Cement board research....

Not saying that I recommend this (I'll say it again, DO NOT DO IT), but my buddy who's an oaf has a 30 and destroyed his baffle boards. Rather than cough up the 120 bux or so for 2 new ones, he went out and bought a sheet of next gen durorock. He cuts them and uses them in place of the factory baffle. He puts a new set in at the beginning of winter, and changes it out once during the winter. 2 sets get his stove through an entire season. He burns about 5 cord of wood through his 30. The wood stove is his only heat.

If it can survive for months IN a stove, I have no concerns placing it under one.

pen

The warehouses started emptying out of the old pure cement board products last year. To my knowledge they are no longer available unless found in the dusty recesses of a quiet lumber yard. Hardibacker may be fine, but I'm reticent to recommend it because it has cellulose mixed in. The competing product made by USG is Fiberock which specifically says to not use the product in high temp locations.

As you have noted, this discussion is as old as Elk from days before this forum started. It comes up annually and has been confused by the NextGen products. We do the best we can to investigate and respond based on the current market options. There is only one agenda here and that is to help others to make their installations safe and functional. If the recommendation seems narrow, it is because the answer speaks not just to a single installation, but to the hundreds that will read the thread later on.

Well spoken BG. I really comes down to the fact that the Nexgen Durock has NOT been tested in the USA for hearth applications. That doesn't mean it is not the proper product, it just has not been tested for it in the US (it HAS been tested in Canada, an meets their requirements)