totally unenthusiastic. One said they were too busy to give us a price for at least 3 weeks. The other promised to come back us and didn’t. We had to chase the latter for a price and to place the order. The only reason we bought from them was the fact that we bought the flue liners, chimney pot etc from them and being local they offered free delivery. The online shops were much more eager to win the business but we prefer to visit showrooms/ shops and talk to the people who know about them…

Q. Why did you install it into your living room?

A. We designed our house specifically to have a central fireplace so as to retain as much of the heat within the house as possible. The design is open plan downstairs and consequently the stove heats both the lounge, vaulted hallway easily.

Q. Has the fire/stove changed your lifestyle in any way?

A. In this house, the heat from the stove means we don’t put the underfloor heating on very often. If we light the stove and keep it going for an evening, the downstairs stays warm for a few days due to the high level of insulation. Having only lived in the house since Spring 2015, it’s a little early to gauge the full impact of the stove as yet.

We’re hoping for a cold winter to enjoy using the woodburner!

Q. Other comments that you would like to add:

A. We are extremely pleased with our Stockton 8 double sided stove. It looks great and does a wonderful job of keeping our house warm. We’re fairly sure that it will reduce our heating bills too!

Please note that Stovax & Gazco accept no liability for their installation suitability, safety or building regulations conformance. The images shown on these pages are from real independent homes, many taken before installation is complete, and these form no basis of an installation recommendation by Stovax or Gazco. Please consult the complete installation instructions for your chosen product and consult with an appropriately qualified person for your own installation.