Building on a huge oak (wooden) stump...

[thomasacto]

Hello! Just a quick question. I had an oak tree removed from my backyard due to disease on the upper portion. I had the tree company leave about 4.5' of stump with a surface diameter of about 5' (60 inches of surface to work with). I just bought a Casa 90G - and keep reading about using a "non-combustible stand"... but I'd really, really like to use this tree stump. I've read about wooden stands and the amount of concrete and insulation needed to prevent too much heat transfer - but I would like to ensure that I'm doing this safely prior to proceeding. I plan on covering the entire surface plus adding a few inches of overlap. I've already removed all of the bark from the stump and will be sealing it with a non-flammable sealer - just want to know the thoughts of some of you in this forum on what type and how much insulation between the hearth and the surface of the stump.

[UtahBeehiver]

Hope you got to keep the wood from the massive oak tree for your oven. In your question, you mentioned cover entire surface plus overlap but not indicating with what. Are you talking a concrete hearth? A 4" concrete cap along with the factory floor insulation (which is 2" of AlSi board I believe which IMHO is the bare minimum) should be good. Another option that might even be better is to pour a p or vcrete section under the oven with a standard concrete around the outside of the oven. This will give you more insulation. 4-5' high stump is pretty high for an oven platform unless you are a Wilt Chamberlain.

[staestc]

What a cool stump! I too would worry about the height, but from the photo it does not look 4.5 feet tall. I see no reason why you cannot use it if you can figure out a way to build a form around it to pour a hearth slab. Assuming your form is level it will take care of the fact that the top of the stump is not level. The biggest issue is that the stump will ultimately rot even if you seal it thoroughly.