Boiler room interior wall covering

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goosegunner

Minister of Fire
Oct 15, 2009
1,469
WI
I am at the next stage of my project and am wondering what people use to line the inside of boiler room.

My boiler room will be a 12X16 building that is attached to the front of my outbuilding. It will be R21 insulated.

I am thinking 5/8" drywall for ceiling and walls near boiler. And maybe some OSB or plywood on some of the walls for stacking wood against.

Any other ideas?

gg
 
Perhaps cement board rather than drywall near the boiler?
 
Maybe, I will look into cement board. I will have 18-24" clearance as recommended by Econoburn.

I thought cement board would be more of a conductor of heat than drywall.


gg
 
Hi
I covered my walls with reclaimed plywood,3/4 where all the plumbing runs,1/2,3/8 on the rest of the walls,5/16 on the ceiling.Finished painting 1/2 of the building inside with white latex.Looks way better then all the different colors it started with.80% of the building is reclaimed/recyled materials.The main thing i was told by the inspector was to have the latex paint inside,plywood was fine as long as the clearances are met.
Thomas
 
I installed white sheet metal in my boiler room. Can't beat the durability, fire resistance and cost wasn't that bad.

Good luck with whatever you choose!
 
Hi Goosegunner, I am in the process of doing the samething, My boiler room is in the attached garage so my insurance company is asking me to put 5/8" fire code on all the walls and ceiling,
 
Since my Tarm is installed in my shop, the shop is the boiler room, and the interior walls are being finished bottom 8' with 3/4" solid white pine random width 4-12" boards, top 4' with 1/2" sheetrock, and ceiling with white steel. The white pine comes from trees on our land, which I felled, sawed, dried, planed, finished, and now installed.
 

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my building is 18 x 24 - 16 tall pole barn, ran it two seasons with the exposed foam under the steel siding. This year I covered the entire inside with 4 x 8 cement board. My concern isn't/wasn't clearance from equipment. But a fire from something unsuspected like a spark to some wood shavings or what ever, it will just help keeping a small fire from turning in to a big one. I also have made provisions for several sprinkler heads that aren't installed yet. Got a great well couldn't hurt.
 
I'm also getting ready to do the same. I'm thinking drywall and tape the seams for fireproofing and to seal it up well. Also a coat of paint to help waterproof. Then I'm going to put steel pole barn siding over that, where I stack my wood to keep it from getting dinged up. If you go with drywall keep it off the floore 1/2" so it don't soak up water that may get on the floor. I wont have any insurance on my shed so I want to keep it fire resistant as
much as possible.
 
pybyr said:
Perhaps cement board rather than drywall near the boiler?
Click to expand...

What would u use to seal the seams ? caulk ?
 
I used Durock/Hardibacker. I had a bunch left over from house construction and no way I'm payin to get rid of it. If you are careful, you can stack against it. You can not through big oak rounds against it. My 'boiler room is un-insulated.

Jimbo
 
RowCropRenegade said:
I installed white sheet metal in my boiler room. Can't beat the durability, fire resistance and cost wasn't that bad.

Good luck with whatever you choose!
Click to expand...

I didn't think metal had any fire resistance for structural members behind it. I would think heat would transfer straight through.

gg
 
5/8 drywall taped and painted- a good fire resistant finish, and helps a lot to seal off drafts etc.
I use thin plywood or metal roofing behind my stacks so as not to ding the walls.
In my area the people who sell metal roofing sell the cover sheets pretty cheap.
cement board is not necessary if the clearances are met as mentioned above.
I'm always leary of plywood / osb / wood finishes in any boiler room, but then of course I follow all protocols for sealing the room , it's not a garage etc etc. then load it up with a cord of flammable material- go figure.
 
I am with Rowcrop, sheet metal roofing comes in at about 70 cents a square foot. Definetly durable and fire resistant. As much as drywall and cement board but much tougher when throwing wood against it.
 
quite frankly, if you guys are concerned with fire resistance it wouldn't cost much to add adequate sprinkler heads to the room. in most cases, you already have a water supply out there and it's usually above freezing in the area. home sprinkler heads are fairly inexpensive and a simple home style sprinkler system should easily dispatch any stray fires. the vast majority of fires in a properly sprinklered area are controlled with only 1 or 2 sprinkler heads activated and one residential sprinkler head only flows about twice the amount of water your shower head does.

just a thought.

aside from that i'd probably do proper sheet rock with taped seams and tack on some sheet metal over it in the areas i'm stacking wood to keep the sheet rock safe.
 
I'm getting a serious disconnect in this discussion. It must be that most responders do not have free standing wood stoves in their houses for their primary heat source, and therefor regard their gasification boilers as a major fire risk, or have far fire-riskier boilers than gasification boilers, like the Tarm. I have a wood stove, and have since 1990, and essentially burn wood 24/7 during the heating season. A quick comparison between the wood stove "room," which is our living room, and the Tarm "boiler room," in my shop, shows that the Tarm boiler room is far safer and a much less fire risk than the wood stove in our living room.

Wood Stove: solid pine paneling 20" from the side of the stove and 36" from the single wall, black stove pipe.
Tarm: solid pine paneling 36"+ from the back of the Tarm and the single wall, black stove pipe.

Wood Stove: integral heat shields on back and sides, yet too hot to hold a hand against when the stove is burning.
Tarm: just warm to the touch on back and sides when the Tarm in high burn.

