Having made the personal decision some years ago that life without a woodstove would be cold, dull and unacceptable, I always strive to make sure one is involved in my living situation. My experience has been that a woodstove is the center of a home most months out of the year, providing heat, cheery light through the dark months, a place to dry clothes on racks, the perfect spot for food fermentation and rising breads, and the fastest way to warm up cold hands and feet. Upon buying this farmhouse, one of the first orders of business was replacing the old Schrader woodstove the inspector deemed unsafe and ordered removed and destroyed. We figured since it was a solid house with a brand new roof, if the worst we had to do was get a new woodstove our first year, that wasn’t really so bad. The only trouble was, the brick hearth it sat on was also deemed unsafe and ordered abandoned, along with the existing chimney. Being a huge fan of Jotul woodstoves, and having had good experience with two of them, there was no question what stove to get. The Jotul Oslo was the right stove for this farmhouse. Still, a home needs a hearth, so as a housewarming gift, our good friend John offered to help us build the same slate hearth he had built for the exact same stove on his old homestead. I would like to be able to say that we built this amazing hearth with a little help from our friend, but the truth is, do-it-yourself-ers tend to hang together, and John being a hardcore do-it-yourself-er did it himself with a little help from us.
We started out building a sturdy 2 x 4 frame of the dimensions specified in the manual, and covered this with a thick piece of plywood for added weight bearing distribution. We set it into place against the living room wall where the stove company said they could install a free standing metal chimney out through the wall and up above the roofline.
Then we cut hardi-backer to the right dimensions to cover the top and sides. John suggested using an old cheap circular sawblade that we planned to trash rather than spending a lot of money on a mason’s blade. Since we had a couple of extra old saw blades around, this worked out just fine.
We bought the cheapest slate tiles they had at our local hardware store, and although they were a bit rough and irregular, they were beautiful colors and only around a dollar a square foot.
We selected the ones that were prettiest and in the best shape out of the bunch, John cut the side pieces to fit with his wet saw, and then set them in place with spacers.
John insisted that mortaring was a one person job, and since he knew what he was doing, it went quickly.
In very little time, a beautiful hearth came together before our eyes.
After a couple of weeks went by, Corey and I set to the task of grouting. He spread it on and I cleaned up the excess behind as we went along, and with a little grout sealer a couple days after that, it was all finished, and woodstove ready.
We now have a gorgeous, cast-iron beauty on display in the middle of our living room, about where most folks would have their television. With a woodstove at center of our home, there is no doubt we will stay warm and toasty all winter long. The entire project cost under $100 and was a fifth of the cost of the basic pre-fab hearth the stove company had to offer. It’s a good feeling to know we’ll be self sufficient in our heating, and not worrying about paying a big electric or gas bill every winter. All the practicalities aside, it just plain makes me happy.
Home is where the hearth is.
Yay!! It looks great! Way to go! We put in a wood stove last year and it has made all the difference for us. We love it. We've been lucky enough to find all our wood for free via arborists, craigslist, etc, and man that sure helps too! Funny – ours is where most folks keep the TV, too. Home definitely is where the hearth is. 🙂
Woodstove looks great. We have a Godin model. Recently on holiday we rented a place that only had an AGA stove, and I really enjoyed cooking on it (it was also very useful for drying out wetsuits). My husband and father in law spend so much time in the forest cutting down trees, them bringing them home, cutting them into the right size logs, then stacking them all, that I sometime wonder wouldn't it just be easier to flick a switch and get heat. But when it's cold and snowy outside and the bread dough is rising and we are surrounded by the wonderful smell of wood warming us, I'm so greatful for all their efforts.