9
Supporting Floor Systems
It is the ultimate responsibility of the installer to ensure that
proper concrete slab supports are used.
WARNING
to the licensed design professional and/or building
contractor: It is your responsibility to be certain that the Grand
Meridian can be properly supported by the combustible floor
system on which the fireplace will rest.
For fireplace support foundations installed on concrete refer to
Appendix I and II (
pages 20 & 21
) for specific instructions.
Rebar locations
Lay-out the position of the fireplace and drill holes where
the rebar will be located. Secure eight #3 rebar 4 inches into
concrete foundation with ITW Epoxy or Simpson Epoxy.
Follow manufacturer’s instructions for installation of rebar into
slab.
Wood Floor
Anchorage of fireplace to wood floor construction is required.
Refer to
Figure 10
for anchorage locations. Four anchors are
required to attach to the sub-flooring framing.
Crawl Space or Upper Floor:
For installation of firebox over combustible crawl spaces or
upper floors, anchorage of the firebox is required. Illustrations
of examples of possible anchorage methods are shown in
Figures 10 thru 13 depending upon the type of floor framing.
Final method of anchorage to be determined by licensed
design professional.
For conventional framing where the floor joists are parallel
with the sides of the firebox, the addition of floor joists to align
with the anchor brackets allows the brackets to be directly
connected to the floor joists.
Note that additional floor joists may be required to support
the weight of the firebox and chimney. Where the floor joists
run parallel to the front of the firebox, anchorage can be
accomplished in like manner as shown in Figure 12 using
blocking between the floor joist.
For floors supported by I-Joists, the method of anchorage
is illustrated in Figures 10 and 11. Figure 12 illustrates the
general arrangement of anchorage to floor framing.
It is important to take into consideration that the load for the
Grand Meridian Fireplace must be considered as additional
dead load that will have to be supported by the floor framing.
Additional floor joists or I-joists may be required as determined
by the licensed design professional.
The weights to be considered are noted in
Table I
. It is the
task and responsibility of the general contractor/installer to see
that the proper reinforcement for weight loads are made by a
licensed design professional prior to the fireplace installation.
As stated above, it is desirable to place additional framing
for alignment of anchor rods. Refer to
Figure 14
for anchor
rod locations.
Attach the firebox side wall anchors to steel support frame
by inserting all-thread rods through holes on the bottom flange
on the steel support frame as shown in
Figure 14
. Secure with
two Ø 2” o.d. x Ø 9/16” i.d. x 0.10” Washers and two 1/2-13
UNC Nuts.
Figure 10
Floor Sheathing
not shown for
clarity
Metal Base
Assembly
EXAMPLE ONLY
2X FLOOR JOIST
2X FLOOR JOIST
A35 Brackets
(16 required)
I-JOISTS
Anchor
Brackets
Figure 12
I-Joist
Anchoring
Bottom
View
Example Only
I-Jo
ist
Simpson
Strong-Tie
A-35 or
equivalent
Figure 11
I-Joist Anchoring
Top View
Example Only