Removal of Fireplace Enclosure/what is the side insullation?

[Hestia]

This is my very first post. I have done a lot of research on your site - THANK YOU! I am signing in as Hestia, the Greek Goddess of the Hearth (and fire tender) - that is what I aspire to To help me on my way, I have some questions, have searched for them, but have not found them on this site.

What we currently have:
A floor to ceiling field stone fireplace with a 70's style glass door enclosure (close to 40 inch wide.) Roaring fires when they get going, but very wasteful of heat. It has a "floating" granite hearth raised off of the floor about a foot, and comes out of the fireplace about a foot. The width of the both field stone chimney and attached floating hearth is about 70 inches. Currently we have the house temperature set at 58, but this ranch has two additions and is U shaped - even though we upped the ceiling insulation and changed out poor quality doors, our monthly oil bill is astronomical. (We could upgrade our oil burner, and we will down the road, but the payback will be much sooner with the wood stove, and it is less expensive for the moment, install included.)

What we decided to do: Remove the glass doors, install an insulated liner, install a Woodstock Keystone wood stove. (They are having a great sale right now (with us picking it up, we will spend about $2,000 - no tax in NH.) We drove 2 1/2 hours up to visit on Saturday - we ended up choosing our stove and put a deposit down - very exciting. What clinched it for us was the amount of heat radiating off of the stove at 4:30 p.m. in the display room - there were only ashes visible from the morning-built fire.

Question 1: What is filling the gap between the fireplace surround and the field stone?
I just had a close look at the glass surround that we will need to remove from our fireplace - it has two bolts on top and two on the bottom - however, what I thought was only stove cement (filling the gap between the stones and the edge of the surround) actually "gave" when I pressed on it. A piece popped out, and there was soft white crumbly stuff (like a former putty paste - my husband says NOT like vermiculite) I am fearful that it is asbestos or something. How can I tell what it is? What would have been a typical install in the 70's? Should I wait until the Chimney Sweep takes a look before I remove the surround? (We are having a heck of a time getting a sweep out here - they are very busy.)

Question 2: Should we install a metal panel?
We want to make sure that the heat stays in the house, and doesn't go up the chimney. Besides having the new chimney liner insulated and also sealed at the damper area, would you recommend having a metal panel fabricated and installed where the glass doors currently are (to cover the fireplace opening) or could we just clean up the stones where the current surround is and leave it open? How much would a metal panel get in the way of inspecting the stove pipe (once every two months or so)?
My preference: for good looks if we can leave it open without losing heat, we were considering eventually having a metal piece fabricated with an open arch to replicate the arch of the window of the Keystone (we would paint it the same color as the stove, and fit this just inside the fieldstone) I thought that it would help visually unify the hearth more. This would be down the road a bit.

Question 3: What are appropriate clearances with the floating hearth storing heat?
I have read and read about clearances. The stove would be on the floor in front of the floating hearth. (We will probably lay down one of the prefabricated hearth pads sold by Woodstock. They are expensive, however I am not sure if our strict building inspector would approve a homemade hearth pad.) I am a little confused as to how much the clearances should be for this unusual install to be safe. The floating hearth field stone is non-flammable, however I assume that it will store heat. On the sides of the fireplace/floating granite hearth (it juts over two feet into the room with a windowed alcove on either side of the fireplace) just behind the floating hearth are pieces of wood paneling (on the side of the fireplace.) The pieces of paneling cover cement so would look bad if we remove them (the fieldstone is real, however sort of a veneer on the cement.) If the stove is close to the raised hearth, I am assuming that the existing floating stone hearth will become quite warm and store/radiate heat as well. As the floating hearth is non-flammable, can we install very close to it? Or, conversely, would you recommend a heat shield be installed on the back of the Keystone stove? It probably sounds crazy, as the hearth/chimney is about 70 inches wide, but if the hearth is storing heat as well, should I worry about the flash point of the wood on the sides decreasing? My husband thinks I am over worrying, however I want to do the right thing for safety, but do not want to spend money for a shield if it is not necessary, and this is not straightforward. We will be asking the Woodstock people as well, but would appreciate any advice here.

Thank you all! Hestia

 

[begreen]

Welcome. I think you want an insulated block off plate installed just below the damper plate. This will be out of sight. Then no need for the surround panels. The stove might even look better slightly recessed into the existing fireplace if there is top clearance. You can put a hearth extension in at floor level by laying stone or tile over an underlayment, in front of the existing hearth.

Are you sure the Keystone is large enough for your climate? How large is this room? Do you intend to just heat the room or the rest of the house too?

 

[Hestia]

Welcome. I think you want an insulated block off plate installed just below the damper plate. This will be out of sight. Then no need for the surround panels. The stove might even look better slightly recessed into the existing fireplace if there is top clearance.

I wish that we could recess it. However, the Keystone only has a slide loading door, and we also need to be able to access the controls in the back for the catalytic combustor, and I want to be able to cook on top of it. Anyway, it is so heavy that in order to service it (check the stove connection, etc.) we decided it would be much easier to have it on the floor, rather than to have to try and move it. Last we have heard that it is better to have the stove out in the room and not recessed, or there are heat loss issues.

Are you sure the Keystone is large enough for your climate? How large is this room? Do you intend to just heat the room or the rest of the house too?

We wish that we could heat the entire house, however it is problematic with any stove with our room layout. It is a ranch, with a U shape. The fireplace is at the far end of the U, at the gable end of an addition - high ceiling, 20 x 20 room. All of the rest of the house has 7 foot ceilings and fairly small rooms. The big room is open to the living room/kitchen. We will put fans in the door ways, and keep the ceiling fan moving the air. We estimate that we could heat that part of the house. The bedrooms would be colder. In all we hope to heat about half of our 1,900 sf house. The room that the stove will be in is the heaviest used of all of our rooms, and is in its own heating zone - however it is open to the other public rooms in the house, which are on the other zone. Our main concern is that our bedroom (in the other end of the U) is cold anyway. Wish that we could afford to add an addition to fill in between the "U"

We hope that the fans will help move the heat. The only other choice we would have would be an insert. However, we wanted to be able to use the stove when the electricity goes out. We decided on the Keystone because of the quality of the Woodstock Stoves - they are very well finished compared to the other stoves that we were considering. We visited six different other stove resellers, but ended up really liking the Woodstock stoves. (We drove 2 1/2 hours up then back on Saturday- 5 hours of driving to look at the stoves there for one hour!) My husband had been learning toward the Morso stoves, but then I read in their manual that they should be re-fed every 70 minutes. We didn't want that. My husband liked the Woodstock stoves, but didn't want to consider the Fireview because the style is just not very well matched to a ranch. So it was between the Palladian and the Keystone. We both liked the Keystone.

Thank you for your quick reply.

Hestia