My wife and I just bought a new(old) house, and would like to put either a free standing stove partly in a fireplace or get an insert if the cost isn't prohibitive. This won't be for heating the entire house, just a well insulated, south facing 500 square foot room. The problem I'm running into is there is a wood surround that is 6" wide and sticks out about 3" from the face of the brick on all sides. The bottom of the surround is 36.75" from the ground, and inside measurement side to side is 50".
From my research, with adding a heat shield to the bottom of the surround, a Jotul F100 or a Hearthstone Tribute would work sitting flush with the brick face, leaving 14.25" or 12.75" above the stove. I understand they are older stoves, but there are a few for sale near me that I plan on checking out in the next few days.
The big question I have is, and perhaps I'm overthinking things, do I treat the top of the surround as a "mantel" since it's 3" deep? And if I take the top horizontal section of the surround off, and replace it with a piece of stone or other noncombustible mantel shelf, is the wood above the noncombustible considered "trim" for installation purposes? The piece I'd use would be 67"L x 7"H, and 4.5"D. Using a new noncombustible piece would open up a lot more stove options and even inserts from what I can tell. I appreciate any help with this situation.
![[Hearth.com] Help with Mantel Clearances](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/img_2477-webp.332867/ "[Hearth.com] Help with Mantel Clearances")
From my research, with adding a heat shield to the bottom of the surround, a Jotul F100 or a Hearthstone Tribute would work sitting flush with the brick face, leaving 14.25" or 12.75" above the stove. I understand they are older stoves, but there are a few for sale near me that I plan on checking out in the next few days.
The big question I have is, and perhaps I'm overthinking things, do I treat the top of the surround as a "mantel" since it's 3" deep? And if I take the top horizontal section of the surround off, and replace it with a piece of stone or other noncombustible mantel shelf, is the wood above the noncombustible considered "trim" for installation purposes? The piece I'd use would be 67"L x 7"H, and 4.5"D. Using a new noncombustible piece would open up a lot more stove options and even inserts from what I can tell. I appreciate any help with this situation.
