Building hearth for first stove

[ro560]

I’m building my hearth in the corner and have the base all done, I was doing research for the walls and saw something about a 1 inch gap.
I had planned on doing stone tile on the walls behind the stove, would I still need a 1 inch gap between the stone tile and the wall or is that for certain types of installs. I had no idea about the 1 inch gap when planning it. These are my stoves clearances for reference

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I’m not a pro, but can tell you that my hearth is not spaced from the wall. All clearances are met from walls and such and the area behind/diagonal to stove is consistently at room temp when i use my IR thermometer on it.

 

[EbS-P]

The air gap reduces clearance to combustibles. Do you need (or want to) reduce the standard clearance? Are you installing single or double wall insulated pipe?

Looks like a BK king so double wall insulated pipe should be used. I would install to me meet regular clearances and not used the air gap to reduce clearance if possible.

 

[ro560]

The air gap reduces clearance to combustibles. Do you need (or want to) reduce the standard clearance? Are you installing single or double wall insulated pipe?

Looks like a BK king so double wall insulated pipe should be used. I would install to me meet regular clearances and not used the air gap to reduce clearance if possible.

Ok thanks, I wasn’t trying to reduce anything I was just worried the air gap was something that was necessary.

 

[KDubU]

I personally would recommend and air gap as it’s surprising how much heat the wall will get. I built a wall all with cut slate on the last place and had a good 1” gap. Easy to do with cement board screwed in then just tile on that. It’s piece of mind IMHO.

 

[ro560]

I personally would recommend and air gap as it’s surprising how much heat the wall will get. I built a wall all with cut slate on the last place and had a good 1” gap. Easy to do with cement board screwed in then just tile on that. It’s piece of mind IMHO.

How did you get a gap between drywall and cement board? I’m gonna do the cement board directly on the drywall and tile on the cement board.

 

[EbS-P]

How did you get a gap between drywall and cement board? I’m gonna do the cement board directly on the drywall and tile on the cement board.

1” ceramic spacers is what is usually called for.

 

[KDubU]

1” ceramic spacers is what is usually called for.

This is the what I used. Worked great.

 

[Hoytman]

Different stoves have different clearances.

In my humble opinion the biggest mistake you will ever make is building your hearth for one particular stove, or a particular stove, or letting someone else build it for you for one particular stove. The reason for this is simple.

If you ever have to switch stoves, decide to, or have to switch a stove for another for any reason…if you build that hearth for one stove it will be highly likely that another stove may not have enough room to be installed back to code and will require a hearth to be torn out and rebuilt to give the new stove the proper clearance to accommodate code.

So what do you do?

1. Don’t tuck a stove too far into a corner.
2. Back of stove to wall, back of stove pipe to wall, corner of stove to wall, side of stove to wall, front of stove to front of hearth, and top of stove pipe to ceiling…what ever current codes are from these, the numbers are minimum numbers for any one stove install, so always allow more room by several inches, even a foot more, where possible, to avoid problems if you ever need to swap out a stove.

Typically sides, corners, of stove and pipe to wall can be accommodated with additional heat shields. Where you get into trouble is front of stove to front of hearth. If clearance here is too short can be a real headache for swapping out a stove should the new stove have different dimensions and/or different rear clearances and could need to be moved forward.

You can’t plan for every stove size, but you can plan to accommodate several with a little time and foresight.

Any pre-EPA stove that you may want to install later and install it yourself…throws a big wrench into hearth planning/building. Old stoves require huge clearances on all sides.

A hearth built to code today for a modern stove will NOT be able to accommodate a pre-EPA stove.

Takes longer to right this than to say it and explain it, but it’s no big deal to build it how you want. Like I said, the issues come into play when you go to swapping out stoves…and it’s not the hearth that’s the only concern, but also stove pipe outlet placement…so take your time and plan…and plan well.

If you wanted to build a bigger hearth there are people here to help guide you. I just thought I’d throw my thoughts out there because it’s a pain to need to change a stove out for a different stove and not have enough room to meet minimum clearances…if you would want/need it to meet current code. Codes change through the years too…anticipate that by giving yourself more room than currently necessary.

My grandpa didn’t leave enough room to change out the stove. As such my hearth doesn’t meet current code. I don’t want to tear it out because he and my dad built it, so I found a way around it…otherwise it would be an extensive and expensive rebuild to meet current code. When I decide to sell the place I will either tear it out and make it current, or simply install a smaller stove with smaller clearances.

 

[Poindexter]

I pretty much agree with Hoytman. My original circa Y2K stove need a fair bit of R value in the hearth to protect the combustible subfloor. My new ( c 2014) stove requires ember protection for the floor only, and the wall clearances are lower, less inches.

As for the front edge of the hearth, I will go quite a bit bigger on the next hearth build. IIRC the current USA code is something like 16" from the front edge of the door opening to the edge of the hearth, I think the Canadians are looking for 18" give or take. My next hearth is going to extend at least 30 inches out from the loading door. That floor/hearth area in front of the stove is the warmest floor in the house. When I get home from working out in the cold I want a big enough hearth to stand on with my big cold bare feet while Mrs. P also has room to lolligag on a chaise lounge pad on the same surface.

I think my biggest distance away from the stove door carpet burn is in the vicinity of 28 inches, but at least two of the regulars here have had rug burns up around or more than 60" from the loading door due to popping embers. It would be hard to argue that a ceramic tile or actual stone floor in the entire stove room with a natural fiber throw rug like wool or cotton is bad idea.

 

[begreen]

Yeah, a generous hearth is always a good idea. We have 18" of hearth protection plus a hearth rug in front of that. In spite of this protection, we got an ember burn on the oak floor from a rogue pop that went sideways out the door 24" away.