How to DIY a Modern Wood Stove Tile Surround

With the bathroom complete, it’s time to move on to the Living Room portion of this Fixer Upper remodel. One of the things I love about this house is the wood burning stove. We’re out on a large acreage that provides wood fuel as an abundant and free heat. I want to keep that. But unfortunately, the existing wood stove is in need of repair or replacement, and the stone surround has loose and chipped stones. This post will show you how I transformed the tired wood stove area into a modern wood stove tile surround.

The Original Stove and Stone Surround:

Is this giving you late 70’s, early 80’s vibes or what? I seriously toyed with the idea of keeping the stone, repairing and patching and maybe painting it. But it doesn’t fit the overall look for the remodel. So, in spite of this kind of cool rustic look, it’s got to go.

Demo:

I had no idea how HEAVY wood stoves are when I started this project! Our old stove had to be at least 250 pounds of cast iron. Thankfully, I was at least able to scoot it off the stone, yes it was just placed on the stone with no anchorage. Then I scooted it along the floor, barely managed to lift each leg over the door threshold and scoot it to th edge of the makeshift landing outside. There was no way I was getting it down some stairs, so I pushed it off the side of the landing and was very surprised to see it bounce off the soft soil, relatively unharmed.

So anyway, with the old stove out of the way, I am finally ready to start chipping away at the stone.

I grabbed a variety of crow bars and a rubber mallet. The stone and the backer mortar bed came off really easily. I dragged all of that stuff outside to my classy yard junk pile.

Three different sizes of crow bars are best to have while demoing. A large one really gets stuff done. A medium one helps with more sensitive places, and a small one comes in handy for tight spots. Make sure to wear safety glasses when demoing.

Here is the demo’d stove area. I patched the drywall sections that I’d accidentally torn while demoing. Then I taped the outline of the new stove surround. You can see it’s going to be just a hair smaller than the original layout.

Requirements for the wood stove surround should be listed by the stove manufacturer and potentially also listed in our local building code. Make sure to check both.

We are upgrading the stove to a high-efficient, smaller stove by True North, link here. It is model TN20 with the leg base option instead of the pedestal. I just like the look of the legs.

Prep Work for New Stove Tile Surround:

For the new wood stove with a rear heat shield, we technically don’t need cement board at the wall. That’s why I had originally patched the drywall holes. But our sales rep at the local wood stove shop insisted we install cement backer board. She mentioned something about the drywall expanding more than cement board. I’m not sure about that, but decided better safe than sorry and cut the drywall away to make room for cement board.

Here is the installed Hardie board cement backer at the wood stove wall area. If you remember, I used Wonder Board Lite in the bathroom remodel but found it difficult to cut and very messy. I read that Hardie board was easier so I opted for that here. It is a bit heavier but otherwise much cleaner cuts and waay less mess.

Here is the installed wall Hardie Board. I added wall studs to support the edges of the Hardie Board and the drywall so everything is solid.

Next, I installed the Hardie Board on the floor. This needs to get set with a layer of thin set between the plywood and the Hardie Board. It is then screwed into place. You can see I also taped and thin set the joints in the backer board.

This was also a great time to finish up the walls in the living room. I had been spending a lot of “free” time adding joint compound to the drywall to smooth out the 80’s wall texture. I want smooth, calm walls in this modern-style remodel. After layers of joint compound and much sanding, I was finally ready to paint. You can check out more details on how to smooth drywall texture here.

Our new wood stove needs an air vent. It can come either from the wall or the floor below. I checked that the floor vent location would not hit a floor joist! Thankfully all clear there, and then set out to get a 4 inch diameter hole drilled for the vent.

Here is a progress shot of the hole drilling after many many measurements to make sure it was placed right.

Now, when I search Amazon.com, I am able to find a hole saw for cement board. That would have been nice at the time, but I couldn’t find one! So I used a hole saw meant for wood and burned the hell out of it, haha. It worked but it ruined the hole saw, lol.

