Cement column for venting wood stove

[carolynruth]

We have a cement column, sort of in the middle of a room. It has a 6 inch clay lined flue located 25 inches off the floor. This is making it difficult to find a stove low enough to vent properly. We found the Jotul 602 to be just the right height. In order to make it vent well, I’m wondering if it would be okay to connect the pipe off the back of the stove directly to the flue liner in the column, rather than getting more pipe to connect the two ends. It would also help with function of the room to have the stove back further. Is it okay to have the stove nearly touching the cement column? The Jotul website makes it look so nice this way… but maybe its just for the catalog?


Also, is it easy enough to spread a layer of cement around to coat my column of cement blocks - so that I can paint it and achieve the look in the picture? Would I need to wrap the column in some kind of wire first? And would I need to use a special kind of heat resistant paint?

 

[benjamin]

I don't see why you couldn't back the stove right up to the chimney, except you may need a short piece of stovepipe to connect the two.

I'm assuming this column is regular chimney block that looks like concrete block, 8" tall and laid in mortar? If it's not painted it should be easy to apply mortar to, the tough part is getting the finish you want, the corners might be especially tricky. You might consider surface bonding mortar, it has fibers and different additives that will stick even better, but plain old mortar mix will stick just fine if you do it right. If you don't mind a slightly uneven look you could trowel it and then smooth the mortar with a damp sponge. The existing mortar joints will suck the moisture out of the fresh mortar causing them to show through, not much you can do about that except put on a couple of coats. I don't think the heat would be a problem. You want to follow the directions about waiting to paint fresh mortar though.

This is meant to get you started, not guaranteed to give you the results you want, but the worst you can do is make a mess.

 

[CALJREICH]

I agree with benjamin. Right on!!

 

[carolynruth]

Thank you, Benjamin! That was very helpful.