Seeing as a wood stove can constitute a primary heat source for the whole house, I would install a masonry heater with the electric element option instead of the wood stove. This way your masonry heater can be heated with wood or electricity and have an efficiency rating between 92 and 100%.

Please see link below for details.

SR

Here is a link that might be useful: Tulikivi Soap Stone Mansonry Heaters and Stoves

We have looked at those. Main reason we did not look to far is looks. We also would like a heat source for the two back kids bedrooms. We are pretty (not final) set on the hearthstone phoenix for heat quality, size, and looks http://www.hearthstonestoves.com/wood_stoves/phoenix/ .

I think I need to talk to a professional who can perform calculations and help me figure out my heating needs. What is the best way to find a good heating professional locally?

Why not oil or kerosene-fired heaters? Look at names such as Monitor and Toyo stoves. These are very efficient, and vent the exhaust right though the wall via a small insulated pipe. These are widely used in Alaska where it gets real cold. These heaters are not cheap, and requite periodic cleaning and tune-up. Most are made in Japan and Europe, but sold all over the US when it gets cold.

I am not looking for heat source to be a primary heat source. We will be using the wood stove (and cheap abudant wood) for that. We want something that will be able to keep the house at 50 degrees or so when we are away and possible warm up the back kids' rooms.

In our rental right now we use a tiny wood stove and have gas wall heaters set at around 58 degrees. The house is very far from air tight and has little insulation. The house is not an open floor plan like our new house. We are able to keep most of the rental house at 70+ when it is in the teens outside using the small stove. Problem is it does not have a long burn time (around 6 hours) and the house cools down quickly due to drafts. We are hoping our new house, being way more airtight and insulated, will be able to keep its temp up longer. We will also be purchasing a much nicer stove which has a longer burn time.

We want something like our wall heaters now, but much more pleasing to look at. We wanted to do radiant floors, but at around 10K it is just not in the budget. We already will be spending 3K on the wood stove.

The electric baseboard heaters look OK, but we use a ton of electric already (pond, hottub, aquariums, CPU, ect) and in CA electric is not cheap. I have heard the gas versions (if there is one) due not meet code to be used in a bedroom. Radiant Baseboards look real nice, just not sure how it will effect the budget. A decent water heater is around $300 while a boiler system looks to be aroudn $3000. I could be wrong!

Why don't you get a pellet stove, you can leave it on when you are away & it uses a B vent to go directly outside the wall. If you drawing is correct the loft should have at least one bedroom up there. Maybe you should invest in a Hunter/Casablanca fan to circulate the heat too.

Will the code allow a Pellet stove to be a backup? Seems like the 'code' is forcing you into using electric ; gas or oil.

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