Construction - trying to plan stove location

[brianbeech]

I've begun to do some demo on the house and this is what I've come to.

I'll put a better picture up of where I'm at now - all you see are studs and where the floor isn't patched yet. My 'plan' is to open the wall, obviously, and then somewhere, install a woodstove. A small woodstove. A Morso 7642 woodstove to be exact. Clearance to the rear is about 4" with double wall (I believe - will check again).

The stove has a rear or top flue. We want to use the rear and see as little stovepipe as possible. This means running a chimney in the wall or in a drywalled box somewhere. Based on what you see here, does anyone have any ideas?

I'll update again in a bit to show a little bit better photos with the mess cleaned up - and I'll show more angles.

Thanks for any help. It's beginning to get exciting.

 

[brianbeech]

Here are some more angles - and I included the old firebox. The chimney had a leak, which is part of the reason I wanted it down, but behind the drywall was mold everywhere. Then, when we pulled out this thing, it had rusted through in the smoke chamber and the back had rusted out behind the closed firebox area.

 

[greythorn3]

now thats a man that aint afraid to get it done! hats off to you, good luck! looks great!

 

[snowleopard]

That makes an amazing difference in that room.

As far as location is concerned, look at your trusses, look at stovepipe locations if you have a second floor; your best chimney installation will be a straight shot up on the lee side of the house with little obstruction from nearby trees. look at your floor support, look at access to an outside door for bringing wood in and removing ash with a minimum of steps and mess. Plan how you're going to load, clean ashes, gather round the fire and socialize. Get a box and draw flames on it and let it live in different locations around the living room and dining room. Think outside the corner--a wall location can be a wonderful place for three or four people to draw up chairs and chat across the stove and watch the flames. Think of what it's going to be like to live with the stove, down to the daily details.

Also plan for a hearth, and put something under the box that will give you a sense of how much space it will take up. If you go with a wall or central location, radiused or angled corners on the hearth can free up a lot of floorspace in terms of traffic flow. Take all the time you need to think these things through before you act.

Good on you for getting the chimney out of there--what a waste of floor space. Enjoy the light and room. You've done yourself proud so far.

Floor plans and pictures of the roof/attic can help the Wise Ones here to give you more targeted advice.

 

[mhrischuk]

snowleopard gave great advice. I'm in the middle of installing and his advice and others made me step back and think about everything a second time. I love big projects like that, that change everything. At first I was sorry to see you removing a perfectly good masonry fireplace, but then I read the next post and saw the pictures of the old firebox. That looked a bit scary. You did the right thing for sure. Keep us posted on your progress. Love the pictures.

Mike

 

[raybonz]

Good work on the demolition and exposing hidden danger.. You did the right thing ripping all that out.. Look forward to your hearth plans!

Good Luck!

Ray

 

[Wade A.]

Go Man!

I have to admit that when I saw that nice bricked out firebox, and stone facing, I cringed when I saw the demolition.....but I get it now. Shame, but you can't make up for imbedded poor engineering and lack of maintenance.

So, really, the site for the stove is wide open, don't you think? I'd only say to avoid the ceiling joists and roof rafters, which probably rules out puttin it plunk down under old wall header. I assume that you are putting an engineered truss and/or columns under that header?

I admire a stove that sits in the middle of a room with 360 radiation, but it isn't everyone's cuppa tea. And yeah, the back of a stove ain't the most attractive feature. I did it once and wound up tearing off the EPA Cert/spec plate off the back. I know, I know....but it really did improve the look of things.

 

[begreen]

Nice work Brian. How many hours would you guess that it took to remove the fireplace? Ours came out over two days. I'm amazed at the lack of dust. Our fireplace was 80 yrs old and it was dusty as heck taking it out. I tented the living room to contain it and had an exhaust fan on the tent just to keep it manageable.

 

[brianbeech]

...How many hours would you guess that it took to remove the fireplace?

I did above the roof, took a week or two break, then did the inside. I would say total, it took us about a day and a half. I rented a rotary hammer from Home Depot which really sped the job up on the first half of the inside piece. Once I had it to about eye level, I was able to simply use a pry bar and a cold chisel.

DUSTY AS ALL GET OUT! I continually cleaned while I was working so my wife wouldn't lose her mind. Seeing the wall down makes all the dust and mess worth it.

