Brrrr........... Yes underfloor is the bestest.

After considering where you live I'd put a fireplace or a free standing burner in
and keep myself warm.
I could replace a guitar if I had to a lot easier than a body part freezing off.....just a small technicality.

Well to give you an idea of why Im think wood burner.

Ive gutted and insulated the room, new windows and doors.

I had a Natural gas heater out there and yanked it.

Last winter it cost about $200 EXTRA a month in gas to keep it right. 

I think I can haul some wood for that  LOL but if I have to work for it, I want the niceness of the smell Hickory burning, the nice ambiance of the fire lighting up the room while catchin a movie down there or sittin around thinking and chatting. Kind of a aesthetic appeal and feeling thing but also to not pay the gas man a ridiculous amount 

Hey Mike! Nice room even if you have to work out how to use all winter! The Franklin stove I mentioned sat on a layer of cinderblocks and had a wall of them of them against the two walls of the corner the stove sat in. That held the heat for quite a while and acted like a fan blower moving the warm air around the room. I have no idea if would pass code now (this was in 1978 close to the beach in South Haven)!LOL
    My wife and I would both love to have our own studio spaces and she brought up converting the attached garage as perhaps being an easier-cheaper-faster-closer to being able to use it NOW! idea vs our having a building put up that we would then have to get to....maybe by tunnel HA! during the heavy snow and wind. Anyway I'd love to have 16X20 with 10 foot ceilings. You'll get there! Keep going but take some gloves! HA! It's all more fun to imagine and then afterwards to use, than to work it out. Still that is the step from before to after! Keep us posted!

One positive if you put a wood-burning fireplace in is easy disposal of any accordian or bagpipes that someone brings over...

craigb


One positive if you put a wood-burning fireplace in is easy disposal of any accordian or bagpipes that someone brings over...

With Notre Dame right here, lots of that kinda stuff around

I remember recording in a 24 track place somewhere in the '90's, it was out in the sticks and was a nicely converted antique barn and it had a large inglenook you could actually stand in with a huge pile of Apple logs for fuel. Nobody seemed to mind the odd pop, crack and hiss that came from it during a take.
 
It had a mezzanine where you could go to crash if you were on a late one which overlooked the main studio, all this was part of the main recording area which had been sectioned off to accommodate a seperate a drum and vocal booth.  The engineers booth was amazing  too with all manner of creature comforts.
 
The recordings that came out of that place were sublime because it was so relaxed that you'd just go from spells of chilling to getting down to business just as the mood struck.
 
Getting the technicalities right is one thing but you can't beat a place that brings out the best in you as a performer.

craigb


One positive if you put a wood-burning fireplace in is easy disposal of any accordian or bagpipes that someone brings over...

....and finally an opportunity to put that odd shaped bit of firewood that Bapu is always boasting about to some effective use ;)

 You can tell the difference between the young guys and the old guys  lol..I think I fall into the latter category.

 I have done the woodstove thing. Its nice, the heat is great but every five or 6 hours the thing needed to be restoked, it will still heat for longer. I remember just getting comfortable and it was time to restoke the fire again. I used to go find and cut the trees and bring the wood in myself. The bees that decided to get loose from the wood and fly around the house were fun to watch, lol.We went through 3 or 4 cords a year.

 I loved our fireplace but most of the heat went right up the chimney and it burns out way before the wood stove does. So I guess I got lazy....or smarter, not sure which and decided to put in the gas fireplace. No more stoking anything and it lights whenever I want it to.

 Most of the old timers around here are giving up their coal and wood stoves for gas. I still have my coal stove downstairs and over 3 tons of rice coal outside in a bin. I couldn't burn it last year because the temps here were too warm most of the time. The coal won't draft until the outside temps stay well under 50F. So I'm sitting on a pile of coal that I hope I can burn this year. Similar to wood though I need to put a bucket of coal in every 12 hours, not too bad and not as much work. With oil here at 4.00 a gallon I am trying not to use my oil heat any more than is necessary.

  The older I get the more I like turning a thermostat. I know 80 year old people stoke their stoves ( I'm nowhere near that old) I wouldn't mind as much if it was all I had to do.

Tim's post reminded me of the early days living in this house. Technically, it had no heater in it... nothing useful anyway.  One small LP gas heater in the dining room which could barely warm one room. We pulled it out. 

I bought a woodstove with a catalytic element and a chimney liner, and later installed a 3 wall SS 2100 degree flue.  In the early days I would head out on Saturdays to the woodlots where they had logged the trees and with a chainsaw, gather several loads of "free wood" to burn. I would also buy oak from the local wood cutters when I could afford it.  we heated our old (built in 1890) house (2000 sq ft) with that stove for many years, and eventually installed a gas pack. 

On our last remodel, I removed the top part of the chimney and roofed over the hole..... and installed some non-vented clean burning gas logs in the fireplace in the den after removing the woodstove. I was tired of dragging in wood at 11pm in the rain and snow, and waking next morning to find bugs crawling across the floor... not to count taking out the hot ashes every other day or so. The stove, would burn for a good 10 hrs and be nice and warm in the morning..... but talk about work. 

I store the stove in my shed and perhaps one day, when we move to the hills, I will have a barn where I will once again install and use the woodstove. I like the stove, but not as my main source of heat. There's just something about an open fire that I like. My stove has a screen that fits in the door to allow open fires.... Consolidated Dutchwest Catalytic Wood Stove. Solid cast iron. Stainless steel cook top on it.......Yeah... it's heavy.