How to Vent a Wood Burning Stove

A wood burning stove can be an extremely functional addition to your home. Although wood burning stoves are no longer used for food preparation in most cases, they can be an extremely cost-efficient way of heating your home. In order to safely operatw a wood burning stove, however, you need to make sure that your stove is properly vented to allow smoke, ash and cinders to exit your home safely. Below you will find instructions on how to safely vent your wood burning stove through your roof.

Step 1: Determine where Your Wood Burning Stove will Sit

The first thing you will need to determine before you attempt to install a vent for your wood burning stove is where the stove will permanently sit. Since you will need to cut a hole in your roof to vent your stove, you will want to pick a location that you will be happy with over the long term. Typically, it is best to position wood burning stoves 1 to 1/2 feet away from any walls to prevent fire hazards. It is also important to make sure that your wood burning stove is not positioned directly under any ceiling joists, as you will not want to cut through these load-bearing beams when venting your stove.

Step 2: Cut Hole in Roof

Once you are comfortable with where you have positioned your stove, hang a plumb line down from your ceiling to the vent on the wood burning stove. Mark a circle on the roof at this point that is the approximate diameter of the double-sided pipe you have purchased. Before cutting completely through the roof, remove any shingles that will be in the project area.

Step 3: Install Double-Sided Piping

Once the hole in your ceiling has been cut, fit your double-sided pipe over the stovepipe on the wood burning stove and run it out of the hole in your roof. The pipe must be double-sided so that the heat emitted from the stove will not damage or ignite the wood surrounding the pipe as it exits your home.

Step 4: Re-Shingle Roof

At this point, you will need to re-shingle and tar paper the portion of your roof surrounding the pipe that is now exiting your roof. Apply roofing tar in the joints where your pipe exits through the hole. You will want to be thorough to ensure that your roof is not susceptible to heat transfer or, more importantly, leaking water.

Step 5: Attach Screen to Pipe

On the top of the double-sided pipe that you have just installed, attach a screen or similar wire mesh. You will do this in order to prevent birds and other animals from entering your home through the pipe. The screen will allow smoke to escape through the pipe, but will not allow birds or animals to enter or nest in the pipe.

Step 6: Test System

Before lighting a large fire in your wood burning stove, light a small fire in order to test that the pipe is working properly and that all smoke is being expelled through the roof of your house.