Help with my hearth

  • 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.
  • Hope everyone has a wonderful and warm Thanksgiving!
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
Status
Not open for further replies.

mtrel

Member
Hearth Supporter
Sep 15, 2006
26
New Fairfield, CT
Hi everyone. I was hoping to get some advice/opinions on my hearth rebuild. I'll be installing a new Ideal Steel hopefully soon. The existing hearth was too narrow and high for the IS so I started working on it without really having a good plan. I think I have it figured out but I want to make sure it's a legal install as far as clearances are concerned. I'm a little concerned because I haven't been able to find any pictures of anything quite like this. I don't know if there are some minimum clearances to non combustibles or maybe it will just look funny with the hearth split with the stove in the middle. I only want to do the job once. A description of what I plan on doing is below and pics are attached.


The stove will sit in front of the fireplace. The firebox of the the existing fireplace and the hearth are about 11 inches above the floor. The hearth supports the field stone wall that makes up the fireplace face. Because of this I can't remove the entire hearth. As you can see in the pic I removed some of the hearth and bottom of the firebox. I plan on rebuilding the hearth on both sides of the firebox to line up with the firebox and leave a 36 inch wide space for the stove, The fireplace and hearth are all non combustible material. I will use bluestone on the floor and mantle. The rear of the stove will sit 4-6 inches from the wall below the fireplaces firebox. Thanks for your help.
 

Attachments

  • [Hearth.com] Help with my hearth
    IMG_20141126_124858.webp
    112.5 KB · Views: 141
  • [Hearth.com] Help with my hearth
    IMG_20141126_124916.webp
    128.2 KB · Views: 154
  • [Hearth.com] Help with my hearth
    IMG_20141126_124929.webp
    90.3 KB · Views: 154
I dont see any problems with it
 
I think the pieces of Hearth left and right of the firebox might look out of place. I would remove the Hearth entirely, you can fill in to the floor using the excess stone. Then maybe a nice black plate covering the face of the firebox with the pipe passing through....just a thought....
 
I think the pieces of Hearth left and right of the firebox might look out of place. I would remove the Hearth entirely, you can fill in to the floor using the excess stone. Then maybe a nice black plate covering the face of the firebox with the pipe passing through....just a thought....

I'm not sure I can do that. If you look in the third picture it looks like the wall is built on some cinder blocks laying on there side. Even if I break away half the block it would give me less than in inch of depth to put those rocks at the bottom of the wall. The rocks are 4 inches thick.
 
Technically a single layer of Durock NexGen doesn't quite make spec. They are calling for an R value of .41 and DNG is .39. Close enough I think with the thick bluestone topping. Other than that I don't see any issues.
 
Slice them, make thin veneers, chip out the block, do whatever it takes... The difference will be something that looks like it was cobbled together just to make it work, OR something that was designed to look that way it should from the beginning....That is always the goal of good design....Just my opinion....
 
Status
Not open for further replies.