Hi everyone-
I'm looking to put a hearth pad of bluestone in one piece under a new 2023 Vermont Castings Encore per the hearth pad specs in the book. Today someone told me that I can't put the stone on my hardwood floor - that I should cut out my hardwood floor and put cement board on the subfloor and a ton of mortar - otherwise the stove will crack the stone. The bluestone would be 2" thick and is 48 1/2" x 48 1/2" x 32 1/2" x 32 1/2" x 22" (See diagram). I was planning on just putting down a piece of underlayment on the hardwood floor and putting the stone on top of that....then putting up cement board on the walls and putting real stone veneer. My floor is completely level....it is all brand new subfloor and brand new 5/8" engineered hardwood floor on plywood. I don't see why I would have to motar the piece of bluestone down. Does anyone have any thoughts? Looking to do thermal finish with rock face edge on 3 sides.
![[Hearth.com] Bluestone Hearth Pad question](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/319/319117-14de3d59ecd4e623833b3a97f31b7776.jpg?hash=j0dhqJAi6Y "[Hearth.com] Bluestone Hearth Pad question")
![[Hearth.com] Bluestone Hearth Pad question](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/319/319118-c8114f00745f20976a931f174d0ba8b9.jpg?hash=deldt2j1LZ "[Hearth.com] Bluestone Hearth Pad question")
I'm looking to put a hearth pad of bluestone in one piece under a new 2023 Vermont Castings Encore per the hearth pad specs in the book. Today someone told me that I can't put the stone on my hardwood floor - that I should cut out my hardwood floor and put cement board on the subfloor and a ton of mortar - otherwise the stove will crack the stone. The bluestone would be 2" thick and is 48 1/2" x 48 1/2" x 32 1/2" x 32 1/2" x 22" (See diagram). I was planning on just putting down a piece of underlayment on the hardwood floor and putting the stone on top of that....then putting up cement board on the walls and putting real stone veneer. My floor is completely level....it is all brand new subfloor and brand new 5/8" engineered hardwood floor on plywood. I don't see why I would have to motar the piece of bluestone down. Does anyone have any thoughts? Looking to do thermal finish with rock face edge on 3 sides.
