Question about minimum hearth clearance.

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H

High_Iron

Member
Dec 30, 2007
137
Long Island
I am set for my Hampton insert install next week. In doing some research I see that I should have an 18 inch hearth. I measured mine and it is only 16 1/2 inches. It is a floor level brick hearth with hard wood flooring. I dont see an EZ way of extending the hearth with more brick. That would mean pulling up some of the floor. :/

Is there an EZ solution? Can I put some sort of cover on my floor? Should I even be worried? Will that inch and a half make a big difference? I have been burning open fires in the FP without a hitch so far.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Sean
 
An inch and a half may not mean anything to you, but code is code is code.

It may mean more to the potential buyer when you go to sell.
 
I am not trying to cut corners or anything, but I recently bought this house and nothing was said then. Is it only important when you have an insert?

BTW, thanx for the quick reply.v
 
The stove door front will project further than the front of the current fireplace - 7 3/4". That's what the hearth projection must be measured from. The easiest solution is to create a nice tile border in front of the brick. Done right, it will look totally intentional.

FWIW, we see corners cut and mistakes made all the time here, but can't endorse them. If the fireplace is older, it may have been built before current safety codes were in place.
 
hearth.jpg


This diagram shows the WHOLE hearth must be 18 inches. Not 18 inches from the door. At least thats how I see it.

Thanx again.
 
I can understand the confusion, the manual is a bit contradictory. I'm not sure what your inspector will go by. NFPA now calls for 18" from the stove front. It's prolly good to call Hampton for a clarification. Get it in writing if at all possible.

"Thermal floor protection not required if unit is
raised 3.5" min. measured from bottom of stove. At
this point the standard ember floor protection will
be required. It will need to be a non-combustible
material that covers 16" (406 mm) to the front
of the unit (in Canada 18" (450 mm) and 8" (200
mm) to the sides."

PS: Note their manual is lagging behind current code.
 
I just had to do the same thing I extended my hearth out 8" to give me a 20". I had to cut the hardwood floor and I laid down slate tile, looks good. This is a common problem there should be a few pic's around here that will help you. If you can tile it's really easy weekend project.
 
Different stoves have different clearances. I was going with a Lopi Freedom (fully inserted) that matched all my clearances and might match yours. The Lopi Declaration is another one I was looking at.

I ultimately went with a pellet stove, not installed yet. It will sit further out on my hearth, but also requires less hearth in front of it.

Also, you can get a hearth extension. They are just tiles on a plywood backing and some trim. You put it down for the winter, and pick it up for the summer.
 
Galroc said:
Also, you can get a hearth extension. They are just tiles on a plywood backing and some trim. You put it down for the winter, and pick it up for the summer.
Click to expand...

This sounds interesting. I will look into it. I originally planned on getting the 33 elite, or the Jotul 450. Both are flush mounts. Both would prolly work too. I then saw the Hampton and there was no looking back.
 
We had to extend ours when we had our new stove installed. We had a raised brick hearth and had the hearth tiled and then another square of tile on the floor below it to extend the hearth. Fortunately we had carpet down and they just cut it and installed the tile over the slab. FYI, I still have a small burn on the carpet and it's way over 18" from the stove. Still don't know how that happened and hubby isn't telling.

Edited to add pix of the tile work (not finished at the time).
 

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Look at your local shops, I too have wood floofs, and to come into specs had to extend the hearth. I did this buy purchasing a hearth extention. it is simply a 1.5 " thick stone look," looks like polished stone" came in a 4' x 18" one solid piece. It simply lays on the floor in front of original hearth
 
wood wacker said:
Look at your local shops, I too have wood floofs, and to come into specs had to extend the hearth. I did this buy purchasing a hearth extention. it is simply a 1.5 " thick stone look," looks like polished stone" came in a 4' x 18" one solid piece. It simply lays on the floor in front of original hearth
Click to expand...

yea, thanx. I will stop by the store and see what they say.

Thanx again everyone.
 
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