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The Tulikivi

November 17, 2007

From day one, Builder Scott has been passionate about having a Tulikivi fireplace in the cottage. The only thing I knew about Tulikivis is that they’re made of soapstone and they are obscenely expensive. I kept reminding Scott that the cottage is a RENTAL, and our budget is miniscule. The typical Tulikivi is around $10,000-$12,000!

Scott kept saying that we could maybe get one on sale, or find a used one. That it would be a great draw for renters to be able to spend like $75 on a cord of wood, and be good to go for winter. We’re doing some radiant floor heating in some of the rooms, and Scott insisted that the Tulikivi would provide heat for rest of the house. It’s clean burning, super-efficient, and fits beautifully in our goal to go as green as possible in the construction of the cottage. I kept saying maybe, but what I was really thinking is that a heat pump would probably do the job fine, and would be vastly less expensive.

I did do research on the Tulikivi, as well as other types of wood-burning stoves, like cast iron ones. According to the Tulikivi site:

“The convection heat of a traditional wood stove rises towards the ceiling and the heat is concentrated around the stove. The heat is not retained in anything, but escapes through the chimney. The radiant heat generated by soapstone is pleasant and also efficient at warming the room. A Tulikivi fireplace emits heat evenly over the whole room, which remains pleasantly warm for a long time. The heat also feels lovingly soft. A Tulikivi fireplace will not burn the air leaving it dry and stuffy. On the contrary, the air will remain fresh. This is how radiant heat differs favorably from the harsh convection heat from a traditional stove.”

Doesn’t that sound oh-so-nice???

Amazingly, there’s a Tulikivi dealer a few blocks away from my house. Scott has been hanging out there for quite some time, getting to know the salespeople.  A month ago, he told me they were having a moving sale, and that their floor models were available at a huge discount. He persuaded me to come with him to take a looksee, and geez, they are nice. But even with the sale price, still obscenely expensive.

Then, the other day, Scott triumphantly announced that he got us the deal of the century. The Tulikivi people made him an offer. If he would come in, take the floor model apart himself, get it over here himself, and put it back together and install it, we wouldn’t have to pay for crating, transport and installation. Which saved us a whopping $1700. Plus, they discounted the model we wanted a little more. So instead of paying about $10,000, we could get it for $5100.

I caved, and bought it. Scott gets his wish, and I’m secretly happy about it. It’s our one big splurge. The sales guy told me later that nobody in the history of their company, in their entire territory of over 20 states, has ever gotten a Tulikivi for that cheap!

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