New brick hearth with old Lopi wood stove

Hello,

Newbie here. Just wanted to post some pics of our new hearth (start to finish). We searched high and low for pictures of this style hearth with wood storage boxes and couldn't find anything similar. The closest we came to finding something like this was in a lot of stone outdoor fireplaces. Would like to get some feedback on the wood storage boxes... I'm not sure if there is an issue here with the firewood being too close to the stove but I'm hoping some of the veterans can chime in and give some thoughts. The logs are outside of the clearance to combustibles zone and there are two layers of brick in between the stove and wood so I think we are ok. I'm only second guessing because I couldn't find any pictures online of something similar.

I must say that this is the hardest project I have ever undertaken. Only by the grace of God was it completed and turned out as good as it did. I had zero masonry experience going in but by watching a lot of you tube videos and the help of a good friend we were able to get it done. Yes, there are imperfections in the brick work but I feel as though they add character. The wood stove is an old Lopi 380/440 that was full of rust when we got it but with a little elbow grease and some new firebricks we are back in business. Yes, we did paint the brass doors to give it a more modern look. We are looking forward to upgrading next year to a larger EPA stove if the budget is willing to cooperate.

Any questions, please ask. I would like to get some feedback and I must say that this site helped me greatly and gave me the confidence to complete the install myself. I will try to post pics of the chimney pipe exiting the corrugated metal roof later. That is another story in itself!

P.S The kids love roasting marshmallows inside now and the wife is warm = win win! God is good!

Thanks for all the compliments! Yes, it is a pre-EPA stove made in the 80's by Lopi. However, it does have a neat firebrick baffle at the top which helps to ignite and burn a lot of the exhaust = less smoke but oh boy does it like to burn the wood! My wife and I have had our eyes on the newer Jotul F55 because of it's size and simplicity but the price is hard to swallow. We want the biggest stove possible to provide the most heat because our home is over 5,000 sq. feet with a huge open floor plan. Our kitchen, living room and dining room are all pretty much one huge open space and that leads to a large hallway with bedrooms on the side.

I find that the old Lopi stove can really crank out the heat if you want it to but I fear that I'm getting it too hot as I can smell strange smells when it gets really hot and one night I even seen the top glowing red in a section...scary! I've got a stovetop thermometer on order to see where the temps are but I already know that we need a bigger stove. I've started considering the ENGLANDER 30NC because of all the good feedback on this site and HD reviews and of course the price which is less than half that of the Jotul. If anyone would like to chime in regarding the differences between the two it would be greatly appreciated. Or if you know of any other LARGE stoves that heat more square footage? Side note - We are going through Dave Ramsey's debt free program so extra $$$ is hard to come by. That is the main reason for the stove install - to cut down on propane and elec. bills. So far, so good!

Thanks again for all the compliments. It was a lot of hard work. And now I know why you don't see any white guys laying brick these days! But it was well worth it. We have re-arranged our living room to face the hearth now...we don't watch TV anymore Thanks again for all the help. This site is awesome!

begreen said:

The 30 NC has an R=1.5 hearth insulation requirement. What is the hearth construction underneath the stove? An alternative 3.4 cu ft stoves with easy hearth requirements are the Drolet Legend(Myriad and Baltic) and the Drolet HT2000.

Click to expand...

Underneath the stove is a single layer of brick which is mortared to thick solid concrete blocks (see pics). The concrete blocks are adhered to the concrete slab so we should be good underneath the stove (no combustibles at all). I will check out the stoves you mentioned...thank you!

Nick Mystic said:

Welcome to the forum Wallhanger. Your hearth project looks like it came out nice. Your fireboxes are fine for clearance from the stove. I have something similar on one side of my fireplace as you can see in my avatar. I'm wondering what size are the bricks across the front edge of the hearth? I was trying to estimate how much clearance you have in front of your stove by counting the bricks, but they seem to be longer than a regular 8" brick. At any rate, 16" minimum is required in front of most front loading stoves. It looks like a wood or laminate floor and you don't want hot embers falling on it during reloads. I would at least put down non-combustible rug for ember protection to save getting burn marks on your floor. Sometimes when you do a hot reload you'll have sparks explode out of the open door when the room air hits the hot coals.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the tip Nick! We are definitely going to order a rug to go in front to protect the floor. The bricks are standard length and we right on the edge of what the stove requires for clearance. Better safe than sorry! By the way, Your fireplace looks great!