Hearth Pad Explanation

[JonOfSunderland]

I don't own a wood stove, yet. Hopefully this summer. I have been looking at all the different brands and installations and one thing I've noticed and don't know much about is the huge variation in hearths and installations. Some people go through a lot of trouble when it comes to keeping heat away from combustible materials (and also for aesthetics I realize), some just appear to buy an off the shelf hearthpad and throw it on the existing floor. And in the Scandinavian catalogs (Jotul, Morso, Scan, RAIS) they have nothing more than a piece of glass or sheet metal under the stoves. Does this have to do with European code differences? Is there a difference in requirements for radiant vs. convection stoves? Are off the shelf hearthpads really adequate to protect a hardwood floor or subfloor?

Basically under what circumstances would I use the different types of hearth setups? My house is fully carpeted, so wherever I installed a stove it would be a matter of removing some carpet and putting something in it's place.

 

[nshif]

Every stove manuf. sets the hearth requirments for each model they make and are tested to that spec. So you really need to decide on a stove and read the manual for that stove to determine the hearth requirments. sometimes stated in R value or k value or just a non combustable surface. Avg R value is around 1-1.5 but can be as high a 6.
Most of europe doesnt have the codes we have here.

 

[SlyFerret]

I had to cut the carpet out so that I could build my hearth pad on the floor.

Mine was pretty simple. I used metal studs, doubled up for strength laying flat on the floor. I screwed them together with sheet metal screws to make a "box" out of each pair of studs. Screwed those to the floor. Screwed down 3 layers of durock over that, and then put a layer of ceramic tile. It produces a little bit of a raised platform for the stove, but nothing to excessive. It also creates an air gap that helped me meet my R value requirement for the pad. I had to have an R-1.5 between the stove and the plywood subfloor.

I probably put in more framing members than I needed, but in the end, this thing is SOLID!

http://www.crystalnetworking.net/stuff/Hearth_Pad_Design.pdf

-SF