Reply #33: I used to heat with wood... [View All]

In the house I bought when I moved here to NC, I had a wood stove. I had someone cut down trees from my woods, and section them, then I split and chopped the wood. I enjoyed it, but for a woman alone it's a lot of work. I love the smell of wood smoke, and I liked the exercise, and especially the lack of a huge heating bill!
I learned pretty quickly though that I couldn't live in a house with wood heat. Every year I got horrific nose bleeds, headaches, and allergic symptoms. It got worse every year. After about three years of it I had to change to another type of heat. It's been about 15 years since I lived in that house and it's not gotten any better. A lot of people heat with wood around here, and I can smell it from miles away. Just having wood smoke in the air from the neighbors houses sets my allergies off, and I have a terrible time in the winter, particularly at the beginning when all the wood stoves are first fired up for the year.