Insulation between fireplace & Paneling
I am in the process of remodeling the laundry room. Currently, there was drywall in the laundry room in which I removed. I was going to replace it with 1/4″ wood paneling (thin plywood with Formica front from Home Depot) along with Insulation R19 as well as a Moisture barrier on top of the R19.
My question is that there is an area of 4′ wide with 7′ length behind this area is an fireplace. What is the code in reference to this? Can I put R19 insulation with moisture barrier and paneling in the back of the fireplace? Is this against code or not? I live in Columbia, MD.
Any recommendation or ideas are greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Replies
Is it a zero clearence fireplace or masonry? With R-19 I suppose the walls are 2x6?
Thank you so much for your reply.
I am not sure what you mean by zero clearance or masonry. Could you please explain. The walls are 2 X 6.
The fireplace has a gavonized metal insulator around the back side of the fireplace as well as a huge pipe venting up from the fireplace to the roof.
I really appreciate your feedback.
Sounds like you have a zero clearance fireplace which simply means it is made of metal instead of masonry (bricks,block) and has a one inch clearence to combustible material. If you put insulation in with the paper vapor barrier toward the laundry room you should be fine.
Actually, unless they have changed things, a "zero clearance" metal fireplace appliance like this requires 2" of clearance to combustibles. It is the masonry than can get by at 1" clearance.OP - if this is an interior wall as it seems, I can't for the life of me thingk why you would need insulationa nd a VB on this wall.Further concern is whether you4r AHJ allows this sort of paneling without sheetrock behind it backing it up to prevent fire spread. Typically it would have 14", 3/8" or 1/2" SR on the studs first, then the paneling. This is better for you also because iot gives you a much more solid feeling wall.
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