I'm building my house... my cousin put in the foundation and also helped me raise the walls and hang the trusses and roof it, but other than that I've built the entire place 97% by myself. I'm going to use a Jotul F400 Castine (the old one with 2 doors) to provide most of the heat. And my question is about what to put under the stove. Would brick be enough of a insulator to keep the wood flooring from getting scorched? When I was a kid we heated our farmhouse with a woodstove, and my pop used a metal insulator about 3/8ths of an inch thick, (probably filled with asbestos). What are people using today. I have access to enough free brick that I could use.
Nice to meet you Thought I might throw it out that raised hearths are liked by many here. And then there's always others like me that really miss the raised hearths in our previous home. Ours was lumber then cement board, and tiled over.
dig around and see what kind of R factor is needed under that stove. The commercial hearth boards are rated about .75r for the single layer units and 1.4 or so for the units 1.5" thick ( a lot of these are $ 400-700 ea) a 1/2" of compressed mineral board is good for apx R2 combine that with raised hearth and cement board plus a backer board for the mineral board - good to go. Some people use those firebricks instead of mineral board but they not give you much of gain R wise although they are fireproof. Will be constructing a pad shortly consisting of steel frame,1/2"osb ( backerboard) 1" mineral board( r factor 4 right there) cement board on top with tile on it. Total r about 4.5 If I use a pedestal under the pad that would gain a couple more r points. being further away from combustibles.
It's easier on my back and knees to stoke, check the fire, clean when its elevated a bit. I think ours was about 8-10", Backwoods Savage is higher.
Welcome to the forum JotulYokel If I were in your shoes I'd find out exactly what the manufacturer requires for that stove. Your insurance company will no doubt want to know this and make sure you follow that guideline. For raising the stove, measure the distance from the bottom of the firebox door to the floor. Determine how high you want the firebox door and go from there. I'd recommend it to be 26-30" from the floor which your back will appreciate especially as you age. It sounds like you may be a new wood burner and if so, congratulations and congratulations on the new home too. Here is some good reading that might interest you especially for the new epa stoves: Primer on Woodburning by Backwoods Savage
From the manual: Any UL, ULC or WH listed hearth board. (No bottom heat shield required). Any noncombustible material that has a minimum R- value of 2.0. (No bottom heat shield required.) Any noncombustible material with the use of the stove’s bottom heat shield. Me again: So the R-value of brick is R .8, but that's measured the 4" thickness of the brick. So I guess I need a hearth board.
So Hardie board has an R-value of .5 I think I'll layer up 4 layers of Hardie board and put my bricks on top of them. That oughta satisfy the ins. co.
Do you have any kiln repair or heat treat oven buliding/repair companies in your area? They will have various types of mineral board. A 1/2" thickness Roxoul board will have a r value of 2. The 1" thick x 1' wide x3' long pieces I just got were about $7 ea. 1/2" would be less would still need a sheet of cement board over the top of it just to be able to mount tile. Seems to me that the 1/2"thick x3' x5' sheet of cement board ( hardi?) I got was $40. Depending On where you are placing stove and pad/hearth might want check below for structural support for the weight. Might need to shore up joists to keep things from sagging over time. Random thoughts from my twisted mind.
