HI there,

I have recently purchased a wood burning standalone fieplace with a stainless steel flue. Because my house is double storeyed it needs to be fitted though a cement slab. How easy will this be and what tools are required to make a hole in the slab?
Thanks for any (good) advice.

"Sue Trott" wrote in message
...

HI there,

I have recently purchased a wood burning standalone fieplace with a
stainless steel flue. Because my house is double storeyed it needs to be
fitted though a cement slab. How easy will this be and what tools are
required to make a hole in the slab?
Thanks for any (good) advice.




--
Sue Trott

Wow, I never saw a residence with concrete slab floors. They are usually
found in industrial or commercial buildings.

If you want to cut a rectangle, an abrasive blade in a circular saw will
work for a couple of inches thickness.

Another method is to use a masonry bit and drill a series of hoes, they chip
out between them. Keep in mind, there is probably steel in there too.

Typically, some kind of jack hammer, or hammer drill to get through the
cement. Floors like this are guaranteed to have some kind of steel
reinforcing rods "rebar". The rebar can either be rough and molded into the
concrete, or in tubes and tensioned later.

I don't have the experience to know if this is safe, cutting cement floor.
Can you go out the side wall, elbow, and up the side of the building?

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

"Sue Trott" wrote in message
...

HI there,

I have recently purchased a wood burning standalone fieplace with a
stainless steel flue. Because my house is double storeyed it needs to be
fitted though a cement slab. How easy will this be and what tools are
required to make a hole in the slab?
Thanks for any (good) advice.

--
Sue Trott

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
. ..
Typically, some kind of jack hammer, or hammer drill to get through the
cement. Floors like this are guaranteed to have some kind of steel
reinforcing rods "rebar". The rebar can either be rough and molded into
the
concrete, or in tubes and tensioned later.

I don't have the experience to know if this is safe, cutting cement floor.
Can you go out the side wall, elbow, and up the side of the building?

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

"Sue Trott" wrote in message
...

HI there,

I have recently purchased a wood burning standalone fieplace with a
stainless steel flue. Because my house is double storeyed it needs to be
fitted though a cement slab. How easy will this be and what tools are
required to make a hole in the slab?
Thanks for any (good) advice.

For the size of the hole that you need it may pay to hire a concrete cutting
and drilling company to diamond drill a nice round hole through the concrete
with little mess and dust. As said above, there will be steel in the
concrete, re-bars can be OK, but be cautioned about cutting any tensioning
cables as that could be a problem. It may take an engineer to identify what
you have, it they can without opening something up to check it out, and
possibly identify where you can drill to avoid the tension cables.

Some years ago, I heard a story that was spooky, in how true it could be. A
couple fire department guys were visiting a building site. Being friendly,
and helpful. Hope it didn't catch fire, but wanted to know what's going on,
just in case.

The fire department guy noticed all the wood cribbing, and frame to hold up
the cement floors. Looks, and sees that it's post (post "afterward", not
like fence post) tensioned concrete. He asks if they have post tensioned the
concrete, yet.

The construction workers looked blank. And then said no, we havn't gotten
around to that. We're too busy jacking the cables.

When sky scrapers are built, often the floors are held up by wooden frames.
If the wood catches fire, and burns away, the building will collapse. That's
important fo the fire department guys to know.

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

"EXT" wrote in message
news.com...

For the size of the hole that you need it may pay to hire a concrete cutting
and drilling company to diamond drill a nice round hole through the concrete
with little mess and dust. As said above, there will be steel in the
concrete, re-bars can be OK, but be cautioned about cutting any tensioning
cables as that could be a problem. It may take an engineer to identify what
you have, it they can without opening something up to check it out, and
possibly identify where you can drill to avoid the tension cables.

On Jun 15, 4:53*am, Sue Trott wrote:
HI there,

I have recently purchased a wood burning standalone fieplace with a
stainless steel flue. Because my house is double storeyed it needs to be
fitted though a cement slab. How easy will this be and what tools are
required to make a hole in the slab?
Thanks for any (good) advice.

--
Sue Trott

First of all I am not an expert but we did just finish a house that
required a section of basement floor to be cut to accommodate some
plumbing mods - after we moved in.

Find someone with a concrete saw who can do the job for you. It was a
dirty and smelly job that done pretty quickly. My guy cut about a 18"
x 36" square through concrete and rebar in about 20 minutes. I set up
a couple of fans to exhaust as much of the exhaust fumes as possible,
but we were all feeling pretty "good" before it was over with. We
draped plastic around the work site but some of the concrete dust
still got out - but not terrible. After sawing, he finished getting
some of the edges out with a small sledge.

You might also want to talk to a plumber or heating contractor about
clearances. I suspect, since concrete transfers heat fairly well,
that you want to leave space between the flue and the concrete. We
installed a wood burning insert in our house and the manufacturer
provided pretty good clearance data of the unit and venting.

I would NOT use a jack hammer.

