Our Jotul Oslo install...

[Tramontana]

So our home was built in 1961, and had an open fireplace and hearth that would not heat the home. It actually stole heat from the remainder of the house, and would back draft both the furnace and water heater.

My wife and I closed on the property in December 2007 and began our renovation the following January. We completely gutted the basement, which had two long rooms the length of the house, divided in the middle by the stairway and furnace/laundry room.

The original hearth was in a long narrow room, which was quite an awkward space. We decided to divide the room into two, creating a new hobby room on one side and the new library with the fireplace

Last year we finally removed the existing raised hearth, installed a new hearth stone and a new Jotul Oslo wood stove. Here is our build;

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The new subdividing wall looking towards the fireplace.

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Demolition of the original masonry hearth.

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Demolition nearly complete.

 

[Tramontana]

I ordered a single hearth stone cut out of local "Colorado Buff" sandstone, and picked up the hearth from the stone cutters with my Tacoma and trailer. I was able to back this around the house from the street and get the trailer pretty close to the french door of the basement. However I was not able to unload onto the floor slab as I had hoped, so we ended up renting a small walk behind skid steer to pick the stone and pallet from the trailer deck and onto the ground. Then we had to re-pick the load, but lengthwise to the stone in order to fit through the door. The stone is roughly 3'-7" front to back, and 5'6" wide and 4" thick. I estimated that it weighs somewhere in excess of 700lbs. We ended up with two of us on the back of the skidsteer for ballast, and another person with a steel rock bar used as a lever to keep the load from tipping on it's nose. Eventually we got it in, and set the pallet onto the floor slab. I had borrowed a pallet jack, so maneuvering the slab was fairly easy.

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[Tramontana]

We test fit the stone, and then I had a little more trimming of the old fireplace brick in order to get a tight fit.
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Then we moved the stone back into place above where it would sit. I ended up jacking the pallet/stone up and putting a piece of sandstone under each end of the slab, and then backing the pallet jack and pallet out from under the slab. We then mixed the mortar for the setting bed;
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Next we troweled it into place beneath the hearth;
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After we had the bed set, we lifted the hearth slab off of the pieces of stone, and lowered them it into the mortar and onto a piece of 1x blocking for finger clearance under each end. Then we could use the wedge of the rock bar to pick up the slab, enough to remove the blocking.

 

[Tramontana]

At this point I was really glad to have good (strong) friends, as my back isn't the strongest.

We lifted the stove off of a purpose made dolly, and onto the hearth slab with a two person lifting sling that I purchased when we picked up our stove. Planning the lift, with Brian and Laura (she's a former competitive power lifter) in harness, and my friend Mountain coordinating location from the rear of the stove.
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Here I'm preparing some wood blocking to place under the feet of the stove legs so we can get the stove into location without damaging the enamel finish;
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Lastly was unwrapping the new Oslo;
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[Tramontana]

We were done for the day. The next day was dry and warm, so I worked on the SS liner and chimney cap from on top of the roof. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the install.

Finally got the clean-out T and the stove coupler installed, and hooked to the back of the stove.

We completed the work and cleaned up, just in time for Christmas!
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It has been nearly a year, and we are really enjoying the warmth of the new stove.

Cheers!

 

[Eatonpcat]

Looks great, glad you are enjoying it!

 

[Tramontana]

Thanks Eatonpcat. It certainly has been a work of love, remodeling our home.

I'm glad that I've been able to do most of the work myself.

Cheers!

 

[corey21]

Nice install.

 

[Pallet Pete]

We were done for the day. The next day was dry and warm, so I worked on the SS liner and chimney cap from on top of the roof. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the install.

Finally got the clean-out T and the stove coupler installed, and hooked to the back of the stove.

We completed the work and cleaned up, just in time for Christmas!
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It has been nearly a year, and we are really enjoying the warmth of the new stove.

Cheers!

B-E-A-UTIFUL job it looks amazing ! I am jelious now

Pete

 

[firefighterjake]

Looks good . . . is that the blue black finish?

Also . . . I know you know . . . I assume if this is a fresh cut tree you keep it well watered . . . looks like it is well past the clearances . . . but the Oslo can put out some serious drying heat.

 

[Tramontana]

Looks good . . . is that the blue black finish?

Also . . . I know you know . . . I assume if this is a fresh cut tree you keep it well watered . . . looks like it is well past the clearances . . . but the Oslo can put out some serious drying heat.

Thanks for the compliments and advice. The tree was a Christmas Eve purchase, as we were supposed to travel but opted to stay home due to road conditions last year. We usually buy a living tree and plant it come spring.

The photo doesn't show it clearly, but that is the green majolica from Jotul.

Cheers!

 

[loon]

Great looking for sure

Wish i had a couple power lifters a couple of months ago with my stove install

loon

 

[ScotO]

very nice install, love that bluffstone hearth! I am in the middle of the remodel right now, too.......big Napoleon NZ3000 ZC fireplace (it's a modern EPA woodstove in a fireplace configuration), big mantle and lots of stone.....

Love doing the remodel stuff, don't really love the pressure being on me all the time though. Had hoped to be in that room by Thanksgiving, but it's looking more like Christmas now......crossing my fingers.