Free standing stove - hearth regulations

GreatBigBookcase

Hello All,

Can anyone confirm whether there is a minimum distance required between the back of a free standing stove and the wall if I have a stone slab on the wall? I don't have a chimney place/hearth, so I'm planning a stone slab on the floor and another on the wall behind. I believe the requirement is 150mm at back and sides of a stove, but I wondered if this were true if the back is against non-comubustible material. The fitter I have lined up is being a bit unhelpful and just sent me a link to website when I asked him. However, was thinking the guidelines might be different if I had non-combustible material behind it?

Many thanks for any advice on this.

BuildingFife

Every stove is different, but the rule of thumb is you require a minimum of 50mm at the back of a stove even if the wall is non combustible for air to circulate. You generally apply the rule of thumb for 150mm at the sides unless the stove instructions state otherwise (again every stove has different requirements, being free standing I would make sure it had atleast 150mm, more if the customer would allow a bigger hearth)

You then have the regulation of 300mm at the front of the stove to the edge of your hearth.

GreatBigBookcase

Thanks so much for your reply BuildingFife. 50mm at the back would mean I can reduce my hearth by 100mm, which is great as the stove is going against an angled wall but will be positioned in a way that means the hearth is a strange shape and rather long at one side!

Thank you

GreatBigBookcase

Hm, just read that the minimum size of a hearth for a free standing stove is 840x840...is this the case regardless of the size of the stove? My stove is quite small. It's 406mm wide, so if I add the 150mm each side as required by building regs that's a 707mm wide hearth. And the stove is 315 deep so add 300 at the front and 50mm at the back to make 665... So a hearth of 707mm by 665 would meet building regs, but do I have to have 840x840 anyway?

I don't want my house to burn down, but I'd also rather not have a bigger than necessary hearth jutting into my living room.

BuildingFife

it isnt all about the width & depth have you checked how thick your hearth has to be? some require 150mm thick which means you need a subhearth aswell to be adequate, but 840 only means your heart would be an extra 65mm either side which isnt massive although unless this is in Document J of building control it isn't a regulation (we personally check this & double check this in every installation we do ourselves even though we are a HETAS registered installed just to double check amendments,so we would recommend checking this upon the date of your installation)

GreatBigBookcase

Hm, no, 65mm isn't too much, but I have an angled wall so my stove won't be parallel to the wall behind it but positioned so that it is parallel to the wall opposite it...if that makes sense...? So, the hearth needs to be much longer down one side in order to allow for this...hence trying to keep it to the minimum if possible because it's already looking big and sticks out into the room in a slightly odd way

I've emailed the fitter again to double check. I'm annoyed that I'm left working this out for myself when I'm paying him an awful lot of money to fit the thing...but he made clear that I'd be responsible for buying and fitting the hearth...grrrrr...I'd've thought he would have at least given me precise measurements to take to the stone mason. Grrr again.

Thanks for your help

BuildingFife

I find this very very weird that the stove fitter is not fitting the hearth, if this is slightly off, him fitting the stove will be all to "!!!!" excuse the french.

We always lay the hearths ourself that way we know 110% they're dead level & then we know the stove is going to be also.

Rovver125

I agree with what BuildingFife has said above, installer should surely be taking an interest or fitting the hearth themselves as it's such an important part of the installation?!

Guy we had round to quote the other night said he could either do it & charge us, or I could do it myself to save money, but he would gladly help me in working out the correct size/thickness I required for the make of stove.

Our current hearth is far too small (one of many reasons for having a new installation next year!) & I've just been struggling to empty the hot ash pan without spilling roasting hot ash on the wooden floor! Bigger is better IMO, within reason of course

GreatBigBookcase

Thanks for the replies. I agree, I don't understand why the fitter isn't more involved with the hearth...it's a scary thing to be left to your own devices on! He's at least confirmed that I should stick to at least 840x840. Because of my angled wall at the back of the hearth though, the measurement of one side of the hearth will be around 1010mm...and that sticks out *a lot*!

But yes, Rovver, thanks for pointing out the issues you have with a smaller hearth. I've never had a stove before so what you said is a good point that I hadn't thought of.