woodstove backing
Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:46 am
I've racked my brain for a long time trying to come up with something not too ugly but fairly cheap (free) to put behind my wood stove which is the main source of my heat. This is what I came up with.
You can use the same kind of metal that is used on pole barns or what Mark describes in his book for a new metal roof. I got some ceramic insulated fence post thingies that electric fence attaches to from my dad to use as spacers. They have a hole in the middle to put a screw through. Then screwed the metal to the ceramic things and into the wall to keep the metal about an inch away from the wall. A 1" space was also left at the bottom and top of the metal pieces so the air can circulate behind the metal. The metal can be obtained in several colors but the kind I had around was white so I just left mine white. I would think it could be painted with some kind of heat resistent paint though. This arrangement seems to work fine, doesn't add a lot of weight, was easy to install and much better than hanging aluminum foil on the wall. Although my stove pipe is double insulated, it gets really hot so for added measure, I plan to also install a heat deflector behind the stovepipe that goes through the ceiling. It's just a piece of metal about 8" wide that hangs from screws and stove wire. A few feet away so the plastic doesn't melt, I have a box fan hung from the ceiling which I keep on low to send the heat down the hallway. I can't say that the back bedroom is very warm but it's tolerable. My stove is just a small box stove which I've elevated on cement blocks to a height which makes it easier for me to load and clean the stove. The floor underneath has a heavy piece of flat metal over it but since the stove is elevated, it doesn't get that hot on the floor anyway but the metal protects the floor from inadvertent hot ashes, etc.
Sure, I would love to have some kind of fancy stone work but this solution works great and was very inexpensive. It could be a simple solution for others like me looking for answers.
You can use the same kind of metal that is used on pole barns or what Mark describes in his book for a new metal roof. I got some ceramic insulated fence post thingies that electric fence attaches to from my dad to use as spacers. They have a hole in the middle to put a screw through. Then screwed the metal to the ceramic things and into the wall to keep the metal about an inch away from the wall. A 1" space was also left at the bottom and top of the metal pieces so the air can circulate behind the metal. The metal can be obtained in several colors but the kind I had around was white so I just left mine white. I would think it could be painted with some kind of heat resistent paint though. This arrangement seems to work fine, doesn't add a lot of weight, was easy to install and much better than hanging aluminum foil on the wall. Although my stove pipe is double insulated, it gets really hot so for added measure, I plan to also install a heat deflector behind the stovepipe that goes through the ceiling. It's just a piece of metal about 8" wide that hangs from screws and stove wire. A few feet away so the plastic doesn't melt, I have a box fan hung from the ceiling which I keep on low to send the heat down the hallway. I can't say that the back bedroom is very warm but it's tolerable. My stove is just a small box stove which I've elevated on cement blocks to a height which makes it easier for me to load and clean the stove. The floor underneath has a heavy piece of flat metal over it but since the stove is elevated, it doesn't get that hot on the floor anyway but the metal protects the floor from inadvertent hot ashes, etc.
Sure, I would love to have some kind of fancy stone work but this solution works great and was very inexpensive. It could be a simple solution for others like me looking for answers.