i dont have a fancy hearth pad, the walls in the house arent even finished. however the stove is up and running safely and i LOVE it. i had it on 2-1/2 lbs per hour last night. i work up this morning and it was 65 downstairs so i cranked her up to 4lbs per hour for a little while and the got the temp up to the thermostat setting of 68 in a few minutes. what a great machine. it produces more heat while burning less. i simply reused my old home-made hearth pad from my 5510. my 5510 is not yet hooked up in the barn, the house is the priorty at this moment, allot of construction has been going on right now. the 5510 will be installed in the barn in the coming weeks.