Installing wood burner in timber frame.

[junglejim]

I’m building a timber frame house and planning on putting a wood burner at a later date. I realise that I’ll need direct air and all of the pros/cons around that but wondering about timing the fitting of the flue and direct air ventilation. In the ideal world I’d do that now before I start cladding but reality is it’s going to be some time before we have decided on stove (and budget for it)… however I also don’t want to put holes in the fabric of the house which may not be positioned ideally for the stove…

 

So I’m wondering how easy/difficult it is to retro fit flue and direct air ventilation after cladding is installed?

 appreciate any tips and insights anyone might have.

[Russdl]

What level of insulation and air tightness are you aiming for?

 

If you’re aiming for high levels of insulation and air tightness then you’ll almost certainly discover that you don’t need a wood burning stove so have a ‘Plan B’ for your focal point and save a bucket load of cash into the bargain. 

[JohnMo]

A,  decide now where to install, ideally decide on what stove you may install.

 

B, Also look at possible routes for air feed. Ideally add and fill with insulation and make airtight.

 

C, Decide flue route, you need to provision for non flammable structural around the flue (check building regs for dimensions).

 

D, Fill area where flue will route with rock wool 

 

Saying all the above, either install now or pay twice or three time, to do work, then undo work and then make good to install later.

 

 

[markocosic]

Fires are rubbish.

 

Poor comfort (heat the ceiling, freeze your feet), immediately dangerous (get them good and hot and radiant heat can burn stuff from a surprising distance), and long term dangerous (pollution; much of which can sti around even your own home if conditions are still)

 

You'll also need to open a window as soon as you light the damn thing on any new build with vaguely decent insulation.

 

The air feed / flue /cold stove are also monster thermal bridges when not using it.

 

That said - my wife also demanded one be retrofitted in a timber frame - it isn't particularly difficult to retrofit one especially if you do (as you should, to avoid expansion headaches and the worst of the thermal bridges and mess sweeping the flue indoors etc) put the flue horizontal out of a wall then up the side of the house externally.

 

Fill between studs with mineral wool not burny foam stuff. Mark hole between two studs.  Cut 20 cm hole through wall/insulation. Cut 30 cm hole through cladding / airtightness layer. Put double wall through hole. Add silicone airtightness membrane. Tape and clamp to your airtightness membrane. Add trim rings internally and externally. Done. 

 

You do need to centre the flue ina  600 mm stuf bay to get the clearances you need to burnables though.

 

We purchased from:

https://www.sauresta.com/en

English manual:

https://www.sauresta.com/static/instr/Dumtraukiu-naudojimo-instrukcija_EN_Rasu_g.pdf

Foregin manual has timber frame details. Not the cutback to insulation if deeper than 30 cm.

https://www.sauresta.com/static/files/3/60/360/Dumtraukiu_instrukcija_LT_Rasu_Nr_7_26-10-2018.pdf

 

This type of silicone seal:

https://zidiniumeistrai.lt/parduotuve/kaminai_ir_ju_dalys/Tvirtinimo_sandarinimo_detales/1387.html

[JamesP]

Not sure what stage you are at with your build but I put a direct air supply in the concrete slab if and when we fit a stove.

[ProDave]

I put the direct air feed in early, and the penetration through the roof for the flue much later on when we actually fitted the stove.

 

Don't let the nay sayers put you off. As long as you have the ability to open some doors so the stove heat can spread around the whole house, you won't instantly melt when you light it and if you have a good supply of wood it can be free / cheap heating.

[junglejim]

Thanks for all the advice. I knew this would be a ‘marmite’ topic. I realise that a stove is not needed from a practical perspective… it’s more aesthetics and a non negotiable from my better half! 
 

Direct air through the slab isn’t something I’d considered… wish I had! I’m at the stage of trying to get wind and watertight so would ideally like to get the cladding complete asap so really weighing up the practicalities of retro fitting the flue and direct air after cladding.
 

For the flue I’m thinking schiedel Ignis protect through the wall. I’ll install both before internal finishes but ideally need the cladding up before I can finalise locations.

[FarmerN]

We have a Clearview stove, UK made , it's a traditional design, with direct air supply through the slab.

 

Love it, It's massively more efficient than the stove we had in the previous house.

 

It can overheat the room, but not a major issue, so tend to leave the room door open when it’s lit.

Our house is all electric ,and it was nice to have the stove during the recent storm when the power was predicted to be off for 2 days ( it wasn’t). Being a traditional flat top design meant we could boil a kettle on it and heat a pan. I’m told you can bake potatoes in the ash can beneath the fire, but haven’t tried that yet.

The ulimate backup.

[dpmiller]

my situation might have been a wee bit different as we used a Schiedel Swift Air chimneyblock system, but I left fitting the air feed until I was fitting the stove and a short length of aluminium flexypipe links stove to the pipe coming into the house.

[junglejim]

Thanks everyone. I’m also looking at the schiedel Ignis and realise it says it needs 575mm hole cutting. Given that stud work is 600 centres that leaves about 540 in between I think which is too small for the Ignis … unless it can be cut slightly to fit?

[dpmiller]

Ignis is 565 between studs, and CLS studs are generally well below the nominal 38mm. I had no issues. But yes, it's just a lump of rockwool so you could do whatever is required...