suggestions on how to raise Jotul F100 a few inches off stove board?

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smokinokie

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Dec 19, 2010
18
OKC Ok
Just got my Jotul F100 stove. I new it was going to be small but didn't fully realize how low the stove sits until it was placed in living room.

I have the stove sitting on an Imperial stove board ($50 from Lowes) which my stove dealer assures me is all the protection I need, hardwood floor under that. The Jotul has a bottom heat shield as well.

I was wondering if it would be feasible to raise the stove 8 inches or so with firebrick stacked under each leg?
 
If it was my house I would build up the hearth and make a nice finished board around it. The thought of the stove sitting on some bricks kind of scares me. I had a friend that used 4 bricks under his stove legs. One night he had a few too many "adult beverages" and bumped it. The stove fell and came free from the stove pipe. It was in the summer so the stove wasnt running, but what if it was running?
 
I'm in the process of raising mine up right now, checking in on hearth now and then while cleaning up. I needed to raise it about 5 inches so I laid out a foundation of 12x12 concrete pavers in a rectangle; 3pavers long, 2 pavers deep, and three pavers high for a base 24x36x5 which is the perfect size for my stove. (you may get by with 4 pavers). I got some slate tiles to match my hearth pad and used tile adhesive to set them on the pavers. tomorrow I'll grout and be done with it. It was a bit labor intensive taking the stove apart and moving it around ( I needed a neighbors help to set it on it's new foundation) but it'll look great. Sorry, can't offer any pictures anytime in the immediate future. I wouldn't reccomend bricks under the legs, it's quick, cheap and easy but it'll forever look cheesey. The Jotul is a pretty stove and I'm sure you paid a fair sum for it. Go the extra mile, do it right and reap the rewards for years to come. My two cents. hope it helps.
 
I had an F3CB at my old house, and just built a raised hearth for it. (Mine also had the bottom heat shield)
If you have some basic carpentry skills, you can build a real nice one for not too much $$ at all.
 
jotulguy said:
If it was my house I would build up the hearth and make a nice finished board around it. The thought of the stove sitting on some bricks kind of scares me. I had a friend that used 4 bricks under his stove legs. One night he had a few too many "adult beverages" and bumped it. The stove fell and came free from the stove pipe. It was in the summer so the stove wasnt running, but what if it was running?

Agreed 100% . . . if we were talking raising the stove a quarter inch or maybe a half inch I might put something underneath . . . although even then I think I would shim up the hearth with more tile or a cement board . . . if we're talking several inches there is no way I would want to just stick some blocks or bricks underneath it . . . 1) my wife would never agree to such a hill billy redneck installation in the living room and 2) I would not like the look or idea that it could be more easily knocked off the blocks.
 
Ok, finished with my raised hearth yesterday. I think it costs less than $100. Didn't even have to rent a tile saw. If you buy the tiles at Lowes, go home, lay them out and mark them, you can bring them back and they'll cut them for you-free!! I didn't want the stove to be down for the night so the day before I moved the stove and took the pipes apart, I got some dura rock, cut to 24x36 and laid out the top tiles where I wanted them, then set them in place with tile adhesive. The next day, disconnected the pipe, moved the stove, laid out my concrete pavers, laid the dura rock with tiles on top, put the stove up there and re-assembled the pipes. Then I mounted the tiles on the side. Yesterday I grouted and last night I was burning in style. It's doable and no special expensive tools required. You may not find exact tiles to match your prefab hearth but I'm sure you could find something that compliments it. Hope this helps.

Al
 

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I have the heat shield on the bottom of my F100. It does get pretty warm underneath, but the real heat is in front on the floor. Heat radiates from the front door glass and my hardwood floor does get toasty, quite a bit warmer than under the stove. I don't like how warm it gets, but I am not that concerned about it either.
 
fishingpol said:
I have the heat shield on the bottom of my F100. It does get pretty warm underneath, but the real heat is in front on the floor. Heat radiates from the front door glass and my hardwood floor does get toasty, quite a bit warmer than under the stove. I don't like how warm it gets, but I am not that concerned about it either.

That's why I raised mine in the first place. Also makes for a better view of the fire. : )
 
That looks great Al. Nice solution, but one caveat. tile adhesive and heat are not a good combo. Tiling around the stove should be done with thinset. It'll take an extra day, but tis the right way to do it.
 
