I have a job for a hearth rug, and despite years of lurking and reading here, I have never heard boo about them.
My longish problem/story:
So, my insert is in my finished basement, in a masonry fireplace built directly on the concrete slab. We have wall-to-wall installed on the slab, which makes things nice and cozy.
There is no raised hearth at all, the builder (in 1960) just sunk a couple nice square pieces of slate into the slab when it was poured. They extend about 16" in front of the fireplace opening. The previous owners installed asphalt-asbestos tiles over the slab (think your elementary school floor), up to the edge of the slate, and then another guy put wall-to-wall carpet up to the edge of the asphalt tile, with a metal edging. So, I buy the house with combustible tiles and carpet 16" from the fireplace opening, maybe 14" from the (unlisted) insert door opening. Obviously not to code.
So, I am getting new wall to wall today, and I told the guy to give me a metal edge more like 22" from the fireplace opening (good, right?), but the wife is mad because she either has to look at the asbestos tiles between the slate and carpet, or the black mastic used to stick them down (when I peel up the tiles). Better for code/safety, looks like carp.
Eventually, I will tile the whole area, in the meantime (prob years), I would like to get a 'non-combustible' hearth rug, cut it down to the size of the uncarpeted area, and drop the sucker over the slate/concrete/ugly mastic, so it is more or less flush with the (new) wall to wall. Capiche?
A search online finds the Guardian rug made of fiberglass, complete with a review from a customer who got a rash after touching it!
I have been using an ugly, cheap 'olefin' hearth rug previously--is that the best option? Other online options are wool. While all are technically flammable, (if perhaps hard to ignite) it hardly seems like a code-compliant solution within 12" of the stove door. I gather they are intended to sit in front of a non-combustible raised hearth, to provide additional ember/dirt protection.
Ugh, what would you do?
My longish problem/story:
So, my insert is in my finished basement, in a masonry fireplace built directly on the concrete slab. We have wall-to-wall installed on the slab, which makes things nice and cozy.
There is no raised hearth at all, the builder (in 1960) just sunk a couple nice square pieces of slate into the slab when it was poured. They extend about 16" in front of the fireplace opening. The previous owners installed asphalt-asbestos tiles over the slab (think your elementary school floor), up to the edge of the slate, and then another guy put wall-to-wall carpet up to the edge of the asphalt tile, with a metal edging. So, I buy the house with combustible tiles and carpet 16" from the fireplace opening, maybe 14" from the (unlisted) insert door opening. Obviously not to code.
So, I am getting new wall to wall today, and I told the guy to give me a metal edge more like 22" from the fireplace opening (good, right?), but the wife is mad because she either has to look at the asbestos tiles between the slate and carpet, or the black mastic used to stick them down (when I peel up the tiles). Better for code/safety, looks like carp.
Eventually, I will tile the whole area, in the meantime (prob years), I would like to get a 'non-combustible' hearth rug, cut it down to the size of the uncarpeted area, and drop the sucker over the slate/concrete/ugly mastic, so it is more or less flush with the (new) wall to wall. Capiche?
A search online finds the Guardian rug made of fiberglass, complete with a review from a customer who got a rash after touching it!
I have been using an ugly, cheap 'olefin' hearth rug previously--is that the best option? Other online options are wool. While all are technically flammable, (if perhaps hard to ignite) it hardly seems like a code-compliant solution within 12" of the stove door. I gather they are intended to sit in front of a non-combustible raised hearth, to provide additional ember/dirt protection.
Ugh, what would you do?
