mantel material?

[rob_]

Hi all,

First time poster. Man, this website is great...you guys are a wealth of information.

I'm planning to put a "mantel" above our wood stove and have a question about material options.

We have a free-standing wood stove kitty-corner of two brick "walls". There's probably 3.5' clearance from the top of the stove to the top of the brick, and the brick has about 2" of airspace behind it.

I want to keep the mantel simple, so think 2"x12" shelf along the entire length of brick. One edge would sit on the brick (leaving the airspace) and the other edge would be supported with metal L-brackets mounted into the brick. I'm lucky...my wife is easy to please. I got away with a similar style in the bathroom.

So, my question...which materials should I use? Like the bathroom, a 2"x12" piece of wood coated in polyurethane would be super simple. But it wouldn't be fireproof, which is my main goal. I like my house, and who knows what stove will replace this one in a couple years. Another option is a 3" slab of stone, but that seems like it would have its own issues (heavy, hard to drill holes into, and prone to crack).

Are there other well-known materials that would fit the bill? Maybe something synthetic...some sort of mock wood or stone? I saw this very impressive post on here (thanks!), but that seems like more work/money than I want to put in. I also read a lot about mantel shields under wood, but I'd like to just make the whole thing fireproof (though the reflective aspect has me thinking...).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

-Rob

 

[rob_]

Hi all,

First time poster. Man, this website is great...you guys are a wealth of information.

I'm planning to put a "mantel" above our wood stove and have a question about material options.

We have a free-standing wood stove kitty-corner of two brick "walls". There's probably 3.5' clearance from the top of the stove to the top of the brick, and the brick has about 2" of airspace behind it.

I want to keep the mantel simple, so think 2"x12" shelf along the entire length of brick. One edge would sit on the brick (leaving the airspace) and the other edge would be supported with metal L-brackets mounted into the brick. I'm lucky...my wife is easy to please. I got away with a similar style in the bathroom.

So, my question...which materials should I use? Like the bathroom, a 2"x12" piece of wood coated in polyurethane would be super simple. But it wouldn't be fireproof, which is my main goal. I like my house, and who knows what stove will replace this one in a couple years. Another option is a 3" slab of stone, but that seems like it would have its own issues (heavy, hard to drill holes into, and prone to crack).

Are there other well-known materials that would fit the bill? Maybe something synthetic...some sort of mock wood or stone? I saw this very impressive post on here (thanks!), but that seems like more work/money than I want to put in. I also read a lot about mantel shields under wood, but I'd like to just make the whole thing fireproof (though the reflective aspect has me thinking...).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

-Rob

Not sure why the pictures aren't showing up. They can be found here.

 

[begreen]

If you can get some used epoxy resin black counter tops from an old school science lab that makes nice hearth material and could be used for the mantel. It usually is about 1" thick. Wood might be ok if it's behind the stove top and at the proper distance from the stove pipe. Single-wall needs at least 18", double-wall 6".

 

[bholler]

Also make sure you have the required 36" clearance to combustibles around that stove some stuff looks pretty close. And what is behind that brick wall?

 

[begreen]

Yes, that is an old dogger of a stove. Is the brick wall open at the bottom by at least an inch and open at the top so that hot air can easily convect behind the wall? If yes, it will reduce clearances to 66% or 12" If not the clearance reduction is only 33% or 24".

 

[rob_]

Thanks. The science-lab counter tops are a great idea...might take some luck to locate though. Any recommendations on something that would be easier to find? I was hoping the big box stores might have some common material that would fit the bill, but they haven't been much help. They keep showing me ornate wood mantels.

Yes, that's an old stove. It was here when we moved in a couple years ago, and I'm guessing it was installed in about 1980. Replacing it is on the short list, but the short list hasn't gotten short enough to get to it yet. It sure pumps out the heat, but I'm sure efficiency isn't the greatest. So far that's fine...we have access to lots of wood. Plus it will help my wife appreciate the next stove when the tending gets easier.

The brick has about 2" of airspace between it and the real wall. As far as I can tell the real wall is plain painted sheet rock, but I haven't dug into it to see if it's anything special. My wife did put some thin decorative wood on the sheetrock above the brick, but nothing between the brick and the wall. As for the bottom of the brick...there are several "missing" bricks along the floor, which I'm guessing is for the convection begreen is asking about.

Yes, she keeps stacking decorative items on the brick, and things slowly end up getting closer and closer to the stove. I'm tired of moving them. This is the main reason I want to put in a mantel. Hopefully we can come to an agreement and establish a hard boundary where she can decorate on top but make anything lower off limits.

Thanks for the help. Any other suggestions on mantel material would be appreciated.

-Rob

 

[begreen]

If there is >18" above the stove pipe to the top of the brick then a wood mantel that only sticks out a few inches should be ok, assuming that the stove is at least 18" away from the brick wall at the rear corners of the stove top.

Does the brick wall have openings on the bottom to ventilate behind the wall?

 

[Rearscreen]

You could make a cement form out of melamine and pour cement. Any shape that you like. Fu-Tung Cheng kits are available with added strentheners and do dads to sparkle it up. If it's made into an L shape you may not need brackets. Warning: heavy!

 

[drz1050]

A thin piece of scrap 1-1.5" counter material should be pretty easy to find.. the stone options would be heavy, but laminate/ composite ones are lighter, and should be more heat-resistant than just wood.

 

[bholler]

A thin piece of scrap 1-1.5" counter material should be pretty easy to find.. the stone options would be heavy, but laminate/ composite ones are lighter, and should be more heat-resistant than just wood.

not more heat resistant at all so it would need to be 36" from the stove and 18 from the pipe

 

[MaintenanceMan]

You might be careful selecting old science lab tops. Older ones were often made to be heat resistant and as such often contained a high percentage of asbestos. Not sure when they stopped using asbestos in school science lab counters....

 

[sportbikerider78]

I just had 2 stone mantles made for $168 for my stone wall. They are 48x3.5x2 and look great.

Check out my thread in the DIY section.