Thank you guys for all the information. I just have to make some decisions about a stove. If any of you see an airtight wood cook stove out there let me know. I think I have my insulation figured out 5" ISO on the walls and 7.5" ISO on the roof will give me what I need and I can get that from insulation depot. What do you guys think about wrapping the shell with ice and water before installing that board though? I read that it has been done it just doesn't seem right to me. What do you guys think? Also would I then put typar or tar paper over the ISO then strap it?

you'll need an air barrier under the iso, but I'd recommend ZIP sheathing with tape, or well installed & taped tyvek or similar, rather than Ice & Water Shield. Both of the former have some drying ability, while i&ws has none. obviously the iso has none either, but i'd still save i&ws for places where you're concerned about bulk water. (ie:roofs)

Posted By kb on 02 Feb 2013 07:26 AM
Is there any credibility to this?
The Outdoor Air Myth Exposed

While there is some validity to some of the points, they're fudging.

And though they make references to "...until it was studied...", "...not supported by research results...", etc, they cite NO REFERENCES (exactly zero!). 

I'm a big believer in actual measurements in favor of the merely theoretical, yet that article is a collection of assertions about some theoretical data that exists out there somewhere to prove their case?  I for one would like to see the data! (What little I've seen was relevant for very tight houses. More general discussion here.)

In fact a house can (and should) be made tight enough for these things to matter, especially smaller homes.  Even pretty big houses can come in under 500cfm @ 50 pascals, (as did a friend's deep energy retrofit on a 3 story house with a full basement). That is the equivalent of a single 3.5" diameter hole- about the same size as a dedicated combustion air line into a mid-BTU output woodstove.  Are we to assume that literally ALL of the air leakage in a house will be available to the woodstove for combustion air, independent of where that leakage is located?

It's true that most existing houses leak sufficient air to make it less of an issue, but it would be silly to intentionally build a leaky house just to be able to use a cute woodstove that didn't have provisions for piped-in combustion air, but building in proximity ventilation might be a reasonable plan-B.

And though they make references to "...until it was studied...", "...not supported by research results...", etc, they cite NO REFERENCES (exactly zero!).

Dana I thought the same thing...I had read that before we started that discussion here and my first thought was he cites no evidence to support his ideas.......like you said the math on the cfm just doesn't add up.

Bob, if I instead wrapped the walls with Tyvek house wrap and tape it, then insulation then say tarpaper, strapping, and siding does that sound reasonable for the walls? And on the roof should I still start with ice and water or would you use something like roof top guard there? On top of the roof insulation would you again use tarpaper or something more substantial?

This cook stove has an external air supply option http://www.razen.co.uk/ it is a cool stove but again I emailed them and they said it would be around 5,500 shipped

It is possible to adapt regular stoves for a tight house. I welded a steel surround "fireplace" out of quarter inch plate, set a room-air stove inside and bought an outside air supply to the surround. Mine is a boiler stove, which simplifies distribution and limits overheating, but I don't why you couldn't do the same thing with a masonry "fireplace" holding a cookstove. Colonial/European cooking fireplaces were huge and often wound up with cookstoves in them, it could be a focal point in the right kitchen design. Even without the fireplace I don't know why you couldn't deliver outside air to a point very near the stove's intake damper without a great deal of impact on the house.

your plan sounds fine. We strap the roof over the foam insulation, then sheathing with tarpaper and shingles. We've also used roof top guard. I&WS is an option; we typically use a 36" strip, partly because its expected. It should not be necessary.

Thank you Bob!

toddm do you have any photos or know where any are that show what you are describing?