Designing spaced backer for ersatz Papa Bear

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.

Sapper760

New Member
Oct 20, 2021
3
Virginia
We have a locally fabricated woodstove that is essentially a Papa Bear* in dimensions that is, because of bad design of the house, installed parallel to the wall, at a distance of 12." The wall is made of drywall. We have stove backers installed with the little clips. We are remodeling, but not to the extent that the woodstove is moving.

I am looking to create a more durable backing, with a high R-value, since the wall is an exterior wall. My plan is to create a natural stone tile on cement backer board backing, where the backer board is spaced away from the existing drywall, with vents on the top and bottom. I am thinking steel studs installed "flat" would provide the spacing. While the stove is only 40" long (which is "wide" in this installation!) I am going to have the backer go a full 96" wide, to protect the drywall from wood, fireplace tools, and the various indignities that so battered our cheap backers over the past quarter century.

So in my design, I've got 1 1/4" standoff from my drywall to the back of the cement backer, and natural stone on the face, which is then some 10" from my woodstove; the whole thing is a 96" wide by 48" tall installation. The vents would be trimming the bottom of every other (12") tile on the bottom row, by 1/2" on the bottom, and then do a corresponding cut on the top row.

Anyone done anything like this, or have other thoughts?

Essayons!



*So this stove was locally manufactured to a Papa Bear's dimensions and design by a local welder/metalworker, likely sometime around 1980, when our house was (mostly) built. I have heard tell there was a small business in Dublin, Virginia doing this, but there is no maker's mark on it, so its pedigree is pure animal shelter.
 
We have a locally fabricated woodstove that is essentially a Papa Bear* in dimensions that is, because of bad design of the house, installed parallel to the wall, at a distance of 12." The wall is made of drywall. We have stove backers installed with the little clips. We are remodeling, but not to the extent that the woodstove is moving.

I am looking to create a more durable backing, with a high R-value, since the wall is an exterior wall. My plan is to create a natural stone tile on cement backer board backing, where the backer board is spaced away from the existing drywall, with vents on the top and bottom. I am thinking steel studs installed "flat" would provide the spacing. While the stove is only 40" long (which is "wide" in this installation!) I am going to have the backer go a full 96" wide, to protect the drywall from wood, fireplace tools, and the various indignities that so battered our cheap backers over the past quarter century.

So in my design, I've got 1 1/4" standoff from my drywall to the back of the cement backer, and natural stone on the face, which is then some 10" from my woodstove; the whole thing is a 96" wide by 48" tall installation. The vents would be trimming the bottom of every other (12") tile on the bottom row, by 1/2" on the bottom, and then do a corresponding cut on the top row.

Anyone done anything like this, or have other thoughts?

Essayons!



*So this stove was locally manufactured to a Papa Bear's dimensions and design by a local welder/metalworker, likely sometime around 1980, when our house was (mostly) built. I have heard tell there was a small business in Dublin, Virginia doing this, but there is no maker's mark on it, so its pedigree is pure animal shelter.
Its an unlisted stove doesn't really matter what it says on the door the regulations are the same. With a proper ventilated heat shield clearances are reduced to 12"