New and in need of some clarification

[Nathaniel241]

I'm new when it comes to anything wood burning. I have very little experience over my short life. Mostly camp fires, but also a few in fireplaces at the in-law's. My wife and I are building a house in north east Colorado. We are about as far from the mountains as we are from Nebraska. We have a few cold winter months with avg high temps in the 30s around December and January. We've already purchased a ZC fireplace and all the chimney pipe. We are installing a Superior WCT6940 or Astria Montecito Estate, same thing even if its labelled as a WCT6940. I know at least a few of you on here have the Montecito Estate. Hopefully one of you or maybe someone else can help me with a question below.

Here's a bit more info on where I'm at as a 'rookie'. I've been doing research on Hearth.com for a couple of weeks now. I've been learning how to install the chimney, fight creosote build up, sweep the chimney, season wood, build a wood shed, clean the catalytic combustors, pick out wood, and so much more. I'm sure I still have a ton of questions, but one struck me this evening.

What I'm now worried about is the hearth extension. Looking through the installation guide, it states that the hearth extension is supposed to be 24". I'm elevating my fireplace, so I thought it might be different. I found that it also states "Hearth extension of an elevated fireplace must respect the same minimal dimensions as a fireplace installed directly on the floor." When they say 'must respect', do they mean must follow? Could they have worded that a bit more clearly? Do I really have to have a 2 foot deep hearth? That seems very extreme. It will also creep into my family room a lot more than I ever intended. I guess if I'm understanding it correctly, I will have to make some changes to the framing I've already done. Currently I only have it coming out a foot. Thanks for any and all responses. I appreciate the help and look forward to delving even deeper into the forums as I join your ranks.

Below is the link to the installation guide. The information I'm finding is on page 14.

(broken link removed to http://superiorfireplaces.us.com/system/document_files/files/000/001/193/original/900790-00_D_SUP_WCT6940WS_TRAD_EPA_Fireplace_EN_IICO.pdf?1498511255)

Here are a few pictures of the house showing the chase and whats been framed up so far. I'm planning on building up the hearth about 4 more inches with another 2 inches of stone on top so that the hearth comes right up to the facade. In total the hearth step will be about 13 inches tall.

 

[Nathaniel241]

I'm going to try and contact the manufacturer this week for clarification. At present I guess I'm going to start planning on a two foot hearth in front of the fireplace.

I'm wondering now whether or not to concrete board the whole back walls of the frame as well as the ceiling? I'm already planning on using concrete board across the whole face of the frame. Any thoughts? I've read that the top the fireplace is one of the hottest spots. This makes me wonder about the ceiling being covered with something safe.

Finally, what is the best way to break in the fireplace? I've only read a few different options and the directions are not clear. How do you measure the temperature inside a ZC fireplace?

 

[Nathaniel241]

No response from anyone from any one?

Well I got a hold of the manufacturer. They did say that I need to have a 2 foot hearth extension for the Superior WCT6940/Astria Montecito Estate.

We are going to put the fireplace into the house today so it will be ready for installation in the near future. Hopefully that will go smoothly for me. I'm a bit nervous to do the installation myself, but hopefully between my father and I we don't run into any problems. We do have a friend on call who has installed a handful of stoves and fireplaces in the past. Sadly he's a few states away and can't make it out to help.

Anyone have any advice or thoughts on anything already mentioned? First fires? Reading temp on a ZC fireplace? Thanks in advance.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[ElmBurner]

You'll be glad for the hearth extension when you have a burning log roll out of the firebox. I scramble enough when that happens...if it was laying on my carpet and burning through the floor, it'd be even worse. Instead, I just have to sweep up some charcoal and ash from the hearth and throw the log back into the stove.

I am not sure about concrete board. If it is easy to do, it's extra insurance, but I don't recall that they did that on my stove. I'd just follow the installation guidance from the manufacturer. Most of the modern stoves have enough of an air gap around the stove that they can be mounted up right next to framing. Drywall is probably sufficient. Make sure you observe clearances around the stove pipe too.

First fires...generally the advice is start small. There's humidity in the firebricks and the theory is that a hot fire too fast will break them. So you have to "bake" the bricks slowly first to dry them out, then let 'er rip.

This usually works out, as you don't want to pack a stove full of oak in September/October anyway. Instead, you are doing a small fire with maple, poplar, pine, or something like that. Something that burns fast and not real hot.

If you want to measure temps inside a fireplace, you can either use an infrared heat gun / thermometer thing, or you can install a probe and get a digital display to show you the temp. All that really matters is that you get a clean burn, which means there should be visible flame at all times until the wood gets to the charcoal stage, where it is all blackened, starting to ash over, glowing orange, and putting out some ridiculous heat.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Squirrely]

Do I really have to have a 2 foot deep hearth? That seems very extreme. It will also creep into my family room a lot more than I ever intended.

Why not simply make the hearth the same elevation as the rest of your floor? A fireplace doesn't need to be up on a stage like it was starring in a Broadway play. Heat rises. The lower the fireplace, the better.



With everything on the same plane, it doesn't matter how much the hearth creeps into your family room. Space is very limited in our tiny house, so I tiled the whole floor which makes the whole room into a hearth for our stove. It doesn't break up the room or restrict the use of the space in front of the stove as a traffic area.



Greg

 

[edyit]

Heat rises.

just for clarification, hot air rises, heat radiates evenly in all directions.

 

[begreen]

With a little planning, the hearth extension for this fireplace could be cut into the floor so that the final surface is flush with the finished flooring. Figure 1/2" plywood + 1/2" cement board + thinset + tile thickness.

 

[Squirrely]

just for clarification, hot air rises, heat radiates evenly in all directions.

Yes. Thanks for the clarification.

Greg

 

[Nathaniel241]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the thoughts and advice. I think we are going to make the hearth extension two feet. This will add a little bit more barrier for rogue logs, as @ElmBurner said. It will also help keep away the toddler and any future kids (wife wants 6 total). I know it doesn't create a complete barrier for kids, but its a start to something. Should I finish enclosing the ZC insert before doing the first short break in fire? I will have it open to some extent after installing the flue. I would then have access to the top of the insert to monitor temperature. Is this safe, not having the concrete board covering the non-combustibles to the side and above? Thanks again.

 

[begreen]

It's ok to burn in the fireplace before enclosing as long as the chimney system is complete. FYI - Wonderboard Lite uses styrofoam beads to make it light. I wouldn't use it in heat critical areas on the facing of the fireplace. Durock NexGen uses pumice instead. Durock is pure cement board.

 

[Nathaniel241]

I just wanted to follow up with everyone who had been following or sharing their thoughts. I finally finished the house. The wife, daughter, and I moved in back in May. A lot later than planned, but we've enjoyed our house. We love the fireplace even if we've yet to use it. It turned out great. I need to take a newer picture as this one was when we were not quite done with the rest of the house.



We are looking forward to using it a bit this winter, but I'm not completely unprepared firewood wise. I'm planning on working on a wood shed this weekend. I'm trying to finalize what I'm wanting to build exactly, how big, how much I'm wanting to store, and where on my acre of land I'm going to put it. I'm hoping to get everything I need to get started on it, but not planning on getting it done right away. I'm going to start looking more seriously for firewood, so we can prepare for future winters. This winter, I'm going to be very short on seasoned wood to burn. My own fault for not working on this sooner. Either way we are excited to start using the fireplace. Thanks to everyone who helped by either replying to me or posting their own threads with helpful information for a newbie like me.

 

[NateH]

Looks great!