I am completely re-doing my woodburner setup. when we bought the house, it had an insert that had been fitted into the existing fireplace. I tore all of that out so that i could put in a woodstove. I slapped a woodstove in there and that worked alright for a while but now im getting sick of looking at the unfinished floor under the stove. I am thinking that i want to use slate tile under the stove. i just finished putting up slate tile behind that stove and i love the way it looks. i would like to do the same for the floor. Has anyone done something similar to this? i am curious about the underlayment to use under the slate. Any insight into this process would be greatly appreciated! thanks all!
slate tile hearth
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MikeP
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fishingpol
Minister of Fire
I had old red quarry tile for my hearth tile. It was sitting on a few inches of concrete. I tore it all out, re-framed the floor opening. New joists with hangers, construction adhesive on the joists, 3/4 ply and a few inches of concrete. After a few days of curing, I set the slate into thinset. Mortared in between the slate for a nice finish. I measured down from the finish floor height plus thinset to get my concrete level. Rock solid and beautiful. Used unfading green Vermont slate. Better than any box store slate, no flakes or sharp edges.
Paddler,
My floor is a concrete slab. I put down slate, think I used a basic silicone or caulk style adhesive. Quick grout job. Wiped on a layer or two of some kind of sealant. Wood trim around it. Been fine for 5 years. Here's a photo (ignore the cat):
My floor is a concrete slab. I put down slate, think I used a basic silicone or caulk style adhesive. Quick grout job. Wiped on a layer or two of some kind of sealant. Wood trim around it. Been fine for 5 years. Here's a photo (ignore the cat):
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
Wahoo . . . love the picture of the cat enjoying the heat . . . the slate hearth and Jotul look nice as well.
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
I built a slate hearth myself . . . since I wanted to raise it up a bit I started with two layers of 1/2 inch plywood . . . covered that with a 1/2 inch of Durock which I screwed to the plywood. Used modified latex thinset to stick the slate to the Durock . . . grouted . . . sealed.
after thinking more about this, i want to rephrase my question. i have wood flooring where i want my hearth to be. what is the correct material to have underneath the slate? should i screw duroc to the floor and then use thinset? i see that a lot of people build up a raised hearth, is there an advantage to that or is it fine to have it level with the floor? thanks,
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
paddler said:
I think you would want some sort of stable base . . . wood floors move with the seasons and moisture in the home (i.e. as the wood dries in the winter it shrinks and in the summer with higher moisture it expands) . . . for this reason I'm thinking you would want some sort of base for the slate vs. sticking the tile directly to the wood floor as the movement of the floor could possibly cause the slate to come up or crack. I imagine you could just use 1/2 inch Durock and then put slate on this . . . or do as I did and use a couple layers . . . this could be screwed directly to the wooden floor underneath or you could leave it as a "floating"/non-permanent hearth (which is what I would do).
I think raised hearths vs. flush hearths is a personal choice. I went with the raised hearth for the R value . . . plus I like the look of a raised hearth . . . if it was bigger it would have made a nice place for me to sit beside the stove . . . unfortunately even though my hearth is a bit bigger than required it is only useful for my cats . . . who use it as a sleeping area or pillow.
This reminds me . . . what R value does your stove require . . . or does it even require a R value for the hearth . . . this is perhaps one of the most important factors when it comes to building a proper hearth.
hmmm.....i guess im not sure what you mean by the R value of the stove. My stove is an Alderlea T5, im not sure if this requires a raised up hearth?
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
paddler said:
http://pacificenergy.net/PDF/manuals/5055.202 T4-5-6-310510(W).pdf
Some stoves require the hearth have a certain insulation value (aka R value) due to the high heat . . . while other stoves such as the T5 and the Jotul Oslo only require a non-combustible hearth.
What this means is that stoves must use air space, Durock, Micore or other rated materials to achieve a set number with their hearth . . . while other stoves can get by with putting down a hearth that will not catch on fire if an errant spark or coal rolls on to the floor.
Technically -- if you have the T5 (I didn't look to see if the T5 Classic has the same requirements or not) you could get by with a sheet of metal or a slab of stone or slate tile . . . but I would encourage you to at least put down a sheet of 1/2 inch Durock since it would give you a stable surface to stick the tile to . . . and it would give you an extra measure of protection by providing some R value.
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