Hearth rebuild question?????

[wildcatbb]

i am in the process of completely revamping our Hearth for the progress hybrid. I had it installed away from the wall with the clearances it specified, but never liked how hot the wall still felt to the touch(and hated the way it looked! Sooooo, as with everything else it got a redo. I tore out the old base stone, rebuilt the base with 2x6's, plywood and then two sheets of durock nex gen before putting the stone on it. I then put up that mantle and the durock next gen under it spaced out 1" off the wall for airspace. My question is what to do with the 1" space top and bottom of the wall shield???? It's going to look super tacky if I just leave a 1" gap top and bottom. I understand it needs air movement but how big of gaps? What can be done to make this look better? I thought about some kind of perforated metal, painted black and mudded in with the top and bottom rows of stone to finish the gap? Any ideas? Here's a couple before/during pics....

 

[wildcatbb]

Before........

Current...

Sorry for the pic quality ...lightings kinda poor in there at night for pics.

 

[wildcatbb]

One more question.....I'm running the black double wall from the stove to the chimney which is supposed to be 6" clearance to combustibles correct? Plus I have the heat shield on that from Woodstock (screwed to the back of the double wall). So what would that technically make my clearance to the mantle? Double wall and a 1" spaced heat shield on it.

 

[begreen]

You will never see the 1" gap at the top under the mantel. Paint the top 2" of the Durock wall flat black and it will become a shadow line under the mantel. The bottom should have a 1" gap above the hearth to permit good airflow. One solution would be to take the stone down to the hearth at the studs and leave a 1" x 12" vent slot in between each stud.

How thick will the stone veneer be on this wall and how close will the stove corners be to the walls?

 

[wildcatbb]

Veneer is from about 1/2" to 1 1/4" probably....I previously had 16" to corners. I'm hoping to tighten that up a bit

 

[begreen]

What is on the other side of these walls? Could you install some vent grilles on the backside walls at the bottom to admit ventilation air?

 

[wildcatbb]

This is the screen I used...painted it black. Worked great

 

[wildcatbb]

Finished product.....with 1" air space, Duroc and the stone veneer with gaps top and bottom! Should keep the wall much cooler! Total investment of about $500 total from start to finish, not bad

 

[begreen]

Looking good.

 

[wildcatbb]

Thanks! It totally changed the atmosphere in there...

 

[wildcatbb]

What is on the other side of these walls? Could you install some vent grilles on the backside walls at the bottom to admit ventilation air?

Back side of one wall is an exterior wall and the other one is open in a chase on the other side...

 

[Aldo]

That looks great. I'm in the process of finising my hearth.

What did you use for spacers on the wall

Thanks

 

[wildcatbb]

I used strips of the concrete board...worked great

 

[begreen]

That looks great. I'm in the process of finising my hearth.
What did you use for spacers on the wall

Snap off 3" by sheet length or width strips from the cement board. Double them up and you have non combustible 1" spacers.

 

[wildcatbb]

Got the progress back on the hearth! The sliders are still under the legs and no pipe but she's back home!

 

[begreen]

Nice. It's much more of a focal point for the room now.

 

[wildcatbb]

It definataly is, I just wish I
Could get a better picture, that picture is really a disservice to it. We absolutely love it now!