Question on Hardwood /Concrete floor protection.

[pledgercraft]

Couple of things. My new home is 2500sf has about 1000sf of main open floor plan area with 13 ft ceilings, lots of glass, a 5 ton heat pump for whole house with one side of house on separate zone that is usually closed off. In Coastal S.C. With an overabundance of "free" heat in the form of endless supply of Oak wood I am considering a wood stove for "ambiance" and saving $$$ on heating cost.
Within budget I am looking at the 30NC or Pleasant Hearth 2200. Install will be straight up 13ft to ceiling, another 12ft thru attic to roof top. Wanting "as everyone" to supplement if not use as main heat, long burn times with out over or under sizing the stove. I figure I can run heat pump fan to heat zoned area. or just use heat pump to supplement. I am ASSUMING with these stoves in mind I can if needed under load them for lower i/s temps during warmer days. We get relatively cold here with temps dipping in lower 20's to an average of about 37 over the winter months relatively breezy.
I am hoping one of these will be a fair choice for the price?
Secondly I have slab foundation with solid hardwood flooring where Stove will be placed. Is there ANY reason I can not cut out hardwood flooring to required hearth size and install some form of tile/stone over slab? I am just concerned about any heat transfer outward from slab/tile/stone to Hardwood flooring.
Any info , questions, recommendations are greatly appreciated.

 

[DougA]

You can easily cut the hardwood and install tile/stone on the slab or you can build up the hearth with cement blocks/durock/etc. and then lay tile on top. I just did that on a cement slab and laid 6" block on their sides, then soapstone on top. I wanted the stove up higher to keep from bending over quite so much when loading. Just make sure you are at least to the minimum hearth specs for the stove you choose. Most stoves require R1 for the hearth.

Blaze King stoves are very good at running for a long time on medium heat. I always suggest people oversize a bit. It's easier to run a stove a bit lower than to run it at max. all the time. Keep in mind the mfg specs for BTU's are based on running at max with perfect wood. Both of those are not as easily achieved as most people might think.

 

[pledgercraft]

Appreciate it DougA, Shooting for a non-cat with airwash glass door and legs. Wife wants "pretty" so it's hard to get pretty with fully functional low maintenance. The hearth I wanted to keep no-low for 81 yr old mother in law tripping hazard.

 

[begreen]

I would also look at the Drolet HT2000. It is a solid stove and it requires an ember protection only hearth.

 

[Grisu]

With an overabundance of "free" heat in the form of endless supply of Oak wood

Please be aware that the stoves you are looking at require dry wood with less than 20% internal moisture. Oak is notoriously slow to dry and needs at least 2 years after splitting and stacking it with lots of wind and sun exposure to get to the at point. How many cords do you have and when were those split? If you have some ash that will dry within a year.

 

[pledgercraft]

I've got access to split oak 2-3 years old from a seller "neighbor" so I've seen it with my own eyes plus I do have a moisture meter and I have already stacked a years worth of my own. By January I should have about 2-3 years worth if I feel the need to do so. Thanks!

 

[bholler]

out of the 2 you listed definatly go with the nc-30 it has a much better reputation