Hearth Rugs

Most of today's stoves require 16-18" clearance from combustibles at the face of the stove. Do you have this clearance on your stove?

Shari

blakesavage20 said:

My hearth is elevated so I need only a 6 inch clearance according to the manual on my wood burning insert and I meet it just barely. Because the insert will only be such short distance from my carpet I was looking for a hearth rug to make sure none of the sparks damage my carpet when loading the insert and starting the fire. I am just not sure which type of hearth rug is best, or if it was really important which kind to get. I was hoping to pick up a wool rug, as I have found one I liked.

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My understanding is that for something like 20 years, new rugs sold in this country have had to be flame-retardant. Unless you expect a flaming log would roll out of the open door of your stove onto the rug and sit there unattended for many minutes, I believe you're never going to have an actual fire on the rug. Just for keeping any sparks from damage your carpet, pretty much anything will do the trick. A wool hearth rug is perfectly fine, and there are many attractive and affordable ones out there.

For whatever it's worth, I have a front-loading stove with the minimum clearance to my floor, and I've never once had even a spark make it out beyond the hearth and onto my hearth rug.

For the record, my stove meets stove to carpet specs by a country mile and there are ember burns all over the place. Mostly from raking the coals, cleaning out the ash, etc. So get a good something in front of your stove. I'm in the market for a replacement to our old nasty one.