Wood Stove: top and front are primary heating surfaces, temperatures 600F+.
Tarm: top just warm to the touch; front, except immediately around the doors, warm to very warm; no primary heating surface.

Wood Stove: stove pipe exterior temp during normal burning 300-400F.
Tarm: stove pipe exterior temp during normal burning 175-225F.

Wood Stove: spillage of hot coals occasional when raking coals forward.
Tarm: no coal spillage, mainly because no coals, all wood burned to fine ash.

In short, I feel the Tarm is a far safer wood burning appliance than a wood stove, yet I have no qualms about using the wood stove in our house, and I have no reservation about the Tarm in the shop.
 
When we had a child my wife insisted on trading her car for a new one. At the end of the argument the only reason left standing was that the old death trap was rated 3.5 stars in two magazines and 3.0 stars in another. Meanwhile the new car was rated 4.0 stars in all 3 magazines. And when I was a teenager, I wanted an amplifier that went to eleven.

SAAB syndrome: Suspenders and a Belt. Drywall is really really good at stopping a fire.
 
jebatty said:
I'm getting a serious disconnect in this discussion. It must be that most responders do not have free standing wood stoves in their houses for their primary heat source, and therefor regard their gasification boilers as a major fire risk, or have far fire-riskier boilers than gasification boilers, like the Tarm. I have a wood stove, and have since 1990, and essentially burn wood 24/7 during the heating season. A quick comparison between the wood stove "room," which is our living room, and the Tarm "boiler room," in my shop, shows that the Tarm boiler room is far safer and a much less fire risk than the wood stove in our living room.

Wood Stove: solid pine paneling 20" from the side of the stove and 36" from the single wall, black stove pipe.
Tarm: solid pine paneling 36"+ from the back of the Tarm and the single wall, black stove pipe.

Wood Stove: integral heat shields on back and sides, yet too hot to hold a hand against when the stove is burning.
Tarm: just warm to the touch on back and sides when the Tarm in high burn.

Wood Stove: top and front are primary heating surfaces, temperatures 600F+.
Tarm: top just warm to the touch; front, except immediately around the doors, warm to very warm; no primary heating surface.

Wood Stove: stove pipe exterior temp during normal burning 300-400F.
Tarm: stove pipe exterior temp during normal burning 175-225F.

Wood Stove: spillage of hot coals occasional when raking coals forward.
Tarm: no coal spillage, mainly because no coals, all wood burned to fine ash.

In short, I feel the Tarm is a far safer wood burning appliance than a wood stove, yet I have no qualms about using the wood stove in our house, and I have no reservation about the Tarm in the shop.
Click to expand...


I agree that a boiler is safer than a wood stove but I think drywall will seal the room better than wood with the benifit of the fire resistance. Drywall is also very cheap right now.
I would have put the boiler in the shop but my insurance said no. The plus side is no wood mess in the shop. not a big deal but a plus to me.
 
woodsmaster said:
jebatty said:
I'm getting a serious disconnect in this discussion. It must be that most responders do not have free standing wood stoves in their houses for their primary heat source, and therefor regard their gasification boilers as a major fire risk, or have far fire-riskier boilers than gasification boilers, like the Tarm. I have a wood stove, and have since 1990, and essentially burn wood 24/7 during the heating season. A quick comparison between the wood stove "room," which is our living room, and the Tarm "boiler room," in my shop, shows that the Tarm boiler room is far safer and a much less fire risk than the wood stove in our living room.

Wood Stove: solid pine paneling 20" from the side of the stove and 36" from the single wall, black stove pipe.
Tarm: solid pine paneling 36"+ from the back of the Tarm and the single wall, black stove pipe.

Wood Stove: integral heat shields on back and sides, yet too hot to hold a hand against when the stove is burning.
Tarm: just warm to the touch on back and sides when the Tarm in high burn.

Wood Stove: top and front are primary heating surfaces, temperatures 600F+.
Tarm: top just warm to the touch; front, except immediately around the doors, warm to very warm; no primary heating surface.

Wood Stove: stove pipe exterior temp during normal burning 300-400F.
Tarm: stove pipe exterior temp during normal burning 175-225F.

Wood Stove: spillage of hot coals occasional when raking coals forward.
Tarm: no coal spillage, mainly because no coals, all wood burned to fine ash.

In short, I feel the Tarm is a far safer wood burning appliance than a wood stove, yet I have no qualms about using the wood stove in our house, and I have no reservation about the Tarm in the shop.
Click to expand...


I agree that a boiler is safer than a wood stove but I think drywall will seal the room better than wood with the benifit of the fire resistance. Drywall is also very cheap right now.
I would have put the boiler in the shop but my insurance said no. The plus side is no wood mess in the shop. not a big deal but a plus to me.
Click to expand...


Future insurance problems is the reason why I am asking questions.

I have intentionally built a 12X16 building on the front of my 36X48 building. It will have separate entrances. It will not be possible to go from one interior to the other interior. Before I place the boiler I want to seal the the building. My plan will be 5/8 drywall with metal over areas for wood stacking. Hopefully that will be good enough to satisfy any Insurance questions in the future.

gg
 
A house using only electric heat is far safer than a boiler or wood stove, but the potential for fire still exists. Fire rated drywall does do a decent job at delaying a fire from getting through, but it's got to be of a certain thickness for the fire load potential. For those putting wood in the room with the boiler, that adds a significant fire load that could easily overcome a single layer of 5/8" drywall in a short amount of time.
 
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