We finally have the chimney all installed and ready to go. Now I need to make my hearth. We have 4" x 8" concrete pavers we are using. The hearth is going to be 42" x 38" and I have a 3/4" piece of plywood laid down already and it is shimmed to level. It is screwed down to the floor. On top of that I have 2 sheets of 1/2" hardibacker 500 giving me .34 R so far. The concrete pavers are 1.75" tall so that should give me .166 R. Total that is .506 R and I need .5 R, so that's just enough.
Now, I've never done masonry. When I lay down my pavers, do I put mortar underneath them? If so, how much? There's going to be between 1/4" and 1/2" gap between the bricks depending on where in the pattern you are looking at (I've laid them dry to check). If I had even 1/4" of mortar underneath that would bring my hearth up to .556 R.
All R values are according to http://chimneysweeponline.com/horvalue.htm
Thanks guys.
**edit**
I also put a steel "lolly column" support in my basement under the hearth area "just in case" since I will be adding a lot of weight there.
Now, I've never done masonry. When I lay down my pavers, do I put mortar underneath them? If so, how much? There's going to be between 1/4" and 1/2" gap between the bricks depending on where in the pattern you are looking at (I've laid them dry to check). If I had even 1/4" of mortar underneath that would bring my hearth up to .556 R.
All R values are according to http://chimneysweeponline.com/horvalue.htm
Thanks guys.
**edit**
I also put a steel "lolly column" support in my basement under the hearth area "just in case" since I will be adding a lot of weight there.