Non-combustable interior wall options?

[Innovate1]

Looking at the wood stove installation the required space behind is 14" to stove and 18" to pipe (back of pipe is 4" forward from back of stove) for combustible wall. There are approved ways to reduce the spacing by putting various things over the wall but in all those the space is 12" minimum. Not worth it to gain 2". Currently have a stove 6" from the wall but wall is solid concrete with tile.

What's the options for an interior non-combustible wall short of making it concrete? I could use steel studs but I think I would need to make both sides of the wall non-combustible. Could use tile backer board and tile behind the stove but the other side of the wall I don't really want tile and the rest of the room is drywall.

This is residential so the other framing is wood. Concrete floor.

 

[cadunkle]

NFPA 211 allows for reduced clearances based on various construction methods. Basically you are building a masonry wall however thick, and possibly spacing it off the combustible wall material by some amount (1.5" comes to mind) using noncombustible spacers and leaving a gap at the bottom where it meets the floor and the top where it transitions to whatever other wall material to allow for a convection which cools the wall.

Have a look at this table. Also Hearth is a great resource for anything about wood stoves.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/nfpa-wall-clearance-reductions/

I did a wood stove install in a tight spot years ago and was able to maintain minimum clearances for the stove (I chose a stove with fairly small clearance requirements) but being a bit paranoid about fire I made a noncombustible wall using cement board direct to the studs then used granite split stone over that. It looked better than tile, IMO, and was significantly thicker, a few inches. I still maintained clearance to combustibles, but I think it added a margin of safety being to a noncombustible or much more combustion resistant wall. I also went with double the chimney manufacturers clearance to combustibles and lined the inside of the chimney chase with cement board.

 

[Jackfre]

The other thing that will get the stove out of the center of the room is the close clearance vent connector piping. Selkirk has DS and Dura-Vent has DVL. Both are excellent products and reduce the clearance to 6" for the 6" pipe and 8" for the 8". It is SS and improves the operation of the stove.

 

[Innovate1]

NFPA minimum clearance after the reductions is 12" and not worth the savings of 2" from the 14" the stove manual calls out. I talked to the code people about what is required on the back side of a "non-combustible wall" and they really waffled around. Even said if they approved something on the plans it didn't mean it would necessarily pass field inspection because they were fallible. They are a pain to work with.... Will just go with standard 14" spacing.

 

[kbs2244]

Call your fire department.
They know the code and the result of not meeting it.

 

[kbs2244]

Call your fire department.
They know the code and the result of not meeting it.

I expect the concrete wall will be important.

 

[Jackfre]

Actually, they are wrong, but wrestling with the building dept... Look at your stoves install manual and follow it. Go to the NFPA site. You may be able to look at 211. Be aware that frequently cities and towns don’t get around to recognizing the most current issue of a new code, so you may have to find out if they are on 08, ‘12, ‘16. Also for reference, stop into a good stove shop and discuss with them. Hearth.com is excellent

 

[tlmartin84]

We did rock veneer behind my wood stove. Everything behind it is wood except for a 3'x3' (Off of memory, it was whatever the IRC required at the time) concrete chunk around where the pipe exits.

 

[Falcon67]

When I was welding near a wall, I put a scrap piece of Hardipanel on the wall to deflect sparks.

 

[BruceMc]

Basically you are building a masonry wall however thick, and possibly spacing it off the combustible wall material by some amount (1.5" comes to mind) using noncombustible spacers and leaving a gap at the bottom where it meets the floor and the top where it transitions to whatever other wall material to allow for a convection which cools the wall.

This makes a huge difference, turning your non-combustible surface a heat shield rather than just fireproof cladding. While it may not be code today, typical install used to be using 2x2s as vertical stringers. If you attach your fireproof material directly to the wall then all the heat will still eventually be conducted into the wall materials.

 

[paredown]

Somewhere I saw pictures--I think it was forensics on a wood stove install-- done to current code--and subject to a lot of use.

When the wall was apart, you could see charring on the 2x structure.

I like the idea of furring the wall out, along with proper non combustible facing, code-compliant spacing of the stove from the wall. It's one of those situations where even I might be tempted to do code+ because of safety concerns.

(Ours is sitting on a hearth, in front of the old fireplace, so there is nothing directly affected.)

Oh--it is worth saying this since I did not know this when I started our install--check with your insurance company AND with your local code enforcement. The guys at hearth.com alerted me to the issue that many insurance companies will deny coverage if you have self installed a wood stove and you have a fire claim, and many jurisdictions require a licensed installer who has to pull a permit.

 

[dw1]

I put a wood burning Napolean Fireplace in my house, I mentioned in your build thread the other day about my spray foam issue around the FP, after removing all the spray foam around the FP and installing fiberglass batts, the fireplace company came and put Durarock concrete board inside the FP chase and sealed the joints, they also used metal studs on the front of the FP, heres a few pics:
I would check with your manufacturer, I think my magic number was everything below 84" needed to be this way. I had taken the metal studs out to get up in there and scrape the spray foam off

 

[kevlar_vw]

Above all, respect the clearances listed in your manual. NFPA allows a 66% clearance reduction, UP TO 12”. (12” is the minimum) as other people have stated. Example would be sheet metal with a 1” airspace, the important part is it has to be vented-open on the top and bottom.

I used “fire rated” panels from fauxpanels.com. They look great, and are easy to install. They are combustible, so I had to respect the published clearances. Double wall stove pipe, and the manufacturers rear heat shield will help as well.

If you’re still looking for a wood stove, consider a Hearthstone. You will love it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[theoldwizard1]

That is very nice looking adn I don't know anything about fir codes, but ...

My Dad did something similar years ago in his place that was heated by a wood stove. Face brick on a cement backer board. The opposite side of that wall (which happened to be knotty pine T&G paneling) was so hot, you could not hold your hand on it !

His solution was some heavy gauge sheet metal, painted black, and mounted about 6" off of the brick. It did a great job of reflecting the heat back into the room AND greatly reduced the temp on that face brick.

He had to do something similar where the pipe went straight up through the knotty pine ceiling to prevent it from being scorched. It was not the pipe (triple layer collar though the ceiling), just the heat from the stove (7' ceiling).