Steel or Wood ?

[KFC]

Can I get some opinions please...
I'm building a hearth wall behind my wood stove. Using cement board (HardBacker) with slate tile. Should I use steel studs or wood studs? I was planning on steel, but some posting on other sites seem to indicate that steel studs are not as strong as wood and may not be capable of supporting much weight. I'd sure feel more comfortable with steel (non-combustable) behind the cement board. The stove will prolly set 20 - 24 inches away from the wall and has a rear heat shield.
My calculations put the slate at about 400 -450lbs plus the cement board.

 

[smokinj]

Can I get some opinions please...
I'm building a hearth wall behind my wood stove. Using cement board (HardBacker) with slate tile. Should I use steel studs or wood studs? I was planning on steel, but some posting on other sites seem to indicate that steel studs are not as strong as wood and may not be capable of supporting much weight. I'd sure feel more comfortable with steel (non-combustable) behind the cement board. The stove will prolly set 20 - 24 inches away from the wall and has a rear heat shield.
My calculations put the slate at about 400 -450lbs plus the cement board.

no real need for steel with the way your doing it. Heat not going to be in the wall

 

[CrappieKeith]

no real need for steel with the way your doing it. Heat not going to be in the wall

Exactly.

 

[avalancher]

I agree with the wood, steel is not worth the hasle or expense.I built my hearth much like you described, and since I too was worried about heat transfer this is what i did.I have less than 14 inches between my stove and my hearth walls, and was concerned about too much heat.

i layed two layers of backer board, and sandwhiched a piece of sheet metal between the twverkill I know, but with the minimum distance I was concerned.
With the rock being 4 inches thick, two layers of backerboard, and the sheet metal between the two, I have very little measureable heat transfer.

After the remodel was done, I had to open the wall in the other room that backed up to the hearth to move some electric wires.I used my infrared thermometer, and even with the stove running wide open with dry hickory, the temp of the sheetrock behind the hearth only read 95 degree after over 30 minutes of wide open stove heat.

If you are concerned about any heat transfer, screw some pieces of sheet metal to the backerboard and hang some mesh over it to help adhere your rock.

 

[CrappieKeith]

code calls for 1" of air space then you can reduce clearences by 50%

 

[Highbeam]

I used steel studs for the horizontal part my hearth because I could not use combustible material such as wood. I agree that they are weak and hokey. The standard galvanized steel studs like commercial contractors use that is. You could make some sort of structural steel wall with thick steel that would hold the load for sure but there is no benefit vs. wood.

If your stove is being installed with the required clearance to combustible then you are fine. You can put wood paneling on the face of that wall so long as it is outside the minimum clearance.

 

[myzamboni]

code calls for 1" of air space then you can reduce clearences by 50%

Yes, but the distance away that the OP is talking, his is most likely fine without the need for the airspace stand-off.

 

[jags]

I agree with the others that wood is just fine, but if steel will give you a warm fuzzy, then be aware that beyond the world of the big box stores, steel studs come in many different gauges. All the way up to structural. Just letting you know.

Cost wise, there shouldn't be a huge difference with the small area you are working with.

 

[maplemeister]

KFC.
Here is what I did when I put a wood stove in my deer camp. 5/8" plywood against the existing wood studs. Then I put cement board on the next layer as a base for my slate exterior, but I separated the plywood and cement board by drilling holes in the cement board and placing several electric fence insulators between the two layers which gave me a nice air space to stop any heat conduction from the stove to the interior wall. The cement board is screwed to the plywood and and wood studs, my slate was then put on the exterior in a random pattern. I left the cement board off the floor about
1 1/2", and supported the cement board but placing small strips of slate about every foot or so along the entire length of the fireback on the bottom section. This created an unimpeded air flow from the bottom of the fireback all the way to the top with an exit hole that is barely noticeable. The back of my wood stove is about 2 ft from the finished fireback, and the stove really gets cranking in late November. I have been using this setup since 1992 and it seems to be working great. Just an idea you might want to consider.

Maplemeister:

 

[myzamboni]

I did stainless steel mounted on aluminum squarestock as the spacer.

The cat approves:

 

[ShoerFast]

Wood studs will keep there strength longer in case there were a fire then standard steel studs.

Steel gets hot, it falls down. Wood takes a while before it even starts to smoke, and hods it strength till it is well burnt away.

Fire Fighters like wood a lot more then steel.

 

[maplemeister]

I did stainless steel mounted on aluminum squarestock as the spacer.

The cat approves:

Very classy indeed, and as you said: " the cat approves" and looks very content with the setup.

Maplemeister:

 

[ericjeeper]

Not all steel studs created equal.

There are several gauges of wall thickness. Some are merely there for demising walls. then there are heavy gauge studs that are strong enough to support the roof structure.

 

[AIM]

Like Jags said. If steel makes ya feel better then use it. Don't buy the box store junk. It's 24 or 26 gauge and an absolute waste of money. Go to a lumber yard and order 20 gauge or thicker. I use steel studs all the time (I'm a commercial and industrial contractor) and am just as comfortable using it as I am wood. Your lumber yard should be able to fix you up with the driller pan head screws for putting the frame together. Driller drywall screws for attaching board and all the needed studs and track. Use a grinder with a cut off wheel to cut the stuff and you'll find that steel is a piece of cake to work with.

 

[Basso]

Hello,
Steel studs are great to work with, but take a little getting used to if you are an old woodworker like me! The fastening and connecting part of working with the steel studs is the difference. However, one very nice aspect of steel studs is that every one is straight and they will stay that way...no warping later down the road. The ones that you buy from Home Depot are very thin gage metal and are pretty flimsy. I worked with commercial grade steel studs are they are very strong and nice to work with. When I built the wall behind my woodstove in my workshop, I studded out the size wall that I wanted in a unit and screwed it directly to the drywall and studs that were there. On the outside studs on each the left and right , I mounted small round vents on the top and bottom of the studs. Since the metal studs have fairly large openings in them already to run wires and plumbing, this created a huge continuous air space behind the whole wall, 3 1/2" deep. Plus if any heat got back there, air could be sucked in through the bottom vents and heat could go out the top. I know this sounds like overkill, but it was easy and didn't cost much since the vents were just little round plastic vents that you can use on a soffit !!! In my weird and twisted mind, this seemed like a great idea and have not had any problems so far. Then I placed a layer of Durarock cement board on the outer surface of the steel studs and then covered it with 5/8" thick used brick made of cement and filled in between them with real mortar. It looks just like a real full sized brick wall and then trimmed off the sides with wood and painted the wood a nice corresponding color!!! Just wanted to add my 2 cents !!!

Basso

 

[jags]

As AIM was leading to....the stuff at the box stores is 25ga (sometimes 20ga will be carried as well). Its just like wire size, the smaller the number the heavier the metal.

If your gonna use steel, and hang a bunch of weight on it, get 18ga and be done with it. 16ga if you wanna be goofy about it, but that would be overkill.

16ga will still be standing by the time a wood 2x4 is burnt through. Thats why they use them on firewall partitions.

 

[KFC]

Thanks for all the post's, I'm looking at some 18 gauge steel studs that will hold the weight. Prolly overkill but it will make me sleep better at night. I'll post some photos when it is done if I can figure out how to load them?????