RonB

On Jun 15, 10:45*am, RonB wrote:
On Jun 15, 4:53*am, Sue Trott wrote:

HI there,

I have recently purchased a wood burning standalone fieplace with a
stainless steel flue. Because my house is double storeyed it needs to be
fitted though a cement slab. How easy will this be and what tools are
required to make a hole in the slab?
Thanks for any (good) advice.

--
Sue Trott

First of all I am not an expert but we did just finish a house that
required a section of basement floor to be cut to accommodate some
plumbing mods - after we moved in.

Find someone with a concrete saw who can do the job for you. *It was a
dirty and smelly job that done pretty quickly. *My guy cut about a 18"
x 36" square through concrete and rebar in about 20 minutes. *I set up
a couple of fans to exhaust as much of the exhaust fumes as possible,
but we were all feeling pretty "good" before it was over with. *We
draped plastic around the work site but some of the concrete dust
still got out - but not terrible. *After sawing, he finished getting
some of the edges out with a small sledge.

You might also want to talk to a plumber or heating contractor about
clearances. *I suspect, since concrete transfers heat fairly well,
that you want to leave space between the flue and the concrete. *We
installed a wood burning insert in our house and the manufacturer
provided pretty good clearance data of the unit and venting.

I would NOT use a jack hammer.

RonB

I noticed a couple guys jumped in while I was writing. If your slab
is pre-stressed cables are a good concern. Again, talk to a plumber
or building contractor. The plumber that did our job had a hand-held
sonar set that allowed him to see the plumbing, rebar and other stuff
before he got started.

RonB

I have recently purchased a wood burning standalone fieplace with a
stainless steel flue. Because my house is double storeyed it needs to be
fitted though a cement slab. How easy will this be and what tools are
required to make a hole in the slab?
Thanks for any (good) advice.


*Unless your entire structure is masonry I think it is unlikely that the
floor is solid concrete. Usually they pour 1.5" of lightweight concrete on
top of the plywood base to get the fire rating needed. If that is the case,
the concrete will be soft and very easy to break up.

If it is in fact solid concrete, you should get a concrete cutting company
to come in and make the hole. You don't want to cause damage to the
physical structure and there could be utilities such as water or electric
encased in the concrete in addition to the rebar reinforcement.

Ed Pawlowski wrote:

I have recently purchased a wood burning standalone fireplace with
a stainless steel flue. Because my house is double storeyed it
needs to be fitted though a cement slab.

Wow, I never saw a residence with concrete slab floors. They are
usually found in industrial or commercial buildings.

Many of the new homes being built in my city (SW-Ontario) have the
first-floor being made of concrete (and naturally there is also a full
basement as well). I would guess that the second-story floor is
conventional wood framing.

Having a concrete floor gives you the ability to use various stains or
acid-etch combined with urethane sealer to create a stunning finished
surface, similar to polished marble.

The OP doesn't say if his fireplace is in the basement or the main
floor. I don't know how common it is to have a house with a
second-story floor made of concrete.

There are circular hole-cutters for concrete, but I don't know how large
they can get (at least up to 4" I know).

The OP might want to duct the flue out the wall to the outside (if the
stove is not in the basement that is).

"Sue Trott" wrote in message
...

I have recently purchased a wood burning standalone fieplace with a
stainless steel flue. Because my house is double storeyed it needs to be
fitted though a cement slab. How easy will this be and what tools are
required to make a hole in the slab?

This requires a building permit and (hereabouts, at least) much free
engineering advice is available from the permit staff.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

On Jun 15, 4:53*am, Sue Trott wrote:
HI there,

I have recently purchased a wood burning standalone fieplace with a
stainless steel flue. Because my house is double storeyed it needs to be
fitted though a cement slab. How easy will this be and what tools are
required to make a hole in the slab?
Thanks for any (good) advice.

--
Sue Trott

You need to hire pros who will pull a permit and do the job right, to
code. The last thing anybody needs is a bungled amateur project that
could cause more problems than you could anticipate. Experienced
concrete workers have the tools and knowledge needed. A two-story
fireplace vent is well past handyman capabilities.

Joe

On Jun 17, 12:19*pm, Joe wrote:
On Jun 15, 4:53*am, Sue Trott wrote:

HI there,

I have recently purchased a wood burning standalone fieplace with a
stainless steel flue. Because my house is double storeyed it needs to be
fitted though a cement slab. How easy will this be and what tools are
required to make a hole in the slab?
Thanks for any (good) advice.

--
Sue Trott

You need to hire pros who will pull a permit and do the job right, to
code. The last thing anybody needs is a bungled amateur project that
could cause more problems than you could anticipate. Experienced
concrete workers have the tools and knowledge needed. A two-story
fireplace vent is well past handyman capabilities.

Joe

You mean like those pros I see on Homes show on TV? The ones
that screw it all up, take your money and leave? Also, just because
someone is an experienced concrete worker doesn't mean they
know anything about chimneys.