Raised Hearth Construction in Basement - Suggestions or Lessons Learned

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zanp

New Member
Dec 4, 2007
88
Asheville NC
I am in the process of finishing our basement (poured concrete floor and block walls) by insulating the walls w/ rigid foam and drywall. I am also going to replace the old Fisher stove w/ an Englander and would like to construct a raised hearth faced w/ tile.

I was thinking I would use concrete block as the foundation, attach concrete backer board to this, and tile.

Do I need to insulate between the block and the existing concrete floor to avoid heat loss to the subsurface or would that loss be negligible? If so, insulate w/ what material?

Any suggestions or links to previous posts would be greatly appreciated.
 
zanp said:
I am in the process of finishing our basement (poured concrete floor and block walls) by insulating the walls w/ rigid foam and drywall. I am also going to replace the old Fisher stove w/ an Englander and would like to construct a raised hearth faced w/ tile.

I was thinking I would use concrete block as the foundation, attach concrete backer board to this, and tile.

Do I need to insulate between the block and the existing concrete floor to avoid heat loss to the subsurface or would that loss be negligible? If so, insulate w/ what material?

Any suggestions or links to previous posts would be greatly appreciated.

I had the same question. I used two layers of 4" cider block for the pad and used concrete board on the walls and ceiling.

I wanted to insulate below the pad, but after reading, rigid insulation loses a lot of compression strength at rather modest temperatures. So I just convinced myself the airspace in the block would provide some insulation between the stove and earth. If I did it again, I think I'd glue aluminum foil to the slab as a radiant barrier before laying the block.
 
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