Logburner lining of fireplace with board & paint advice

[Jez]

Hi all

We are re-doing a fireplace in our house, and would like to go for a modern approach to it. We have already previously had a contemporary log burner installed into this recess not long ago at a fair cost, and do not wish to replace this or disturb its approved installation.

Basically the question is, what material should i use to line the inside of the fireplace? I am concerned that regular plasterboard will not be safe with the intense heat created by the burner?

In addition to this, i would like to paint the lining, but what paint is suitable for the heat generated here? Would standard emulsion stand up?

Obviously being a sealed burner there are no dust concerns as such, it is purely dry heat.

Image of current situation, noting the brick interior, which i wish to cover by slotting pre painted board down the sides. I will board and plaster the front wall, no problems with that. We already have an Oak beam (Old stone surround which we decided to get rid of) for the mantle from the old brick surround;


Image of desired end result (roughly speaking);

 

[Jez]

You could be right, i will need to check up on that. Failing boarding i guess i could paint the brickwork using a very thin roller and a guard to avoid painting the burner. If i did this, i wonder what paint type should be used for the heat?

 

[Jez]

Do you mean stuff like this mate:
http://www.condell-ltd.com/ProductD...n_dry_lining&gclid=CO--lYLZm8ICFdLItAodBUQAqg

Ive never worked with that stuff before. Do you think it will fare a lot better than regular plasterboard?

I need to check the clearances with the installer too.

And what paint would you use maccapacca? I know you are pretty experienced in a lot of this sort of thing. I dont know if emulsion as on the walls and what i will use on the front will stand up to the heat? Or will it?

 

[Jez]

Looking at the picture again i would be surprised if the installation meets Part J - 150mm is minimum clearance as i recall.

Oh the armchair experts on this forum posting useless replies which do not address the question being asked. Read the op and you will see that this is a professionally installed and approved installation.

FYI, I bothered to take two minutes to look it up for you;

Building Regulations Approved Document J, Pages 37- 39, Diagrams 24-27.

If the stove is placed on a combustible floor, the stove should always be installed on a non-combustible hearth. The hearth should extend 225mm in front of the stove and 150 mm to each side.


Distance of stove to adjacent walls, combustible, non-combustible:

The CE plate on the rear of the stove indicates the minimum distance to combustible surfaces to the back, sides, and to the front of the stove.

There is no requirement for minimum clearance to non-combustible surfaces around the sides and back of the stove.

Thanks to the people with informed replies, I need a cement based board and emulsion then I think we were right to remove the old stone surround, it was authentic matching the stone construction of the old cotswold house, but I think it's perhaps too oldy woldy for us.

 

[Jez]

The flue is lined with steel mate The install is not something i am going to change, it is signed off with a certificate and all plate etc and i do not plan to pay for a re-inspection etc.

I think i may simply paint the brick with a thin roller and see how it goes. The clearance is not massive as it is and the fact that the brick is painted shouldn't show with only the thin visible void. I also risk voiding the install in theory if i reduce clearance as the installer will have gone with the manufacturer guidelines which i am imagine are on their limit as it is.

It does perform wonderfully as it is, so i also dont wish to impact this really, its a 9KW burner so puts out a decent amount of heat even for our large lounge.

 

[Jez]

Howso? Expand please. Its brick, brick is not combustible.

 

[Jez]

I already answered the question but then thought about it more having seen the picture - bit defensive aren't you?

I'm not defensive mate, far from it, the issue is that a sad side effect of this particular forum section is that there are so many pointless incorrect and unhelpful replies which do not address the question being asked. I suppose that is partly my fault, I should have simply asked the question, but I always feel as a reader it is more interesting to me when people provide context too.

Thanks for the first reply, very helpful. As I say I think now I will shelve the board idea as the clearance isn't very generous as mentioned, and it was at the time only just signed off. Due to our house requiring a powerful burner to heat it I pushed for the largest they were happy to fit which met all the guidelines.

For reference for anybody reading with an equally tight spot, the clearance around this unit is 2" to each side, and around 5" at the back. Don't be afraid to push the boundaries of the burner output, this performs extremely well and is powerful enough to eliminate the heating system in an old uninsulated large 3 storey stone house. It also has the capability of being hooked up to the radiator system at a later date too which sounds rather good. A smaller burner didn't interest me at all as per the small one in skodamarks post, it's not the same prospect as we actually wish to use this thing as a primary heat source.

 

[Jez]

Stoves too big for the hole, I agree.
9KW is just crazy!
My little Stockton is only 3.75KW and really kicks out the heat.

How big is your lounge?

3.75kw wouldn't do it for us mate, we like to leave the doors open and have this take almost all of the strain off of the oil burner heating system. Later this will actually be connected to that and will heat that loop too.

Lounge is currently (I say currently as we are going through some building plans currently) roughly 36*16, while not huge it's probably a bigger area than most but more importantly it has no insulation really and the heat wafts all over the house

 

[Jez]

I do like your fireplace very much, looks great yeah I'd always have a burner, we had an open fire there before and by comparison it might as well have not even been there, totally useless heat wise. Luckily we have unlimited free wood out here in West oxon so although this burner eats it, all that means is more exercise for me prepping it! By comparison firing our oil burner was chewing upwards of £200pcm which I deemed unacceptable really when there is this alternative.

You understand though I am hardly going to rip out a near new very powerful burner or modify the structure of the house simply to create more clearance though. That's madness and is why those replies are not helpful at all. Thanks again for (most!) of the replies guys.

 

[Jez]

That sounds like a perfect solution, thanks for the link. My issue is that I don't think I can see a way to apply it with the lack of space to get round the unit. The flue is sealed to the plate which seals the chimney so I can't pull the stove out either

I guess what I could do which perhaps might be best is get the hetas guy back round to pull it out, apply the plaster and then slot it back in and seal it all back up.

Decisions!

 

[Jez]

I am with you on the best job thing for sure, this burner saved me a fortune last winter (easily paid for itself) and will hopefully save another couple of thousand litres of oil this winter too so it's a no brainer to have one. The fuel I tend to get does tend to be soft wood so it absolutely chews it and needs a lot of feeding, but I quite like doing all of that I have a mountain of wood in one of our garages around 10ft square ready for winter already.

 

[Jez]

Sorry Jez I never realised it was finished and signed of

At my other house I had a Clearview 700 14kw to which I added a boiler and six rads - separate from oil heating - The fire coped remarkably well and all rads got too hot to touch but remember it will half the radiated heat output of fire - Before rads it was up to 700 deg but after rads 400 was highest I could get it. As you get free wood you will be ok because it will eat a lot more with rads.

What we have now

Dave

Wow 14kw, nice. Love look of that newer contemporary one too. Now you say 14kw, it sounds as though my 9kw might struggle if connected to the rads..

 

[Jez]

hells teeth £200 a month in oil - are rads fitted to outside of house

Tell me about it, I burnt around 2500L over the winter the first winter we were here. Bosch Worcester serviced burner, 18 radiators of varying sizes plus hot water. Not acceptable, hence the burner. House construction is cotswold stone (unfortunately no cavity for the majority) and unfortunately not much insulation in the roof because the attic is converted.

The log burner is hard work but paid for itself in one winter alone with free fuel, I'd happily install a 2nd which I may well do at some point with an external flue.

 

[Jez]

Yeah the connected ones you have to specifically hunt out, the common type are the regular standalone ones For us its free heat though in place of burning hundreds in oil, it has to be worth connecting to the rads surely.