Raised Hearth Construction for Fireview

[Jbird560]

Now is the time to make some decisions on bracing the floor (pier and beam) for the new
Fireview. This will be a corner mount on the outside wall. We are building the floor right now and we have 2 X 8 's on 16" centers and will have 3/4" Advantec for sub floor. We plan to have 3/4" hardwood floors on top of that but not under the hearth. My idea is to put a layer of 3/4" plywood on top of the Advantec and then build a 12" high hearth on top of that. Will build the hearth out of 3/4" plywood (braced) with one layer of concrete board then a layer of thin sheet metal (roll flashing material) and then two more layers of concrete board on top of that finishing the top off with ceramic tile or slate. Never dealt with this kind of weight before and am considering putting extra joists between the 16" ones (making 8" oc) in the area under the stove or just doubling each joist with another 2 X 8 on each of the joists under the stove. What do you think and what materials do you suggest for the concrete board? Never done this before so experienced advice would help alot.
Thanks,
Jbird

 

[begreen]

No need to put in additional bracing. Your floor will be fine. The load is distributed over a wide area. You could have a few quarterbacks standing in that corner and have more weight there.

Just for comparison, we have a really heavy stove in the corner of an old house. Our floor joists vary from 23-27" apart. She's fine, no bounce to the floor.