Bob shows off the beautiful red Victorian inspired wood-burning stove to be installed in our project. To give further details he visits the Vermont Casting plant. For additional information see our article written in season twelve during the Elmwood project. At the plant Bob visits with the plant manager and they discuss how the mold is crafted then cast to make future stove panels. They then head over to the hoppers where the cast iron ingredients, including recycled material, scrap and pig iron ingots are mixed to provide consistent material for the stoves. The molten cast iron is added to a sand mold then cooled and sand blasted to smooth it out. Enamel paint is then applied and baked on in a kiln for two hours. The initial color sprayed on does not look like what comes out of the kiln. One of the last steps in the process of building the stove is adding a catalytic converter, which makes it more efficient and pollute less. The stove we are using in our project has 26 individually cast, iron pieces.

Jack Murdock from RMI and Craig Ryans from Vermont Castings of Mississauga, Ontario, demonstrate how simple it is to have gas appliances and heat in a rural location. With a 500 gallon underground or exterior tank, enough fuel is stored on site for most common uses and requires just a few fill ups a year. The stove being installed, a Vermont Castings product, uses a direct vent technology that draws no interior air to aid in combustion. The unit pulls air in from outside through a cylinder pipe and releases exhausts outside as a typical furnace would. Gas appliances and heat function during power failures, although electric fans that circulate the heat will not work without an auxillary power supply. The fireplace installed in the Modular Mountain Retreat project home will provide 30,000 BTUs of heat. A realistic ceramic grate burner and ceramic logs enhance the fireplace�s look.

Bob closes his review of the Rowley Victorian remodel with a look at the barbecue station that sits below grade and is accessed by inset western red cedar stairs. The retaining walls and barbecue station are faced in Cultured Stone by Owens Corning. The barbecue station is topped with granite counters. The centerpiece is the built-in Vermont Castings Signature gas grill for elegant outdoor grilling and entertaining.