This is rather late to be posted, given that the install was completed in January 2009. Just laziness on my part. Back in Oct. 2008 construction started on a 2nd-floor addition on our house, and I knew the Ultima wouldn't be enough to heat it. Also it's a very long path from the Ultima to the addition. So I decided to install a small stove on the first floor under the addition, which puts it and the Ultima on opposite corners of the house. I chose the Napoleon because it was a good price for a cast-iron-look stove and could be placed very close (2") to the walls in a corner install. I got the stove right as construction was starting and did some break-in fires in the driveway, see https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/25407/.
Here's the chimney ceiling support viewed from the first floor. Although this was existing structure, it basically got gutted also.
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/04ec5c85.jpg
Here's the chimney, attic insulation shield, and the chase framing on the second floor. It's Hart & Cooley insulated class-A.
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/1256d912.jpg
And here's the chimney install up on the roof:
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/a2e651c9.jpg
The old flooring where the stove will sit was carpet, so I initially planned to tile a minimal hearth section. But then the wife says, why not just tile that whole half of the room (10' x 12'). Having never done floor tile before I say sure, no problem. :-S So then I pull up the carpet and proceed to actually check out the state of the floor. This room was an option in these houses, it can be a garage or a carport or just a room like ours. It had only about 3/4" of plywood, so I glued and nailed down another 1/2" of plywood first. Then I checked if it was flat and level - it was neither. Lots of high and low spots, but what was worse was that it had a clear slope from one end to the other, with around 2" height difference. Actually it had two slopes, a mild one from the back to about 5' from the front, and then a steeper slope. The ceiling was dead level, so the issue wasn't settling. I finally figured out that they had poured a sloping garage slab for all the houses, and only later decided what to build on it! This meant I couldn't use a self-leveling compound, because it would take far too much and would raise the floor 2" at the front, blocking an exterior door. Instead I decided to settle for flat with a constant slope, bringing up the steeper slope to match the milder slope and filling in the low spots. I did this by first mapping the floor with 1/4" contour lines (using a level and an 8' 2x4 with a straight edge), putting down layers of 1/4" cement board to match the contours, and then filling and feathering the rest with thinset. Here's a pic of this work in progress, there are up to 3 layers of cement board in places, and bare plywood in others. I wanted at least 1 layer of cement board everywhere, but that extra 1/4" would start to block the doorway.
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/3dddf6ca.jpg
I don't really recommend this approach, it was extremely time-intensive. I had to do a couple of thinset layers and screeding passes (with the 2x4) after the cement board to get the whole thing flat. The right way I gather is to lay and screed a mortar bed (not thinset). Part of why I worked this hard was that we wanted to use 16" tile. I still used a 1/2" notch trowel to be safe. Here's the first few rows in:
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/05cc44b3.jpg
And here is the floor right after grouting (you can still see the haze). Note that this actually wasn't done until much later, after the construction and painting was done.
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/c82fd647.jpg
Finally, the stove is installed:
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/8c6ee9a1.jpg
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/ecd2e588.jpg
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/930b61e4.jpg
I've got pretty much minimum clearances everywhere, and I'm using a pipe shield to reduce the single-wall clearance to 14". The walls get quite warm, but not dangerously so.
(cont. in next post)
Here's the chimney ceiling support viewed from the first floor. Although this was existing structure, it basically got gutted also.
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/04ec5c85.jpg
Here's the chimney, attic insulation shield, and the chase framing on the second floor. It's Hart & Cooley insulated class-A.
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/1256d912.jpg
And here's the chimney install up on the roof:
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/a2e651c9.jpg
The old flooring where the stove will sit was carpet, so I initially planned to tile a minimal hearth section. But then the wife says, why not just tile that whole half of the room (10' x 12'). Having never done floor tile before I say sure, no problem. :-S So then I pull up the carpet and proceed to actually check out the state of the floor. This room was an option in these houses, it can be a garage or a carport or just a room like ours. It had only about 3/4" of plywood, so I glued and nailed down another 1/2" of plywood first. Then I checked if it was flat and level - it was neither. Lots of high and low spots, but what was worse was that it had a clear slope from one end to the other, with around 2" height difference. Actually it had two slopes, a mild one from the back to about 5' from the front, and then a steeper slope. The ceiling was dead level, so the issue wasn't settling. I finally figured out that they had poured a sloping garage slab for all the houses, and only later decided what to build on it! This meant I couldn't use a self-leveling compound, because it would take far too much and would raise the floor 2" at the front, blocking an exterior door. Instead I decided to settle for flat with a constant slope, bringing up the steeper slope to match the milder slope and filling in the low spots. I did this by first mapping the floor with 1/4" contour lines (using a level and an 8' 2x4 with a straight edge), putting down layers of 1/4" cement board to match the contours, and then filling and feathering the rest with thinset. Here's a pic of this work in progress, there are up to 3 layers of cement board in places, and bare plywood in others. I wanted at least 1 layer of cement board everywhere, but that extra 1/4" would start to block the doorway.
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/3dddf6ca.jpg
I don't really recommend this approach, it was extremely time-intensive. I had to do a couple of thinset layers and screeding passes (with the 2x4) after the cement board to get the whole thing flat. The right way I gather is to lay and screed a mortar bed (not thinset). Part of why I worked this hard was that we wanted to use 16" tile. I still used a 1/2" notch trowel to be safe. Here's the first few rows in:
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/05cc44b3.jpg
And here is the floor right after grouting (you can still see the haze). Note that this actually wasn't done until much later, after the construction and painting was done.
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/c82fd647.jpg
Finally, the stove is installed:
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/8c6ee9a1.jpg
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/ecd2e588.jpg
http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/drmrvh/Napoleon_1100CP_Install/930b61e4.jpg
I've got pretty much minimum clearances everywhere, and I'm using a pipe shield to reduce the single-wall clearance to 14". The walls get quite warm, but not dangerously so.
(cont. in next post)
