# Non Combustible Mantel  Project



## lukeg199 (Jan 1, 2014)

I joined Hearth.com this year and got a lot of great advice on buying a new stove.  What made my particular porject challenging was that my stove was going into a small dining room and it would be a hearth mount installation.  Accordingly, i purchased a demo unit from the Hearthstone factory sale for a steep discount that fits nearly perfect in my fireplace.  The biggest problem was clearance to a combustible mantel. See below.
	

		
			
		

		
	




This photo was actually taken before i purchased the house, but depicts the original design. So the first job was to (sadly) dismantle the mantel and replace the drywall behind it with hardi backer (non combustible ) material. One particular feature i wanted was to allow for outside air to infiltrate near the stove, thus preventing or reducing cold floors.  So i installed a dryer vent conduit through the wall.


With all of the drywall removed and replaced, i needed to prepare the mounting surface for thinset and tile (vermont slate).  As you can see in the photo above, i stacked three layers of backer board to allow the bottom tile to have a dead space behind it which would allow for outside air to enter the room.  The photo below shows the finished state. The bottom extruded tile also adds a nice grounding feel to the mantel surround.



With the sides of the mantel all but finished, i had to make a decision as to whether or not to include a mantel shelf.  Per Hearthstone's requirements, if it was to be combustible with a shield, it would have been located more than halfway up to the wall to the ceiling.  Not ideal. I researched for a long time on how to build a non combustible mantel shelf and it seems like almost everyone just has a piece of granite or other stone cut and mounted.  I wanted something with more depth and boldness, not to mentioned more affordable. So i set out to build a shelf, made out of cement board and reinforced with steel.  I couldn't find much in the way of how to actually do this, so i hope this helps.

I purchase wrought iron brackets from an online retailer to build a strong base.  These brackets are lag bolted to the studs behind. I then cut out a long piece of cement board that would be reinforced by 1/8" angle iron on both the wall side and the room side of the shelf.  See below.


Top View:



Instead of wasting cement board filling in the cavity between the angle irons, i tediously filled the cavity with smaller cutouts of cement board and screwed it all tight.




Finally i capped it with a large piece of cement board. I also had to cover the front side with cement board in order to provide a suitable surface to thinset tile on to.




With all the cement board tight, i cut tiles and thinset them on the mantel shelf:




With the new, non combustible fireplace mantel complete, i ventured down the road of making a custom hearthpad extension that matches the nice cherry floor trim pattern with matching slate tile. This hearthpad was another project that i may post.


The finished product!  Hope this post helps someone out there.  I know it certainly would have helped me!!


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## bob95065 (Jan 1, 2014)

Looks great, good job!

Looks like you have a 4 legged helper in the third picture.


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## begreen (Jan 1, 2014)

Excellent, the new mantel compliments the Keystone nicely.


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## mellow (Jan 2, 2014)

Nice looking install,  I am sure you are loving the heat from it right now and will really love it tonight as temps move into the negatives in your area.


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## Jags (Jan 2, 2014)

Nice remedy.  Looks good.  I can't seem to get my dog to help like that - he mumbles something about opposable thumbs and then walks away.


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## Warm_in_NH (Jan 2, 2014)

Great! I've been trying to wrap my head around a small mantle install. I got as far as the steel brackets and angle Iron, I was going to lean towards a black steel angle iron parallel run holding cobble stones. I like the use of the cement board and slate, sharp, well done and thanks for the photos.


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## lukeg199 (Jan 2, 2014)

Thank you for all of the compliments!  THe project took wayyyyy longer than i anticipated, but my doberman made sure to keep me on track. Right now my thermometer says -10F.  Tomorrow isn't supposed to get any higher than 0F - so this will be the biggest test.  Right now it's holding the house stable at around 66.  If anyone has specific questions i'm happy to help.  



> I was going to lean towards a black steel angle iron parallel run holding cobble stones.



Cobble stones sound like a fabulous idea.  There really is nothing like a natural stone look and feel.


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## begreen (Jan 2, 2014)

That's the Homestead, right? How is it heating for you? Any issues burning in it?


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## lukeg199 (Jan 2, 2014)

This is my first ever stove.  Now that that is out of the way -  i am fairly please, but i have very little to base this impression on.  I'm still learning a lot but i get frustrate by how fast this stove goes through wood.  I assumed (silly) that an 8 hour burn time meant an 8 hour flame.  I wuold say i would be lucky to get two. ofcourse that would mean fully loading the stove and then i would probably overfire it and lets just say that i have never had the problem of being heated out of a room (sadly), although im sure if i waited until spring that would be an easy endeavor.  As many do with the stove, i have also mounted it into my fireplace.  For me this is probably robbing me of a lot of heat since this is an exterior fireplace.  Additionally i think i am missing out on a lot of heat that would otherwise be transferred from the stovepipe into a room. In summary the heat output probably has a lot to do with my setup. For reference i have a fairly well insulated house 1300 sq ft in vermont. 

Now that my setting is understood, i like the stove.  It's reliable, takes a beating, looks good.  Same complaints as most.  ash pan is worthless, handle could be stronger etc. I picked it because it was designed to fit in a tight space, which is what i have.  The soapstone is wonderful at cutting down radiation heat, and the stove only protrudes like 16" from the wall.  I kinda wish i looked into woodstock a bit more, but i think in the end, given the space constraints, this is still the best option.  If woodstock made a hybrid soapstone that was also hearthmount nobody would know the homestead existed.   I saw a video the other day of the new Ideal Steel from woodstock and it made me jealous of the secondary burn that my stove cant touch. http://blog.woodstove.com/2013/12/early-news-from-beta-testers.html#more

Let me know if you have specific questions!


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## Warm_in_NH (Jan 2, 2014)

I'm running a Hearthstone Shelburne in central NH, heating about 1000 sq/ft. Keeps it at 78 without working hard at all in this 1/2 tight 1/2 drafty shack. 
Be patient, learn the stove, best dry wood you can get, good bed of coals, she should keep up I would think.


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## Fireshoppe (Jan 3, 2014)

Very pretty. Bravo


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