Metal studs for hearth pad

None of the big box stores carry metal stubs here. They referred my to a drywall company. I curious what others have to say on this topic.

A few around here have metal studs, but they are so flimsy! I sure wouldn't use them.
What is the purpose for the steel? Most new stoves only require ember protection.

Which stove? What is required for the hearth? Are metal studs going to make anything easier for you?

I have used those flimsy studs from Lowe's before. It wasn't my choice and I just kept my mouth shut for family peace, but I would never use them on my own. They are more or less a 24 ga C-channel, and aren't for load bearing applications, and definitely not for joists.

Menard's has steel framing. The other ones probably do, too, but it was easier for me to find them on Menard's site.
http://www.menards.com/main/buildin...ainwall-framing/p-2015056-c-5695.htm?tpt=5_en

I still like wood.

I did in fact use the light gauge ones from the home store, I did add in a couple turned sideways for extra strength/support. I have one of the heaviest stoves out there sitting on it now, and this winter, at least a few times had a couple people on the hearth after coming in from the zero degree temps, not a creak or shift or noise has ever been heard from the hearth. The stove I built the hearth for required a +6 R value..

When I was getting ready to start my build, I built a 16" x 16" box out of the studs using the same materials for the top and screwed it down to a piece of plywood. I then placed 400 pounds on it, and it didn't shift, creak, collapse, etc.

After 5 years, there has been no cracking of the grout, etc to show any movement, which is actually better than the tiles laid by the builder that were in front of the builders box fireplace we replaced.

Jags.. now, without bending it, crush it. Compression is different from deflection. You didn't crush anything, what you did was deform it. If it is/was held rigid properly, as it is when it is secured top and bottom, so it can't deflect.. well.. Heck a big guy should be able to do that to a much heavier gauge piece, I have bent 1/4 inch steel with a little leverage and my bare hands.. Just like the reason you can stand on a popcan.. as long as the vertical rib (in this case, can side) can't deflect, or doesn't get deflected.. it can hold a whole lot. In fact, since you have a stack, build a box like I described, 16" square, out of that stud material, then screw a top and bottom out of 1/2 ply or something, I think I ended up with 3 screws per linear foot, so it is a "six sided box".. I think you will be very surprised how hard it is to "crush", without deflecting it first. I stopped at a little over 400 lbs, because that FAR exceeded the load I was going to put on it. There is no doubt in my mind it would have held 10 times more. At the point I stopped, it was carrying a load of 235lbs per square foot, or almost 6 times the residential building code requirement for a floor load in a living room..

A plain old SPF 2x4 can hold a dozen tons as long as it doesn't deflect.. then 100 pounds or so may cause it to fail when it does deflect. Yet we still build houses that weigh tons out of them, and they stay standing... until they deflect. (which we all hope never happens of course)

SteveB.. I wouldn't use it for giggles, it WAS the answer for the hearth requirements of the Homestead. Your hearth pad will be 25sqft, mine is 22.. not that much bigger, and sqft doesn't matter as long as your c-to-c on the studs is appropriate. the stove sitting there now is +550lbs, and we have had 4 grown men on the hearth with it, so.. at least 1100 pounds.. no issue.

I always wondered if people who work with this stuff called it a top and bottom plate.. a "runner" rather than a plate..

I think the biggest issue is finding a local source for the heavier studs.. most are kind of forced to go with whatever the big box store has, for various reasons. We ran into that a couple times just on our little hearth build. Either minimum order size, or "we only work with contractors", to flat out availability of any other source.. We had to drive 3 counties over to get ONE bale of rock wool.. and near as I could find that is the only distributor in our end of the state. I happened to call on a day when a contractor had ordered/received a minimum order of 40 bales, and only needed 37, the distributor's secretary was in a good mood, and gave me his number..

You don't even want to know about that custom tile.. and why the field is 2 wide 3 high.. instead of 3 and 4.. 4 more tiles would have cost $375. Because you can only order "full runs".. and we needed 4 more tiles than a single run.

Jags said:

DD - I do not doubt your success, but I can also stand on an empty beer can without crushing it (I weigh 235 pounds).

I needed the exercises so I walked out to my steel racks. Here is the reality of a 24/25 ga stud:
View attachment 131356
I could have crushed this like a beer can.

Click to expand...

Your hands look much different than I imagined.

I used the lightweight steel studs, topped and sided with durock (2 layers on top, one on sides), and then ceramic tile. I had to do it this way to meet the R-value requirements of my hearthstone since micore was not available and plywood on top of the studs would have been combustible so not allowed.

Yes, you must use thinset between the durock layers. You attach the bottom durock to the studs. Mud and tape the seams. It feels a little flexy when you walk on it. The second layer of durock with thinset between and screwed down to the studs makes a huge improvement in rigidity.

The studs look thin and weak but in Jags' photo the side flange is not being held, nothing is being crushed, just bent. Had the side flanges been restrained he could have never crushed that with his hand. My heavy old hearthstone full of wood and with a couple people standing next to it were just fine up there on the hearth.

I would have rather used wood for ease of construction.

I used 20 gauge studs from Menards on 12" centers then covered with sheet metal and 2 layers of durock. There was no problem with the studs supporting the weight of an Englander NC-30, but there was deflection of the durock between the studs, so i covered with an additional layer of durock and solved the problem.

plumberman57 said:

I used 20 gauge studs from Menards on 12" centers then covered with sheet metal and 2 layers of durock. There was no problem with the studs supporting the weight of an Englander NC-30, but there was deflection of the durock between the studs, so i covered with an additional layer of durock and solved the problem.

Click to expand...

Agreed, that second layer makes all the difference.