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.

 

[Squatchbilly]

from what i have in the manual, the above stove wall covering is supposed to be at least 15" above top surface of the stove and a 25" clearance to a mantle. not sure how much of this applies to an alcove application. The stove will be only partially recessed into the alcove and with that, the plus side is that the weight will be pretty close to centrally located over the original sill plate and cinder block crawlspace foundation, so weight bearing should be pretty good. I will be doing another footer/cinder block foundation to match height and build the exterior chimney chase/alcove on top of.
Would the ceiling height mentioned be applied to the interior of the chimney chase where the chimney pipe would exit out through the sealing component on the interior side?

 

[Egbert Souse']

It sounds like this is going to be an involved setup. If you are willing to invest into the construction of a cantilevered alcove installation wouldn't you want a stove that's newer and easier to certify for installation and insurance purposes? Not to infer that there's something wrong with the stove but it sounds like you're building an expensive garage for an old car so to speak.

 

[Squatchbilly]

Hey man, plenty of people build really nice garages for old cars!! Lol
The alcove is the aesthetic and the current stove is just what we have for now and was a good deal (400$!), but at some point will be replaced with more of the dream stove when funding allows. The alcove will not be cantilevered so to speak, I’ll be digging and pouring a small foundation and setting block, sill plates, and wall system that will be veneered on the exterior in stone. So yes, an involved setup kind of, but a little bit at a time is no big deal here, especially if I’m going to do the work myself. Dream stove takes pretty much all the budget, or the alcove takes all the budget, or I can half finish the alcove making sure the important stuff is done right immediately, and buy a budget friendly used stove for now, then over time finish the rest of the alcove and enjoy for a bit, thennn start to save up and search out the ideal dream stove in a few years 🤞🏻

 

[Egbert Souse']

I'm not sure about insurance or permit regulations in your area. Where I live, inspectors wanted the stove, stove pipe and class a chimney installed by a licensed and insured installer. No professional would certify a stove not sold by them so I had no choice but to bite the bullet and build my entire stove base and lay out for the stove/install pretty much all at once

Clearance to combustibles are in the stoves manual. Alcove clearances may or may not be in that manual but ultimately it's up to the inspector to determine what the combustible material is. Is it the wood stud? How will he know about your air gaps unless you pay to have him do a pre drywall style inspection? Will the inspector even do that for you? If you use track studs is it the plywood on the exterior wall that's your closest combustible? I am unlikely to trust metal studs with all that weight on them inside and out. Tough to say what will work and what won't.

 

[begreen]

The design approval happens at the permit level usually. This is where drawings, specs, manuals, etc. are submitted. The inspector's role is to verify that the work has been done correctly according to code and the permit design.

Metal studs come in different strengths usually based on metal thickness. For sure this design would need heavier duty studs. If the alcove is 100% non-combustible, then the clearance issue becomes somewhat moot.

 

[cedricw01]

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.
I also request to get help from interior designer limerick they are experienced to handle such circumstances also old buildings redo, also asking here so that i can get different ideas.
Sorry for being long winded but I have a lot in my head and I’m excited to get going.

Since the manual doesn’t list alcove specs for that stove, the safest route is to design the alcove as fully non-combustible so clearance questions become less of a problem. Metal studs, mineral wool insulation, cement board, and then your stone veneer is a common way to do it. If you still want to reduce rear clearance, a properly ventilated nfpa 211 shield (1" air gap with top and bottom openings) can usually bring clearances down to around 12", but that still needs approval from the inspector.
Also remember the harvest is a heavy stove, so make sure the hearth and the small foundation you’re pouring are built to carry the weight plus the stone.

Before you finalize the framing, it would probably help to submit a simple drawing with the stove manual to your local inspector and get the design approved first. Have you already checked whether your county allows alcove installs for stoves that don’t specifically list alcove clearances in the manual?

 

[Squatchbilly]

No I havnt officially checked on any of that yet, But wouldn’t be surprised if anything goes here in West Virginia where I’m at! Lol. I still would like to have the peace of mind to know that it’s done right and that it would/has passed inspection. Wife and children mean a little bit to me, so definitely not trying to burn down the house with my family in it.

 

[brenndatomu]

I think I'd want to verify that this stove is working properly and worthy of all this effort before going too far out of my way for it.
Not hard to set up a cheap steel stovepipe chimney out in the driveway to put it through it's paces.
An older used stone cat stove certainly has potential for having some problems, especially after being hauled around.

 

[Squatchbilly]

It upon inspection looks to be in phenomenal shape, but definitely wouldn’t be a bad idea to test it, except the whole idea of trying to haul these heavy beast outside again!! 😂 wouldn’t the primary issue with it be a possible cat issue? And looking at it, it has the option to bypass the cat if so inclined. And as said it’s all gonna get done anyways, at some point this stove will get resold or repurposed into the garage stove and we will get a more aesthetically desireable stove for the living room some day.

 

[brenndatomu]

Yeah, the cat, and/or the frame that holds it, which might be part of the bypass mechanism...and the bypass is more for loading, rather than an optional mode of operation.
Cracks in the stone, or leaking joints is another potential problem.