New to wood stoves ready to build need help!

[Squatchbilly]

Hello wood stove community. I’m excited to be a part of this forum and hopefully gain some knowledge here.
So I just acquired my first wood stove, a hearthstone harvest soapstone stove, and I am starting to gather my thoughts and ideas on how and what to build. My final idea is to build a bump out off the back of my family room to be able to recess the stove into the alcove to keep the rooms floor space intrusion to a minimum, as well as the aesthetics of it. The intended look will be a stone faced and stone interior “fireplace” with stove inside partially.
The side clearances are not really too big of a deal to accommodate but the rear clearances on this stove are pretty large (16” clearance from rear of heat shield!) I’m hoping to reduce that as much as possible, if possible at all. If I go the route of of building the interior rear face as a decorative “cover” to look the way I want it to, but to just be a panel with th 1” air gap method. How much would tha be able to reduce my rear clearance safely? I could technically just do the bump out/alcove as deep as I wanted but would prefer it to have as small of a void behind the stove as possible and also the smallest exterior protrusion possible.
Exact wall plan behind on the interior would be studs, cement board, cement board spacers for air gap method, cement board, and stone veneer grouted in. Additional questions with that are, in that setup would I be able use wood studs or should I do metal studs? The exterior wall will be getting stone faced as well and will need cement board and laff anyways, would I be ok to use plywood on the exterior outside of the studs? And what kind of insulation would be recommended for this application? Since this will be an exterior exposed setup, I will definitely need something.

Sorry for being long winded but I have a lot in my head and I’m excited to get going.

 

[begreen]

The first thing to do is make sure it is in good, safe working order. Check for any stone cracks, door seal, hinge condition, and that the cat is still viable and clean. They have a finite lifespan of about 10,000 hrs. Have a new gasket on hand if the cat is to be cleaned and reused.

Clearances are critical in any alcove installations. If this is a buildout, weight also is an important consideration. This is a heavy stove. The manual offers no alcove installation guidance which makes things trickier when asking for a variance. It's up to the local inspecting authority and the insurance company on wheter an alcove installation is permissible. If it is, get this in writing, especially for using an NFPA 211 wall shielding to reduce clearance. The mininum clearance with proper wall shielding, if accepted and approved, is 12". It doesn't hurt to exceed this. Note that the stove has a 36" left side clearance because of the loading door. On that side it would be necessary to have at least 16" clearance and hearth protection due to the door opening. Ceiling clearance is not mentioned. To be safe you may find that the inspector wants a minimum of 84" ceiling height.

Note that clearances are measured to the nearest combustible. In conventional design this is typically the studs in the wall. If the enclosure is entirely non-combustible, then the inspector "may" take that into account. That would take metal studs, fiberglass or mineral wool wall insulation, cement board and stone veneer.