Blaze King-King Ultra hearth pad and other questions???

[Hiram Maxim]

The blue tape is just for stove size reference

I'm trying to get a feel for where the BK King Ultra will be placed.

(1) Is the specified 34"x45" floor protection per the BK manual a large enough hearth or would you go a little bigger?

(2) How thick should I build the hearth for the weight and heat protection?

(3) Will steel 2x4s or 2x6s hold the weight?


(4) I know it won't be butted up against the wall but how far out should it be for access to parts and the OAK?

(5) I'm ordering the stove in brown....can I order brown double wall stove pipe to match? From the factory?

(6) If I remove the side heat shields will it change the side clearances on the floor?

I was going to tear up the cork floor and put down stone or tile.....but I just found out that 99.9% of all cork walls/floors made between 1900-1980 contains asbestos!:bug:

Thank you,Hiram

 

[Manatarms]

Hiram,

I'm in a similar boat...getting ready to buy a pre-fab hearthpad for the BKK from someone..american panel or the like...I think I'm going to get the biggest sucker they make, which is something like 48x54..

-Mark

 

[greythorn3]

im gonna go wood 2x4's for my blazeking floor pad, then a layer of plywood, with 1/4 wonderbaord on top of it and 3/8 tavertine on top of that.. 38 x 50 inches in dimensions, i read you only need ember protection so just somthing underneeth it that dont catch fire from coals should be godo enough..

 

[learnin to burn]

You should have enough room to do things if you give your self 18-20 inches from the stove collar.

 

[Wet1]

I went larger than the min. recommended pad size, but it seemed to look and fit better with the rest of my hearth. I'd rather have the extra real estate so I have plenty of room to work around the stove, plus a large safety margin. I think mine is about 48" x 80", with an additional 18" x 36" behind the stove (the stove sits slightly into a brick hearth alcove). I also built a 24" x 96" extension off my hearth (3.5" inches lower) to stack wood on.

Again, I over-engineered my hearth pad when it came to fire protection. The BKK doesn't get all that hot underneath it (I have the Parlor model). It has two layers of fire brick in the base, plus up to 8.5" of ash can be in there, so the bottom stays fairly cool. The front and side areas get a little warm, but not overly by any means. I'm sure the sides of the ultra model will be even cooler. Regardless, I wanted more fire protection under and around my stove... it's a lot easier to build it unto the hearth when you're starting from scratch, and cheap too. I guess I can't see building it w/o at least a R value of 1 or greater (I'd shoot for R2 or so). Steel studs will have no problem holding the weight, but I'd space them 12" OC or so. It wouldn't be the worst idea to double them up under the base of the stove if you're concerned. I used hollow core 4" x 8" x 16" concrete blocks and spaced them out. This also allowed me to route my 4" OAK line under my hearth and to the back of the stove. I then used 2 layers of 1/2" Durock and slate over the top of that. Everything was bonded together with thinset and the finished product feels solid as a rock, even though this is all sitting on 1" of foam board.

The OAK attaches at the very rear of the stove, in the center, so plan accordingly. You'll need to leave plenty of room for your pipe routing, so your stove obviously wont be butted up against that back wall of the hearth. Id leave at least 6" or more from that back wall to the back of the stove, for pipe and to minimize heat transfer. If oversizing the hearth, it's always good (safe) to have a little extra room in front of the loading door. Even though the BKK is very deep in the ash area, this is still the area most likely to have hot ambers falling into your room. If you remove the side shields, I would expect the clearances to be the same as the standard classic/parlor models.