Gregg Stankewicz

Thank you for the response—I’m working my way through your channel now.

Do you think occasionally swapping out the solid barrel top for a grill grate would be feasible on a stove like that? Perhaps with some kind of heat baffle to spread the heat a bit?

Hi there,
I’ve have plans to build some kind of masonry cook stove inside a 144 sq ft cabin a year or two down the road at our get-away/campsite. Likely a Walker tiny cook stove.

In the meantime, I’d like to move away from my  propane grill and pellet smoker here in town and use a rocket cooker of some kind in my backyard.

I saw Matt Walker’s j-tube rocket stove cooker/smoker with heated bench on permies’ better wood heat, “innovators” dvd. Also saw the “Ring of fire” with the batchbox that he made there.

I read through Peter van der berg’s batchbox primer and that’s where I learned about the DSR2.

So I like the idea of cooking with efficient use of materials I can scrounge around the neighborhood. I also like the idea of warming ourselves by an outdoor fire/barrel. But the primary use, realistically, is searing steaks/burgers, and grilling poultry/fish etc. for weeknight dinners (quick stove start up is somewhat important then). Smoking meats would be an occasional bonus.

Any thoughts as to whether I should definitely choose one of these stove versions over another for that intended use?

I’m planning to build the firebox with full size insulated fire bricks from Lowe’s and I can get superwool to save on labor if building a traditional riser.

I was thinking I’d go with a 5” batchbox to keep the top of the barrel at a reasonable height for cooking (according to the recommended dimensions). The main advantage I saw to the dsr2 is not worrying about cooking up high at the top of the riser/barrel (I don’t really have a way to set it under the level of the ground). But does the dsr2 provide the same opportunities for warming a bench or searing a steak/grilling where the exhaust leaves the box?

Hope I’ve framed this in a way that makes sense. Thank you for reading!

Although I suppose if I’m trying to think like a lawyer,
this definition is only relevant to those who are in a situation where “gross floor area” and not some other term, like square footage, is at issue.

To my pleasant surprise, I just got a very quick (and favorable) emailed response from the NY State code department people, in case there are other New Yorkers reading this. The language could be easier to understand, but I’m pretty sure that the area “within the inside perimeter of the exterior walls” must not include the thickness of the exterior wall itself.

Here’s the response as it was written to me:
Thank you for contacting New York State’s Department of State Division of Building Standards and Codes (DBSC).

Your question (paraphrased):
How is gross floor area defined?

Our response:
As per the 2020 Building Code of NYS, Gross floor Area is defined as:
[BE] FLOOR AREA, GROSS. The floor area within the inside perimeter of the exterior walls of the building under consideration, exclusive of vent shafts and courts, without deduction for corridors, stairways, ramps, closets, the thickness of interior walls, columns, or other features. The floor area of a building, or portion thereof, not provided with surrounding exterior walls shall be the usable area under the horizontal projection of the roof or floor above. The gross floor area shall not include shafts with no openings or interior courts.

Thank you,

Keith G. Burger,II  Assoc. AIA
NYS Code Enforcement Official, Division of Building Standards and Codes

And I would add just a couple more finishing thoughts:

The land where we are building is 3.5 hrs away and I have a 5 and 7 year old—so the time I get to take to go work on the place has been sporadic. I get maybe two full days of work done every 6 weeks. I was able to finagle a week away this spring and have one more week this summer. So I’m hoping to just get the walls up and sheathed and a roof on by the end of the year (have the two load bearing walls up already). Then next year will be windows, doors, insulation and siding. So all that to say that I’ll probably do the external insulation first (most likely not more than 2-3” since I’m already at 128 sq ft without it and seems likely that the exterior wall measurements will be included in the gross floor area) and see how it goes and then I can add cavity insulation/vapor barrier after the fact if our use or discomfort justifies it.

I appreciate the detailed comments from everyone, hope the discussion has been helpful.

Oh, and yes! I had gotten excited about underground construction and have also read the book you referenced…our soil is super rocky, high clay content and there is a lot of moisture…basically, I’m intrigued but the learning curve seemed too steep for a first project…might work as a second small cabin later on down the road.

Yes, very good points about supporting the siding…I looked up the town’s building permit application just to double check and it says that buildings (no reference to accessory or otherwise) “with a gross floor area of 144 sq ft or less” don’t need a permit.

I tried looking up a definition of gross floor area in the NY state building code, but couldn’t find anything. I’m guessing it’s probably inclusive of the exterior walls. I left a message for the tax assessor to see if they have the answer. The code enforcement guy didn’t get back to me.

As far as using the house wrap, I’m on the fence. I feel like buildings lasted a very long time without it for so long…doesn’t that mean it isn’t necessary? Especially with vapor permeable materials, large eaves, and a rain screen? I’ll keep thinking about it.

Thank you all for the extensive feedback. I am thinking I could increase the amount of external insulation without great cost. They make the insulation boards as thick as 9”, so I could potentially go to something like 5” of insulation, which would get me up to about R18. The only issue is I’m trying not to increase my footprint past 144 sq ft since below that I don’t need a building permit. 5” would get me right to the edge of that limit, I think.

Hi all,
I am building a small 8x16 cabin in upstate NY, climate zone 6 (but on the border with 5). Listed in order from inside to out, the wall assembly will be: 2x4 rough cut hemlock frame (left exposed on the inside), 1x8 diagonal solid wood (hemlock) sheathing, 2-3” of external tongue and groove wood pulp insulation (Timber HP’s timberboard—listed at 40 perms per inch), air gap/drainage plane/rain screen with furring strips, followed by 1” solid wood siding (likely hemlock). There will be 2’ eaves on the load bearing walls and 18” on the gable ends. No house wrap.

There will be a wood stove or ideally a masonry stove (Walker tiny cook stove).

Most likely the cabin won’t see more than 30-40 days of occupancy each year but I would like to be prepared for potential full time living if plans were to change.

Given all the natural materials, would you agree that it’s safe to omit the vapor barrier?

Thank you for any thoughts!