 

[begreen]

I bet you are enjoying the new light and openness. Are you going to leave the space more open or will part of the wall be returning?

I found a shot of our fireplace almost all gone. It brought back memories for sure. Soon it was just a pile of bricks

 

[brianbeech]

I bet you are enjoying the new light and openness. Are you going to leave the space more open or will part of the wall be returning?

I found a shot of our fireplace almost all gone. It brought back memories for sure. Soon it was just a pile of bricks

I want to leave it as open as possible, but I believe I'll have to give enough room for some jack studs; so is my dilemma. I really want the stove exactly between the two rooms, on the wall to the right of the picture, where the baseboard is leaning against the wall. The problem is, I MUST come out with a small wall in order to put the header up - load bearing wall. So then, my stove can't be in the middle, but it must be in one room or the other. If it is in the dining room (red), it's not really 'in' the living room (orange). The living room is pretty small, so real estate is precious in there. Not sure how to proceed and still get the most out of my stove.

I've even thought of putting it where the TV is, but facing diagonally out from the corner of that wall - easy install as that is an outside wall and I can run the chimney up the back.

Any suggestions?

 

[mhrischuk]

They make some pretty high tech beams these days that can span pretty near anything. See if you can figure out how to do it without the wall. Maybe cut into the wall for the beam?

 

[begreen]

You shouldn't need too large a bump out to support the header. I agree with the suggestion to put the support in the wall. That way you can tie it in solid to the adjacent studs and the weight is sitting on the sill plate. If a small bump out is needed, it can be boxed for the width of the hearth so that it looks intentional. The corner is also a possibility, but I the curtains would make me very nervous. Maybe replace them with insulating Duette shades?

 

[brianbeech]

You shouldn't need too large a bump out to support the header. I agree with the suggestion to put the support in the wall. That way you can tie it in solid to the adjacent studs and the weight is sitting on the sill plate. If a small bump out is needed, it can be boxed for the width of the hearth so that it looks intentional. The corner is also a possibility, but I the curtains would make me very nervous. Maybe replace them with insulating Duette shades?

We will be replacing the window & curtains and making that entire back wall glass - with french doors in the middle to lead out to a deck. We've got a view of downtown Louisville and want to highlight that. The stove in the back just makes me wonder about heat distribution. Is that going to burn us out of that room? I do understand that the stove we got isn't going to heat the entire house, but it could heat those two rooms and the kitchen.

This stuff is pretty technical isn't it.

 

[begreen]

Nice view. For the stove location, think of how the furniture is going to be arranged. A nice fire view will compete with the outdoor view at times. With an open floor plan and a convective stove heat will circulate. If not, a small fan in the cooler room, blowing toward the stove will solve the problem.

What is the room to the left of the living room? Is it connected via doorways to the dining room? If so, you should be able to develop a circulation pattern that pulls through that room too. A quick sketch of the floorplan will help determine this.

Are you dead set on the Morso. Given the increase in glass area, there might be better stoves for heating the house. Or will you still be running the 118 in addition to the new stove? How many sq. ft. total are there?

 

[brianbeech]

...I admire a stove that sits in the middle of a room with 360 radiation, but it isn't everyone's cuppa tea...

Wife definitely wouldn't go for that, but I do think it would be a good heat distributor.

 

[brianbeech]

What is the room to the left of the living room? Is it connected via doorways to the dining room? If so, you should be able to develop a circulation pattern that pulls through that room too. A quick sketch of the floorplan will help determine this.

Are you dead set on the Morso. Given the increase in glass area, there might be better stoves for heating the house. Or will you still be running the 118 in addition to the new stove? How many sq. ft. total are there?

The room to the left of the living room is the Kitchen. It has a 4ft opening to that room. The kitchen is also open to the foyer/dining room area with a 5' opening to that room. All in all, it should distribute nicely; I believe. I'll get a sketch up here a bit later.

I am rather set on the Morso. I know it's expensive, but when I saw it I just thought it was beautiful. I hear good things about Morso, so it helps me to feel better about it and the wife things its a very nice stove also.

I will still be running the 118 in the basement. She was my first love and I won't leave her. I'll be finishing the basement in the near future, so she should be a really good heater down there after I'm all insulated.