Woodburning stove in fireplace with wood surround.

[woodbinehouse]

Hi All,

I've been advised that I can't have a stove installed in my fireplace as it has a wooden surround which is classed as a combustible and there is not enough clearance between the side of the stove and the surround. Can anyone tell me if the surround is treated with fire retardant paint or varnish is it no longer classed as a combustible and therefore installation would be possible?

Thanks.

 

[Richard C]

No, Building Regulations are quiet specific about the surround, the need for a constructional hearth, (basically a large lump of concrete in the floor), the size of the superimposed hearth (the decorative bit on the top) & the type of flue you have. Best option is to remove the wood surround & fit a non-combustible one or you could use slate or granite tiles but don’t use conventional plaster as that will fall off.

You should also be aware this is notifyable work unless you use a registered HETAS installer who will test & certify the stove as compliant; an incorrectly installed stove could burn your house down or even kill you through carbon monoxide poisoning.

 

[woodbinehouse]

Thanks Richard,

I thought it unlikely but it's always worth asking.

The property is 200yrs old and I don't feel right about ripping out something that's been there that long. There would have been a tiled insert in place at some point but that's long gone and had hoped it could be replaced by a wood burner.

I had a look at the Part J regs and apart from ensuring that the flue has a clearance of 3xD (which would be fine if a 5" flue was used) I can't see anything that mentions clearances from the side of a stove to a surround.
Different manufacturers seem to state different sizes which makes it more confusing. Does it depend on the Stove output or something different altogether?

 

[Richard C]

There are slightly different requirements for free standing & cassette stoves where the flue pipe or the side of the stove is concerned (not sure what your propose; look at diagrams 26, 27,28 & 30 in Part J or this link may provide a more user friendly interpretation of the BR’s;
http://www.woodburnerwarehouse.co.uk/building_regualtions_for_stoves.phtml
I recently had a Stovax Riva multi-fuel cassette stove (very modern) installed after living with an open fire for some years & it’s much better. Far more heat efficient & we are only using around ½ the fuel we did with an open fire +it doesn’t cover the whole lounge with black smuts so I wouldn’t give up on it so easily.

 

[woodbinehouse]

Ok, I'm now looking at the possibility of replacing the wooden surround with a stone one (Limestone probably) as I don't like the idea of having no surround as suggested by the installer as I don't think it would look right.

So the plan would be to tile a new hearth all the way back to the rear of the chimney, clean and re-point the stone work and fit a stone surround on top of the new hearth. Then have a stove installed (By a professional of course). Sound reasonable?

The space I have to work with is this:

Untitled

• woodbinehouse
• 18 Nov 2009
• 1

Untitled

• woodbinehouse
• 18 Nov 2009
• 1

 

[Richard C]

Sound OK to me but make sure you pick a hearth & fire surround that is suitable for high output (solid fuel) stoves & so will withstand the heat (not sure about limestone); you also need to check that you have a suitable constructional hearth underneath there. The problem with no surround at all is that you will need special plaster (expensive); Gypsum based plasters won't withstand the heat, will blow & fall off.

Don’t know what type of stove you’re going for but if free-standing you may need to consider enlarging the fire opening; I went for a modern cassette type so it wasn’t a problem for me. You must also have a permanently open vent in the room if the stove output is above 5Kw.

Lots of good deals “on line” whatever you want & I saved around £400 over the quoted stove shop prices for the stove & black granite hearth. I constructed my own fire surround from 600 x 300 x 12mm granite tiles, laid onto a sand/cement/lime render base using powdered cement adhesive; important if you want them to stay up there. I contacted 3 local independent HETAS installers (get a list from the HETAS web site), had them round to quote for fitting the liner & stove, then test & certify; the reason for doing this first is that many fitters are tied into stove shops & they won’t install customer supplied stoves; this can easily double the price of the installation! They may also not be happy for you to do your own building work unless you agree it with them & what your going to do in advance, they have to certify the installation complies with current BR’s & won’t be happy if they don’t know exactly what’s been done. I constructed the surround & laid the granite hearth over the existing constructional hearth which the installer was able to inspect as suitable before hand; the fitter specified the flue & all fittings which I ordered directly from the supplier so no mark ups there either.

 

[woodbinehouse]

Thanks again Richard, some useful advice there.

The room isn't particularly big and a small 5KW should be more than enough. I'm trying to get the installer out tonight to run through a few options. I'd prefer to do as much work myself and buy the stove elsewhere as stove prices quoted by the installer are the full rrp and I know I can get them much cheaper elsewhere.

 

[Richard C]

I'd prefer to do as much work myself and buy the stove elsewhere as stove prices quoted by the installer are the full rrp and I know I can get them much cheaper elsewhere.

My views exactly; I don’t mind paying a reasonable mark up for convenience but I don’t call a £400 hike on the stove & doubling the price on the installation very reasonable! Just as a guide, my installer quoted £440 & that included 8 bags of Vermiculite @ £10/bag of which he only used 4 so £400. However, he made such a good job of it & had to work till 7pm (an unforeseen problem with a jammed flue liner) I split the difference with him. The 8m x 5” flue liner (necessary for multi fuel), register plate, adjustable connector & flue cap cost £420 so the total cost for the install was around £850; far cheaper than the £1800 quoted by 2 local stove shops.