Reducing Clearance to Combustibles - Have You Seen This On YouTube?

[BlankBlankBlank]

I noticed this video on YouTube where the installer removes all the sheathing down to the studs. Then he staples reflective insulation to the studs. The reflective insulation is covered with Durock. The seams where the sheets of Durock meet are covered with thinset mortar. Steel studs were screwed to the Durock and then the studs are covered with Durock, creating a 1.25" air space.

The reflective insulation comes in rolls. I think the core is some sort of plastic with air bubbles in it. Both sides of this insulation are coated with this reflective surface.

The question I have is this: has anyone else used this sort of reflective insulation under their first layer of Durock? Does it do much? Is it work spending the money for it?

 

[begreen]

Seems like kind of overkill, with no gain in clearance reduction, but no harm done I suppose.

 

[Ehouse]

A reflective surface needs an air space (1/2" is usually cited). With Duroc fastened directly to the bubble wrap, it will insulate but not reflect.

Ehouse

 

[spirilis]

Yeah, if my understanding of low-E insulation is right, stapling the foil to the studs accomplishes very little (it may help spread the heat across the studs better, as aluminum conducts heat very well) but it's likely the durock doing most of the job here.

 

[woodgeek]

um. i thought reflectix was combustible. seems like 'woo' in this application. it does not reduce clearance to combustible. if he wanted to reduce heat loss behind the shield, throw some roxul in there.

 

[summit]

The reflective insy was a useless thing to do, given the layers of durock and airspace he has.

 

[BlankBlankBlank]

I was thinking the same kind of things that have been posted so far. Mainly, I was concerned about the insulation being made of plastic. Plastic is a great electrical insulator but not so good in high heat situations. Thanks for helping to confirm my suspicions. The link to the video is below if anyone is interested. You might be surprised how close the cook stove gets installed.

http://www.youtube.com/user/WoodyChain#p/u/21/4hVtgAocaR0

 

[ScotO]

The reflective insy was a useless thing to do, given the layers of durock and airspace he has.

I will second Summit on this one.....that reflective is doing nothing at all..except raising the cost of the project!

 

[soupy1957]

My vote coincides with most of the others here................"overkill" is the operative word in my humble opinion. Lots of money being spent for no real value on return.

I can and did justify the use of fire-retardant Dry Wall material behind the stove, and had a masonry expert put up a wall of half-brick with mortar to assist in encouraging heat radiance refraction factors, but that's all.

Obviously the video's creator was thinking more in terms of capturing lost heat it seems, but there is enough heat in a good working system to heat up the house just fine as is. That DuroRock stuff should do the job just fine without a base layer.

-Soupy1957

 

[Highbeam]

Removing the sheetrock and replacing with anything non-combustible only gained him a half inch. Not worth it. The rest of the wall shield could have been built on top of sheetrock and the same clearance maintained except for that half inch since the paper on sheetrock is combustible. The bubble wrap was dumb, I have seen plenty of well meaning people use bubble wrap in stupid places.

 

[mikeyd]

The material is called Reflectix. Here is their FAQ.

http://www.reflectixinc.com/basepage.asp?PageName=Frequently+Asked+Questions&PageIndex=384

It was used in my install to line and insulate a chase. There was little to no interior framing in my chase aside from the end 2X4s the particle board layed behind it. The chase was lined to satisfy the insulating requirements, all C's met, and was a certified - apparently done many times. Not good ?