It was time to install the Wood Stove. But, no stove is complete without a hearth!

The stove needs to be “primed” by having a fire in it prior to installing all of the stove pipe. I think this is to burn off any creosote-causing finishes that might be present inside the stove. I set it out on the lawn and lit up some scrap wood. While that was going on, I set to work on the hearth.

I went to Second Use building materials and picked up a scrap of granite slab left over from somebody’s countertop project. I cut a rectangle about the footprint of the stove, using my angle-grinder with a diamond saw blade. Julene gently hosed it down so it wouldn’t get too chalky and dusty, while I cut. Here she is cleaning up the fresh-cut rectangle. You can see the rest of the slab resting against the saw horses in the background.

I used the angle grinder to shave off the corners into a more unique shape.

Rather than having the granite slab hearth sit on top of the raw slab counter-top, I decided to inlay it. This was a SCARY cut. I traced the shape of the hearth into the countertop, then used my router to remove the material. I used a chisel to get the corners right. It wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t have to be. I used a tile grout adhesive around the outside edge of the slab to seal it up and make a neat transition from wood to stone. It came out great!

After some coaxing, I laid the hearth down into the pocket I made for it. Then I built a heat shield behind it, with a piece of scrap metal I had been hanging on to.

I used some ceramic spacers to attach the heat shield to the wall behind the stove.

With the stage in place, I bolted the stove to the hearth and prepared to cut a hole in the roof the next day.

It’s always scary to cut a hole in the roof, but this was a relatively simple one, since there had to be a little bit of clearance for the insulated stove pipe. I estimated where it would need to come through the ceiling, using straight edges and 90 degree rulers. Then I drilled a hole from the underside, used the hole-saw from the roof side, then a jig-saw to make it even wider. With all of the trim pieces that came with the kit, there was room to fudge it a little, but I managed to get it pretty spot-on over the stove. At this point, I had to cement the pipe to the stove, because this is where it was going to live for the rest of eternity.

With the stove cemented in place, I set the anchors into the roof, which you can see all gooped-up at the bottom of the frame of the photo above. Then, I put a silicone seal over that, and also bolted that to the ceiling with goop. Finally, I added the weather skirt, which sits over the silicone seal and diverts ash and water away from the base.

I don’t have a picture of it from this time, but on top of that, I put a sewer pipe cap with a flexible seal. It attaches and detaches with a single screw. I keep it on when driving. When I get to camp, I pop it off, and put another 2-foot length of double-wall stove pipe, and the chimney cap on.

I added the ceiling trim piece/heat shield to the ceiling around the chimney, and it was ready to have a fire. I burned a piece of bark from the countertop project as a final bit of closure. The stove changed the entire character of the bus.

Suddenly it wasn’t just a shed anymore. Now it was cozy and habitable!

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