BeGreen said:
That looks great Al. Nice solution, but one caveat. tile adhesive and heat are not a good combo. Tiling around the stove should be done with thinset. It'll take an extra day, but tis the right way to do it.

Has anyone had experience with setting a hearth with high temp silicone? As a union carpenter, I have used regular silicone to glue all sorts of products. It works for glass, wood, even some metal setting. The only thing is, it would have to be a thin layer in order to reduce the movement of the tyle. Also, if the tyle is the kind that doesn't need grout you could skip a step, making it even faster to finish.

I wouldn't raise it with stacked bricks. A little raised platform would be so easy to build. 2x4 frame, cement board and tyle. Pretty simple. You could even design one that wouldn't require any tyle cutting and as I said, if you used high temp silicone to glue the tyle it would be a breeze.
 
BeGreen said:
That looks great Al. Nice solution, but one caveat. tile adhesive and heat are not a good combo. Tiling around the stove should be done with thinset. It'll take an extra day, but tis the right way to do it.

D'oh!!!! Wish I had known. I used the same tile adhesive for my hearth pad and the wall protection behind the stove as well. Two years so far and no problems. If tiles start dropping off the wall in the future I'll know why. Thanks for the heads up Green.

Al
 
Warm in RI said:
fishingpol said:
I have the heat shield on the bottom of my F100. It does get pretty warm underneath, but the real heat is in front on the floor. Heat radiates from the front door glass and my hardwood floor does get toasty, quite a bit warmer than under the stove. I don't like how warm it gets, but I am not that concerned about it either.

That's why I raised mine in the first place. Also makes for a better view of the fire. : )

My stove is in my fireplace firebox, it has nowhere else to go. I was merely pointing out where I notice the most heat radiating from the stove for the OP to help make an informed decision.
 
fishingpol said:
Warm in RI said:
fishingpol said:
I have the heat shield on the bottom of my F100. It does get pretty warm underneath, but the real heat is in front on the floor. Heat radiates from the front door glass and my hardwood floor does get toasty, quite a bit warmer than under the stove. I don't like how warm it gets, but I am not that concerned about it either.

That's why I raised mine in the first place. Also makes for a better view of the fire. : )

My stove is in my fireplace firebox, it has nowhere else to go. I was merely pointing out where I notice the most heat radiating from the stove for the OP to help make an informed decision.

No sweat man. Fot the record, how hot is hot?
 
VCBurner said:
BeGreen said:
That looks great Al. Nice solution, but one caveat. tile adhesive and heat are not a good combo. Tiling around the stove should be done with thinset. It'll take an extra day, but tis the right way to do it.

Has anyone had experience with setting a hearth with high temp silicone? As a union carpenter, I have used regular silicone to glue all sorts of products. It works for glass, wood, even some metal setting. The only thing is, it would have to be a thin layer in order to reduce the movement of the tyle. Also, if the tyle is the kind that doesn't need grout you could skip a step, making it even faster to finish.

I wouldn't raise it with stacked bricks. A little raised platform would be so easy to build. 2x4 frame, cement board and tyle. Pretty simple. You could even design one that wouldn't require any tyle cutting and as I said, if you used high temp silicone to glue the tyle it would be a breeze.

Silicone adhesive is a nice product. However, silicone needs time to set up and cure, usually 24 hrs. And it may slump holding up a tile on a vertical surface. I don't see why this would be an improvement over a proper thinset.
 
BeGreen said:
VCBurner said:
BeGreen said:
That looks great Al. Nice solution, but one caveat. tile adhesive and heat are not a good combo. Tiling around the stove should be done with thinset. It'll take an extra day, but tis the right way to do it.

Has anyone had experience with setting a hearth with high temp silicone? As a union carpenter, I have used regular silicone to glue all sorts of products. It works for glass, wood, even some metal setting. The only thing is, it would have to be a thin layer in order to reduce the movement of the tyle. Also, if the tyle is the kind that doesn't need grout you could skip a step, making it even faster to finish.

I wouldn't raise it with stacked bricks. A little raised platform would be so easy to build. 2x4 frame, cement board and tyle. Pretty simple. You could even design one that wouldn't require any tyle cutting and as I said, if you used high temp silicone to glue the tyle it would be a breeze.

