Metal Stud questions

[bige]

I am going to build a hearth pad using metal studs for a wood stove. How do you screw them together. If you screw them through the top wont the Durock not lay flat when I go to install it? Or wont it matter?

 

[begreen]

Pop-rivet them together for a flush top and edge.

 

[Highbeam]

I used screws. Little button head ones. You've got to realize that these metal studs are not rigid like structural steel so when you screw your durock to the studs the durock screws will suck the stud's flanges up tight. So it won't matter. You'll be using lots of screws and your skills as a tile setter will create more error than the screws ever could.

I like my elevated hearth but I really wish that I could have used something much more solid than the steel studs.

I used the studs for a 3.5 inch platform topped with two layers of durock. The second layer of durock (thinset between of course) really stiffened up the deck.

 

[bige]

Ok thanks that what I was thinking about using small screws. When you installed your second sheet of durock, did you screw it again or just use the thinset?

 

[Jags]

Go to someplace other than home cheapo (and the like) and get a heavier gauge stud. The typical 25 ga. is NOT structural in any way (neither is the 20 ga). Work with the 16 or 18 gauge stuff with self tapping pan head screws. Your deck will be rock solid.

The footage of steel that you are gonna be using is small so the cost difference will not be big bucks. And you SURE as HECK don't want the frame of that hearth to move or flex after tiling. It will sound like pop corn (pop - pop - ping - pop)

 

[Highbeam]

It doesn't pop like popcorn but every now and then I hear a creak when I step up onto the hearth. No grout issues of course, just a barely audible creak on occasion. Nobody else notices.

Maybe the bones are getting creaky?

 

[JeffT]

Go to someplace other than home cheapo (and the like) and get a heavier gauge stud. The typical 25 ga. is NOT structural in any way (neither is the 20 ga). Work with the 16 or 18 gauge stuff with self tapping pan head screws. Your deck will be rock solid.

The footage of steel that you are gonna be using is small so the cost difference will not be big bucks. And you SURE as HECK don't want the frame of that hearth to move or flex after tiling. It will sound like pop corn (pop - pop - ping - pop)

+1.Your local drywall supplier will have what you need,stay away from Lowe's or Home Depot.