Planning for Tile Surround:

Plan your work and work your plan has been my motto and saving grace for this whole remodel. I plan meticulously and really try to build whatever project I’m working on in my head before I start so I know all the steps and, hopefully, avoid problems and mess-ups.

This is my dimensioned wall and floor tile layout for the modern wood stove tile surround. I will be using a simple white subway tile with white grout on the wall and black slate stone tile on the floor.

If you remember I classed up the bathroom floor tile by adding brass accent inlay pieces between some of the tiles. I want to keep some design consistency and add brass accents here as well.

Here is a real-life mood board layout of the floor slate tile with brass, the wood stove, and the wood floor to get a feel for colors and textures.

The brass accent is simply a brass tile edge that I set between tiles. Here is a close up small section of the brass inlay. The horizontal section goes under the tiles so you only see the top part. Be forewarned if you attempt this! These are tricky to place with mortar and a bit messy. Go slow. Clean and adjust as you go. I used a small pick to adjust the brass sections and make sure they were at the same elevation as the top of the tile. Like I said, tricky! (But it looks sooo good!)

Floor Tile at Wood Stove with Brass Inlay:

With everything planned out, I got to work placing the floor tile. Here is the set floor tile with brass inlay. The brass is simply a Schleuter edge in 100% brass that is cut to size and placed between tiles. More on that in the bathroom tile post.

You can see the blue tape labels on each tile that help me keep track of each piece and make sure they are placed correctly.

Next, I cleaned up the tiles and applied black grout. Normally you want to seal natural stone before grouting to avoid the color of the grout soaking into the stone. But the stone slate was looking a bit blue-ish. I want a very modern looking black slate look. So I tested a piece of unsealed slate with the black grout coloring. It actually looked great! The added black color was exactly what I wanted, so I went ahead and grouted with slate without sealing it first.

Here is my black grouted floor tile for the modern wood stove with the brass accents. Some natural color variation in the slate still comes through.

I let the grout dry and then sealed the floor tiles with this Enrich’N’Seal that is made for stone that I found at Home Depot. It darkened the slate even further, which I love!

Modern Wall Tile at Wood Stove Surround:

Next, on to the wall tile. We’re keeping this simple and matching the bathroom full height white subway tiles. I prefer to place the subway tiles at a 1/3 offset instead of the standard 1/2. I know it’s minor, but to me, it looks a little more like brick work and I just prefer it. I did that in the bathroom, so I’m doing that here.

This is progress shot of the subway tile for the modern wood stove surround.

I used Trim Master tile edge trim pieces on each side to add a nice finish.

Here is the installed full heigh wall tile. BUT I still need to add the white grout! So it’s not the finished look. I’ll admit, when I got to this point, I wasn’t really digging the wall tile. UGH! But, once I added the white grout and the tile kind of faded away, I really liked the look. You’ll see, more photos below!

Moving a Wood Stove:

Just a quick blurb on getting the wood stove in place because these things are HEAVY! I was able to scoot the stove in its shipping crate close to it’s final spot. Then, I tore off the upper crate pieces so the stove was free.

Here is the new stove ready to get moved in place. You can see I taped over the brass accent pieces to protect them just in case. That wall tile grouted too! Do you like the look now?

But there is not way I was going to risk scratching the tile by scooting the stove in place. So I bought some heavy lifting straps and recruited my husband to help.

Here are the straps laid out, ready to lift the stove. These are called Forearm Forklift 2-Person Lifting and Moving Straps.

I am happy to report that the straps worked great here. My husband and I were able to move the stove pretty easily and no tiles were scratched!

Modern Wood Stove with Tile Surround:

The last steps were to add the stove pipe per the manufacturer’s instructions and connect the vent pipe.

Here is the finished modern wood stove with tile surround!

A closer look at the black-stained slate and brass accents.

Thought you might like to see it in action. This is after we finished the rest of the house and moved in. I love the large picture window on this wood stove so I can watch the fire on cozy winter nights.

These are some useful accessories every wood stove needs.

Do you like how this turned out? Let me know in the comments below what you think of this modern take on a wood stove tile surround.