small englander hearth build

[gloves12]

Yo! I've finally got all the pieces together - micore, durock, tiles, thinset, etc. So here goes! I'm building this on a 3/4" plywood base because I'm hoping to avoid cutting the carpet - I know, but that offers me a lot of benefits, from being able to change the stoves orientation later, to being able to tweek the spot when I go to cut the chimney, or even move it to a different corner of the room if the chimney doesn't draft or heat well in this spot. I may end up cutting it still, but we'll see =).

Wood frame (the edges are too tall, but I have them tacked on to help guide cutting the inside pieces)


Starting to cut and fit in the micore-300:

 

[sportbikerider78]

Put down some thinset and lay the cement board in while its wet. Screw it down wet. It just makes things that much more rigid.

If you want to get nuts, then fill the seams with thinset and tape them.

What are you doing for the sides? Tiling that as well?

 

[gloves12]

Put down some thinset and lay the cement board in while its wet. Screw it down wet. It just makes things that much more rigid.

Hmm - I'm not planning on having thinset between the micore and the durock - I've seen some discussion here about avoiding that, do you think there should be thinset there?

 

[sportbikerider78]

Your call..but anything moving or shifting is bad for tile. Thinset gets rid of voids and that helps keep things intact.

 

[begreen]

Hmm - I'm not planning on having thinset between the micore and the durock - I've seen some discussion here about avoiding that, do you think there should be thinset there?

It's not necessary. I'm pretty certain that commercially made hearths are assembled without it between the micore and cement board. They have to stand up to moving, shipping, etc. without cracking. If more rigidity is desired it should be with a thicker plywood base.

 

[gloves12]

All cut, fit, and screwed together - tile next, woot!

Layer 1 of micore all cut and in:


Second layer of micore going on:


Cutting durock:


durock all screwed down:

Getting closer!

 

[begreen]

I think the instructions for Durock are/were to screw it every 8".

 

[gloves12]

I think the instructions for Durock are/were to screw it every 8".

Yup! It's every 6" around the edges, and there is a screw every 12" on the inside, they're just hard to see. I should add a few more once my hands stop hurting from those ones.

 

[sportbikerider78]

Do yourself a favor...this little impact is amazing for home and garage projects.

 

[gloves12]

...What are you doing for the sides? Tiling that as well?

Missed that sorry - just stained wood trim, nothing fancy =)

 

[firefighterjake]

Do yourself a favor...this little impact is amazing for home and garage projects.

View attachment 184090

Amen . . . it's one of those tools that I bought . . . and then kicked myself for not buying it years earlier.

 

[tarzan]

All cut, fit, and screwed together - tile next, woot!

Layer 1 of micore all cut and in:
View attachment 184074

Second layer of micore going on:
View attachment 184075

Cutting durock:
View attachment 184076

durock all screwed down:
View attachment 184077
Getting closer!

Looking good gloves!

 

[sportbikerider78]

Amen . . . it's one of those tools that I bought . . . and then kicked myself for not buying it years earlier.

I think the star and square head screws are just amazing. They just suck into whatever you are fastening. You don't have to 'get on it' like a normal phillips pattern.
You marry those with a nice impact and it is just awesome.

 

[gloves12]

Nooow we have a ton more screws, as suggested. Sweet. Tiles up next hopefully, need to do some tile cutting tonight

 

[gloves12]

Done with the tile! Oof, cutting tile is tricky; I broke a ton of them lol. Stove weighs 350, hearth weighs 190 (weighed with a bathroom scale =) so all together, we're at 540 lbs, and an R-value of 2.3 (needed at least R-value 2).

Last thing to decide is: put it in the corner (where the chair is)? Or by the window? I actually really like it by the window, and the floor is stronger there, anyway (outside wall, vs non-load-bearing inner wall). We don't use our front door, like EVER, and there is still plenty of walking room past the stove, anyway, or room to move furniture in via that door, or whatever.

Any thoughts from experience on where to put it / any stuff I'm forgetting?

 

[T-roy_]

I'd say park it by the window. Seems to take up less space in the room. Having that door near the stove will be nice for bringing wood in. Most of the mess can stay on the hard floor where it is easy to clean up. Looking good so far, keep at it!

 

[T-roy_]

BTW...watch the curtains behind the stove. Stay safe! (If the stove ends up there)

 

[begreen]

Yes, watch clearances and watch out for a bit of an error in the manual. It shows the rear tested clearance for the stovepipe (C) with single wall pipe as 13". Problem is that single-wall pipe requires a minimum of 18" clearance. By all means meet or exceed that minimum or use double-wall stove pipe.

Also, when thinking about placement, think about where the chimney will exit the roof, attic accessibility and how it will look outside.

 

[gloves12]

Yes, watch clearances and watch out for a bit of an error in the manual. It shows the rear tested clearance for the stovepipe (C) with single wall pipe as 13". Problem is that single-wall pipe requires a minimum of 18" clearance. By all means meet or exceed that minimum or use double-wall stove pipe.

Also, when thinking about placement, think about where the chimney will exit the roof, attic accessibility and how it will look outside.

Outside look is a good point; it would definitely look goofy coming out of the edge of the roof like that =) But I'm not too worried about it, I'd rather have it in a good spot inside.

Interesting about the typo, I was wondering about why singe-wall had a lower clearance than double! my "C" dimension, even to the curtains, is well over that (22" or so):


If I went for the corner, any thoughts on weight / load bearing? is 540 lbs over 14 square ft going to cause problems? I'm aware it depends on a lot of variables; type of joist wood, span of the joists (29 feet in my case), size of the joists (9.25"/1.5"), etc.

 

[begreen]

Weight will be distributed over many sq ft.. We have never seen a floor collapse in the 11 yrs. I have been here.

 

[gloves12]

Or could go against the other wall, huh! Didn't think of that. Hmmm shoot this is hard.

 

[mol1jb]

The chimney location is a good point. If it was my install I would be going corner for out of the way location and better chimney location.

 

[T-roy_]

Or could go against the other wall, huh! Didn't think of that. Hmmm shoot this is hard.

View attachment 186022

View attachment 186023

Good thinking. I like that spot, should put your chimney closer to the center of your house. You'll have to do some attic crawling to see what's above that spot. Which way do your rafters run?

 

[T-roy_]

Also, is that a cold air return next to the lamp? I believe you need 10' or so between it and your stove. Might want to look into that before you commit to a spot.

 

[gloves12]

Long time coming but all done! Burning well so far, sticking to short fires to cure the paint for the first few days, love having it!