I'm buying my place in the country in about two weeks. It is primarily heated with wood and the walls are particle board. The wood stove is not sitting in the middle of the room so I intend to do FAR more than the original owner has to protect my new home.

Iyt looks like the owned it. I was thinking durrock over that or perhaps fur it out and THEN durrock but if there is something better I'm all ears.

I would durarock then find some fireplace inserts (panels) and set them up...unless u ca find some refractory tiles or panels. I think u would be good.

Durarock

I used steel studs and durarock over them to create a airspace between the durarock and the wall.
You can tile or stonework over that.
I used fieldstone and it radiated heat nicely

A quick google search for fire rated wallboard showed a thread on thisoldhouse.com talking about fire resistant drywall... it's called type-X. It has a burn resistance of 1 hour instead of 1/2 hour with normal sheetrock. The key reminder Norm said was to remember to use it in the areas where air can move and to seperate areas into firebreaks.

he said the plus is that it dampens sound transmission and isn't too much more than $0.75 per sheet extra over normal sheetrock.

Link for reference.

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/asktoh/question/0,,20153904,00.html

how redneck do you want it?

I have seen a sheet of tin roofing, held off the walls with some bolts to provide air space

Type X sheetrock is 5/8 thick and heavy. We use it in firewalls all the time in apartments, condos, commercial projects. I would use durock and then tile it. It will not get too hot if the clearances are right from your stove. Natural stone as already stated is also a good choice. Make sure your flue clearances going through your roof are also correct.

Type-X sheet-rock is not a "non-combusible" for the purposes of doing a wall near a wood-stove. It is a semi-combustible fire-barrier. IMHO, it would be a bad idea to do a wall near a wood-stove in this.

To comply with code you need to find the make/model of wood-stove and follow their installation instructions. Each stove is independently certified by UL for specific installation requirements. It will tell you what R-value of non-combustibles you need underneath the stove, what air-gap around the stove, and what R-value of non-combustibles on the walls around. It also tells you have far your hearth must extend in front of and to each side of the door opening. All of this stuff is laid out in the manual and should be followed for insurance reasons. Anything short of that would be considered a non-compliant or improper installation and your insurance company just found an "out" on paying for your house that burned down.

Durarock and Durarock Nex-gen are both non-combustible for this purpose. I can't recall the R-value per inch of durarock though. I had to use 3 layers under my stove when I installed it. My stove was a "zero-clearance" unit which meant I didn't need to add anything to my walls; it's approved for direct contact with combustibles. Your stove will be different.

There are codes that specify minimum clearance for unlisted solid fuel heaters - 18" maybe?
I don't have Michigan's book in front of me right now.

You can reduce that clearance with a 1" air gap created by a metal sheet nailed to the wall with washers or tubing as spacers with an inch of space open at the bottom of the shield to allow natural convection behind the shield.

Other options include brick, durock, etc, right up against the combustible wall but I believe the reduction is less.

Durock over steel furring studs with the air gap at the bottom would be a good choice.
You should still meet the minimum clearance though.

For my sauna, I made a heat shield with durarock covered with galvanized sheet steel.  This is lag bolted to the wall using small pipe sections for approx. 1.5 or 2 inch spacing off of wall.  it looks pretty decent, and is much more durable and feels less flimsy (not to mention cheaper) than store bought heat shields.  ill triy to snag a picture tonight

And pics...

I mounted 2 steel studs to the wall along the flat, then screwed hardiboard to that.  I left a gap at the bottom for airflow.  I ordered some retro stamped tin "copper" ceiling tiles and brad nailed them to the hardiboard.  I still need to weld up a wire shelf or something to break it up visually as it's about 5'x7' on the wall.  The hearth is studs and hardibacker built up to the correct R factor for our stove and then some.  It's sheeted with some remnant marble tile.  Neither the hearth nor the tin ever feel warm to the touch.  I've since redone the smoke pipe with two 45º elbows instead of the 90º shown in this old pic.  4 yrs later and no issues.