So you want advice on the supply and installation of a stove or wood burner in an extension or your conservatory.
- What stoves would work well in an extension or garden room?
- Can I have a wood burner if I don’t have a chimney?
- What are the rules?
You’ve got, or you are about to build, an extension and now you want to heat it. You’ve always wanted a wood-burner, but you’ve got no chimney and you want to know what would look good in the corner, by the patio doors.
The truth is a stove or wood burner is a great choice for your extension. It’s not only a great heater, it’s a piece of furniture, a statement, a conversation piece. It is no accident that the word “hearth” is so similar to the word “heart” because truly “home is where the hearth is!”
Visually there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to what sort of stove you should choose for your extension. Let yourself be guided by the heart. If you think it will look good then you are halfway to making your decision.
Think of where it is going to go and the shape of the room around it.
Technically the rules are the same as for a stove in a chimney breast. It needs a hearth below and a flue, at least 4 to 4.5 meters long, above. The only restriction is that if you live in a Smoke Control Zone (like we do here in Luton) you need a stove approved by DEFRA.
Bring Scandic Elegance to your Extension with your choice of wood burner.
A lot of people are wooed by the visual effect that is created by the Scandic stove makers. Unlike the British stoves that are designed for pride of place in the builder’s opening of your chimney breast and viewed from front on, the stoves from Scandinavia are tall and slender and designed to be admired by everyone in the room.
Stoves of this sort tend to be wood burners – a much cleaner fuel than coal or anthracite. They also come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
All you need is a hearth and a bit of space and you too can star in you own stylish Scandie Noir thriller!
Manufacturers to lookout for include Nordpeis, Dik Geurts, Westfire, Contura and Varde.
Put your wood burner in a corner, against a wall or in the middle of the room.
Three 5kw European Wood burners From Our Showroom
- The Contura 510G is a super example of the cylindrical stoves on offer. With curved glass they sit well in corners or against the wall. The Contura 510 is available in white or black and with a range of different forms and finishes but the white one in our showroom is currently on offer as an ex-display model at just £1500 + VAT!
- The Dik Geurts Odin is a sunning piece of engineering with a variety of installation options: you can even hang it from the ceiling!
- Unlike Baby, you can put the Nordpeis Quadro in a corner! We even have one in the showroom. With the front door glass at the diagonal over two sides, you can see the fire from anywhere in the room.
Traditional Stoves in Extensions
Of course a traditional English stove will also look great in an extension. Either out in the room or in a faux chimney breast and go for the traditional look, with beam above, brick behind and slate hearth below: transforming your room into a cozy and relaxing traditional space.
Of course, if you are going for a more traditional look, a little black box stove is as timelessly stylish as a that little black dress!
Three stoves of note from Charnwood, based on the Isle of Wight, are the Country 4, the Aire (it is what keeps our showroom warm too) and the Island One. The Charnwood Aire is a DEFRA-approved, 5 kw stove, with an optional log store to go underneath, sporting a design that is deliberately meant to maximise the view of the fire within.
If you are looking for a double-door solution look no further than the Charnwood Island One.
Wood burner Flue for an extension
Without a chimney, a wood burner needs a flue for the smoke and gases expelled form the stove. Most extensions are single storey, so although the flue doesn’t need to be too high to escape the building, other factors may need to be considered.
Although a stove can go almost anywhere, if you are having your extension built, it is worth thinking where your stove will go at the design stage of your extension.
It is also a good thing to get your stove installer involved at an early stage. A lot of messing around can be avoided if your stove installer can work in tandem with your roofer for example.
Of course if you already have an extension you may not have the luxury of choice in this matter. Never fear, as I said above, there is a huge selection of stoves in all shapes and sizes and there is always one to fit the particular hole in your extension!
Unfortunately the wood burner’s flue is probably going to be a large part of the installation cost. With minimum heights and distances to combustibles and openings and surrounding buildings to be achieved, fairly standard installations will start at about £1100 + VAT and can easily double if you have to go up two stories or avoid upstairs windows and guttering etc. The trick is to avoid bends and going through things as much as you can.
Stove Flue Recommendations?
Sectional External chimney systems are very flexible, so pretty much anything is possible.
We are part of the Expert Retail Network for Stovax and as such recommend their Professional XQ Chimney System. Like putting together a Scalextric track, this modular system is designed to either go out of the ceiling or back through the wall and up.
It is twin walled for insulation and has a 10 year warranty (although in over 30 years we’ve only once had to return to a site for any kind of problem!). You can download the XQ brochure here – it has all the information you will need and a lot of handy tips too
Hearths
As part of building regulations your stove will need to sit on a hearth. In our experience slate or glass are popular materials, but stoves can sit on anything non-combustible and flat (any minor tilt at the floor will have a much more pronounced effect further up!)
Tear-shape and five-sided hearths are great for a corner stove. A simple square or rectangle for one against the wall or circular in the middle of the room. The choice is yours as long as they reach the manufacturer’s required minimum distances.
Thinking of using slate – check out our handy slate information sheet
Heat Shields and Distances to the wall behind your wood burner
Every stove has its own manufacturer’s recommended clearances from surrounding surfaces; combustibles and otherwise. If your wall is clad with plasterboard on a timber frame you will need some kind of heat shield or face having the stove a long way from the wall. Again the choice of material is down to you, but if you are sticking up tiles make sure you use heat resistant plaster. If you have the choice dot and dab an a-rated plasterboard to line your wall.
Ask A HETAS Expert
Here in Bedfordshire, our In-house HETAS engineers are on hand to help with your installation. From initial surveys right through to the build and commissioning of your wood burner we will be on hand to help.
If you live outside our installation are (about 20 miles radius from Luton) you can check the HETAS website for your local certified engineer.