Local building codes dictate the legal minimums for clearances to combustible materials like wood framing or panels. These mandated wood-burning stove air gaps are much more significant, usually 12 to 18 inches on the sides. Building codes don't regulate gaps for non-combustibles.
Wood Burning Stoves require air gaps around them (sides, rear, top) so the heat can make it into the room. Air gaps are not a safety issue if there are no combustible materials present. Air gaps are sometimes specified in stove instruction manuals but often are not.
All combustible materials, wood- work, unprotected walls, furniture, firewood, etc., should be no closer than 36 inches to a wood stove. A stove pipe should not be closer than 18 inches to an unprotected ceiling.
Clearance to Combustible Materials: A minimum clearance of 36 inches from the sides and rear of the wood stove to any combustible materials. A minimum clearance of 36 inches from the top of the stove to the ceiling or any combustible materials above it.
Wood frame walls covered with dry wall are considered combustible. If no wall protection is used, the common radiant-type stove or heater must be spaced out at least 36 inches from the wall. This distance may be reduced considerably if asbestos millboard and/or 28 gage sheet metal is used for wall protection.
If your stove is being placed within 300mm of a wall, and will sit on a hearth that abuts a wall, then the wall must be non-combustible to at least 300mm above the appliance and 1.2m above the hearth. There is no legal restriction on how close you can place the stove to a non-combustible surface, such as brick.
Without a backguard, a stove or range should typically be installed at least 6 inches away from a combustible back wall surface, like drywall. With a backguard, the range can usually be installed with zero wall clearance.
Wood Stove Venting
Class A chimneys are made of a stainless steel interior and a stainless steel exterior, with either insulation or an air channel in between the outer and inner wall. You will use this when venting through a wall or the ceiling all the way to the roof or above the roof line.
The National Fire Protection Association recommends a minimum of 36 inches between the stove and combustible walls, furniture, and other things. However, you may lower the distance by using a noncombustible heat screen to protect your walls.
Single wall vent connectors must be at least 18 inches from combustibles. Wall protectors may reduce this clearance up to two-thirds.
The following are general minimum clearances for ranges: 1 ½ inches to nearest adjacent sidewall above the cooktop on both sides. 30 inches between the cooktop and a cabinet. 0 inches for sides below the cooktop.
Wood stoves require heat shields both under and behind them to protect your home from heat damage. While many wood stoves include heat shields in their design, some do not.
This information can often be found on the back of the appliance, as well as in the stove manual. The distance specified will vary between different woodburners, depending on their heat output and other factors, but typical advice would be a gap of more than 400mm around your wood-burning stove.
While older stoves needed as much as 36”, newer stoves can be put as close as 6” to combustible walls with no additional protection needed. This is accomplished by the use of built-in heat shields and combustion designs which project the majority of the stoves heat away from the rear and side walls.
The industry's solution for heat shields
PermaBASE cement boards are the industry-preferred choice. Installation-ready and easy-to-use, PermaBASE® cement boards eliminate the need for field fabrication, saving time while allowing for enhanced performance and wood-burning stove placement closer to the wall.
The industry's solution for heat shields
By using an approved heat shield system, the required distance between the stove and adjacent wall can be significantly reduced. PermaBASE® Building Products are the industry-preferred choice and the only cement board approved for heat shield applications.
Ceramic tile is one of the most common backsplash materials. It's widely available in a vast array of colors, styles and textures, and it's one of the most inexpensive backsplash materials, as well.
The use of tempered glass is one of the most popular options due to its characteristics: Strong and durable. Tempered glass is up to five times stronger than regular glass. They are able to withstand the heat and weight of the stove without breaking or deforming.
There are 2 basic ways to vent a wood-burning stove, (1) straight up and out the ceiling or (2) out the wall and along the side of the house. There are pros and cons to either choice. But there are some common denominators to both. You will need a ceiling box.
Building regulations provide exact specifications for determining the minimum size of air vents for wood-burning stoves: The air vent must provide at least 550 square mm of open aperture area per kW of rated heat output from the stove. For example, a 5kW stove would need 550 x 5 = 2750 square mm of open vent area.
All stoves in homes built after 2008 require either an air vent or external air intake, regardless of heat output. Without it, the stove may struggle to draw sufficient air for clean, efficient burning. Even in older homes, a stove can benefit from an external air kit.
However, it is for this very reason that it is unsafe and even illegal to pass a single wall pipe through a wall, ceiling or roof as the outer surface will become far too hot and may transfer that heat into nearby combustible materials such as joists and furnishings.
Manufacturer's specifications for clearances should be followed. If none are available, standard clearances are thirty-six (36) inches from a stove to a combustible wall or ceiling. A wall of wooden studs covered with sheetrock is considered to be a combustible wall.
Guidelines recommend 15” of space on either one or both sides of an oven, or if the oven is in a tall cabinet and this is not possible, to have 15” of landing space no more than 48” in front of the oven as long as it does not open into the main walkway. Below is an application of this guideline in a wall oven space.
30" of air clearance is required between the cooktop surface and bottom of an unprotected wood or metal cabinet above. 0" of air clearance is needed for the sides of the Range below the cooktop surface.