Newbie With stove pad question

[Sir Osis]

We are looking at buying a Jotul F400 Castine. We would like to use some cast iron salvage as our pad (in the form of Antique stair treads from defunct mills). We were thinking would install it on a piece(s) of cement board (which is over our hardwood floor). The F400 owners manual says that as long as we get the bottom heat shield, then the R-value of the material the pad is made of shouldn't matter. Does this sound right? We are starting to worry that it might get too hot.

Thanks,
-Beau

 

[begreen]

Welcome. That should be fine. It will not get too hot. Just try to make the area where the stove feet sit is level. Post a picture when you are done.

 

[gyrfalcon]

We are looking at buying a Jotul F400 Castine. We would like to use some cast iron salvage as our pad (in the form of Antique stair treads from defunct mills). We were thinking would install it on a piece(s) of cement board (which is over our hardwood floor). The F400 owners manual says that as long as we get the bottom heat shield, then the R-value of the material the pad is made of shouldn't matter. Does this sound right? We are starting to worry that it might get too hot.

Thanks,
-Beau

I've had two Hearthstone stoves with bottom heat shield and "ember protection only" required for the floor. My cats like to lounge half under the stove. They haven't combusted yet. The sides of the stove get very hot, but even running at full blast, it's no more than warm underneath.

 

[Oldman47]

Welcome to the forum.
You may have another issue depending how that floor is installed. Hardwood floors do expand and contract during the year and need to be able to move, even the ones that are nailed down. If you have a floating floor, which is the most common ones these days, it moves a lot and will bunch up if you stop that movement.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Welcome to the forum.
You may have another issue depending how that floor is installed. Hardwood floors do expand and contract during the year and need to be able to move, even the ones that are nailed down. If you have a floating floor, which is the most common ones these days, it moves a lot and will bunch up if you stop that movement.

What?? People with floating floors can't have woodstoves? Or a piano? (Not an issue for me since my house is around 1840 and has the original wide-plank pine flooring, which has plenty of room to move between boards.)

 

[Oldman47]

You can have whatever you want if you are OK with the floor getting nice ripples in the surface because it can't move. I am getting ready to install some nice flooring and it specifically tells me not to use it under anything permanent like kitchen cabinets for instance. Instead you place a transition molding piece to go from the hardwood floor to the cabinet. The transition piece has a cut out, a rabbet really, on the bottom so the flooring can move without being restrained by the cabinets. That way it doesn't buckle when it expands or crack when it contracts. I think we are all familiar with what happens when wood dries aren't we? As far as a piano, no problem. There is always the 4 walls around it that should have an expansion allowance and then the piano can be the place everything moves toward or away from.

 

[gyrfalcon]

You can have whatever you want if you are OK with the floor getting nice ripples in the surface because it can't move. I am getting ready to install some nice flooring and it specifically tells me not to use it under anything permanent like kitchen cabinets for instance. Instead you place a transition molding piece to go from the hardwood floor to the cabinet. The transition piece has a cut out, a rabbet really, on the bottom so the flooring can move without being restrained by the cabinets. That way it doesn't buckle when it expands or crack when it contracts. I think we are all familiar with what happens when wood dries aren't we? As far as a piano, no problem. There is always the 4 walls around it that should have an expansion allowance and then the piano can be the place everything moves toward or away from.

That's fascinating information. I've never seen anybody on this forum mention the problem, but it might be good if you posted a thread and/or a Wiki post here just on that subject because I doubt it's something anybody ever thinks about in advance. I'm not personally, no, familiar with what happens when wood flooring dries because I've never lived in a house newer than 1900 or so.

 

[Oldman47]

Look at your wood pile. Doesn't the checking you see on the end of a log mean anything? It happens because the outer wood cannot contract without squeezing the core, which just will not happen. Something has to give and what gives in that case is the outer part of the round. We preliminarily judge how dry the wood is by how much it has checked (how much drying has cracked it). Wood in your floor is the same darned stuff and it either gets to move or it tells you it is not happy. I grew up in a 1930s era house with narrow plank maple floors. The darned thing looked like a roller coaster because the floor could not move. This may be the first time someone mentioned it for placing a platform over a wood floor but it is not going to be news to your local wood floor supplier.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Look at your wood pile. Doesn't the checking you see on the end of a log mean anything? It happens because the outer wood cannot contract without squeezing the core, which just will not happen. Something has to give and what gives in that case is the outer part of the round. We preliminarily judge how dry the wood is by how much it has checked (how much drying has cracked it). Wood in your floor is the same darned stuff and it either gets to move or it tells you it is not happy. I grew up in a 1930s era house with narrow plank maple floors. The darned thing looked like a roller coaster because the floor could not move. This may be the first time someone mentioned it for placing a platform over a wood floor but it is not going to be news to your local wood floor supplier.

Well, yes, but my none of my floors apparently were made of green wood, and I'm surprised if you're telling me modern flooring is. My 1900 family home had very closely set hardwood flooring (in the Boston burbs), and the floors were completely even 100 years later. I'm sorry to hear about your rippled floor, but it's honestly not something I've ever heard about before in my 65 years on this planet. Perhaps your 1930s house was badly made? Crappy construction isn't a modern invention.

 

[Sir Osis]

Thanks very much for the Welcomes,
Also in the Boston burbs, our house was built in 1910 the floor is nailed in and original so I don't think expansion and contraction will be a problem, but thanks for the warning.

Glad to hear your cats are so comfortable in that space, it makes me feel that the iron may not get too hot.

Thanks again,
-Beau

 

[Sir Osis]

Was also wondering what I should lay down between the cement board and my wood floor, any suggestions?

Thanks,
-Beau

 

[begreen]

If you want to make the pad removable and more rigid, attach the cement board to 3/4" plywood using 1" screws every 8".