Tile: Porcelain ceramic or natural stone, which is best, why?

Natural stone requires sealing.

Porcelain is the most durable from what I know.

Ceramic is considered cheaper and cost less.

I am far from expert on this. I do know from putting regular cheap ceramic tile in the basement that you can cut it by scoring it a few times and then pop the tile and it makes a clean break. I have put porcelain tile upstairs two bathrooms and was not able to cut it for nothing with the scoring method and had to cut all of it with a wet saw.

It seems to be more of personal choice. I personally would go with porcelain.

I like natural stone myself. Just a personal preference. Plus I feel its more durable.

I used ceramic. The porcelain is like.... impossible to cut without a wet saw. (or so i have been told) I didn't even try. The ceramic was a snap to work with, literally. I scored it with a diamond blade in my rotary saw and snapped it over the edge of my work bench. It didn't break as clean as a saw cut, but it was close enough for my purposes. I built the pad "R" factor into the pad. The tile is just for show, and non combustible. I have never worked with natural stone. Beautiful, but more then my budget would allow.

Just go for the look you are after. Yeah, natural stone should be sealed if you use it on a floor or counter top but, for a fire place setting with no real traffic you can leave it natural. All types will hold up it is a personal preference and look you want. I have sold slate, travertine, marble, granite for fireplace use, its what ever makes you happy.

Natural stone can look the nicest & not surprisingly it costs more...about double that of tile. It requires a wet saw...which isn't a major concern. It'll also add the most value to your house. I'm building a hearth & rock face to the ceiling with dry-stack slate (I just went through the decisions you're starting now).

First off, if you are going to work with tile, use PORCELAIN not ceramic. With stove weight, logs or fire-tools being dropped, porcelain should be your only choice. Look for a PEI-4 or PEI-5 rated tile.

Both stone and tile are beautiful, the only thing you have to be careful of in using stone is that it is not going to flake (such as slate or blue-stone) and that under the stove legs it has to be perfectly level. Tile will be much easier to keep clean also, fly ash, sawdust and dirt brought in from the woodpile does accumulate pretty fast.

Good luck with the project!

Jim Walsh said:

First off, if you are going to work with tile, use PORCELAIN not ceramic. With stove weight, logs or fire-tools being dropped, porcelain should be your only choice. Look for a PEI-4 or PEI-5 rated tile.

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I'm a little worried about the weight of the stove on the ceramic tiles I put down. I kinda wanted to ask about it in this thread, but didn't want to hijack it.

I have three layers of Durock under my tiles, and we were VERY careful to make sure the thinset was put down in a very even layer so that the tiles will be fully supported. We did of course use a notched trowel, but I wanted to make sure there weren't any low spots. The pad is quite solid, but I'm still going to put some black washers under the feet of the stove. Maybe an inch to an inch and a quarter in diameter to try and keep the weight of the stove from being quite as focused on four little tiny points.

Are tiles cracking under the weight of the stove a common problem?

-SF

Almost all commercial hearth pads are made with ceramic tile. I never cracked one of those out even with a Mansfield. The only time I remember cracking out tile is when a DIY didn't have an even layer of thinset under the tile and it broke. After tearing up the tile the defect was found and the homeowner did the work over and quit calling me a jerk.

Working with tile projects in the past and when we redid our hearth, all the Pros said Porcelain is the only choice for the application. Ceramic has a more brittle surface, scratches, chips and can crack much easier. There is nothing in the rule book that states you can't use ceramic, but there is little cost difference with the job except that if it is a complicated pattern with more than a few cuts you must rent a tile saw, so why not go with the most durable product? I know some Lowes stores will cut the tile for you also.