Silicone adhesive is a nice product. However, silicone needs time to set up and cure, usually 24 hrs. And it may slump holding up a tile on a vertical surface. I don't see why this would be an improvement over a proper thinset.

I was thinking out loud! I guess, you could say it would be less messy than the mortar. If you buy premixed mortar, it is easier than the powdered stuff. I don't really think it's an improvement or better than the mortar for this application otherwise it would be widely used in construction projects. I was just wondering if there would be a drawback to the high temp silicone.

In all honesty, I was thinking of making a hearth extention by using 1/4" solid slate and setting it with high temp silicone. It might be cheaper to buy a couple tubes of silicone than the mortar. I have a couple of 4'x4' pieces of slate that were taken out during a renovation @ Holy Cross University. My father in law took about a dozen of these pieces that were used as chalk boards. I would have to demo out a section of the hardwood floor (about 12" around the existing hearth) and add 1/2" cement board plus the 1/4" slate to make it flush to the floor.


Edit: Mortar and grout also have to set before putting a stove on the tyle, so I guess no matter what you use you'd be dealing with some down time.
 
smokinokie said:
Just got my Jotul F100 stove. I new it was going to be small but didn't fully realize how low the stove sits until it was placed in living room.

I have the stove sitting on an Imperial stove board ($50 from Lowes) which my stove dealer assures me is all the protection I need, hardwood floor under that. The Jotul has a bottom heat shield as well.

I was wondering if it would be feasible to raise the stove 8 inches or so with firebrick stacked under each leg?

Back in the day, my Dad raised his VC Defiant simply using what I recall as cinderblocks. He did not build a hearth, but lined two sets of blocks, one set going front to back on the right hand side legs and another on the left hand side. He put mortar over the blocks to hide them and painted them grey. This was in a basement install on a concrete floor, so a nice hearth wasn't in the cards. The stove was so easy on the eyes, I don't think anyone ever noticed the blocks under the stove.

Good luck,
Bill
 
go order a set of Castine legs for it, that'll make it even more impressive.
 
Warm in RI said:
If you buy the tiles at Lowes, go home, lay them out and mark them, you can bring them back and they'll cut them for you-free!!

Al

Thanks Al. Nice tip--easier than renting a saw.

Also, great photo, and happy kitty!
 
leeave96 said:
smokinokie said:
Just got my Jotul F100 stove. I new it was going to be small but didn't fully realize how low the stove sits until it was placed in living room.

I have the stove sitting on an Imperial stove board ($50 from Lowes) which my stove dealer assures me is all the protection I need, hardwood floor under that. The Jotul has a bottom heat shield as well.

I was wondering if it would be feasible to raise the stove 8 inches or so with firebrick stacked under each leg?

Back in the day, my Dad raised his VC Defiant simply using what I recall as cinderblocks. He did not build a hearth, but lined two sets of blocks, one set going front to back on the right hand side legs and another on the left hand side. He put mortar over the blocks to hide them and painted them grey. This was in a basement install on a concrete floor, so a nice hearth wasn't in the cards. The stove was so easy on the eyes, I don't think anyone ever noticed the blocks under the stove.

Good luck,
Bill

I can be an outlier on aesthetic matters (translation: I have bad taste), but I think natural stone blocks mortared in to raise the stove would be beautiful.
 
Warm in RI said:
fishingpol said:
Warm in RI said:
fishingpol said:
I have the heat shield on the bottom of my F100. It does get pretty warm underneath, but the real heat is in front on the floor. Heat radiates from the front door glass and my hardwood floor does get toasty, quite a bit warmer than under the stove. I don't like how warm it gets, but I am not that concerned about it either.

That's why I raised mine in the first place. Also makes for a better view of the fire. : )

My stove is in my fireplace firebox, it has nowhere else to go. I was merely pointing out where I notice the most heat radiating from the stove for the OP to help make an informed decision.

No sweat man. Fot the record, how hot is hot?

Alright, had to re-solder some wires on the IR gun. Stove top at 580*, slate under heat shield at 109*, hardwood in front of hearth slate at 128*. A little concern, but nothing to worry about. Old house with wood floors that have shrunk all over. We're all good here, happy burning.
 
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