Homeowner Forum / Construction / November 2005

Will this be free standing walls or a face on existing walls?

It's hard to say with out looking at the house plan and details, but 4' tall
x 4' wide times 2 in standard brick doesn't weight that much. I like Phil's
idea of brick veneer or stone tiles much better, but I don't see any problem
with supporting that small amount of real brick.
BUT...
A wood stove requires much more vertical protection than 4', unless it is
only 24" tall. The brick also has to be installed with a min 2" air space
(Mass state code) between it and combustibles. Some inspectors will let 1"
space over fire code sheetrock go. And you need protection around the flue.
You also need a non-flammable floor hearth, but that can be tile on plywood
or cement board. Even with all that, I've built real brick corner hearths
and full walls to ceiling on 2x8 floor joists (12 foot span) and it came out
just fine. That's an outside corner, both sides. I'd be wary if the corner
was fully or partially spanning the joists.