Building a simple hearth

[botemout]

Just returned from my local big box where I bought 3 3x5' sheets of durock, some mortar and associated parts.

My plan is to cut the durock to form the hearth, screw it in with the special screws I bought for durock. The flooring, I think, is 3/4" plywood. Then, having cut and arranged the blue stone into shape, I'll put about a 1/2" of mortar over the durock (using a special notched trowel). I'll place the stones, wait a spell, apply the grout, clean, etc... and then I'm done.

When done the hearth will be about 2-2.5" higher than the rest of the floor. It'll be simple but, hopefully, look good.

Is there anything major that I'm missing?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

The stove and fuel! lol

Sounds like you have things pretty well figured out. Just be sure it matches the manufacturer's specs.

 

[pen]

Everything sounds great. I love blue stone. Being from PA I see a lot of it.

Are these blue stone "stones" or tiles? If they are 12x12 tiles, then 1/2 in thick mortar may be more than you need. It'll all depend on the thickness of your rock, the joint size you want between the rocks, and the size of the tile or rock, or if it is smooth versus textured / patterned on the backside. If it is standard 12x12 tiles w/ 1/4 in gapping, then 1/2 in mortar may come up in between the tiles on you and make it hard to grout.

You may consider a 1/4 x 3/8 notched trowel.

Another option you may find useful if you aren't used to tiling is to go w/ a smaller notch trowel (like 1/4 x 1/4) and then lightly and evenly back-butter the tiles.

If you tiles are larger than 12x12 then your 1/4 x 1/2 or more notch may be necessary.

Lot of options.

Good luck.

pen

 

[BucksCounty]

Botemout,
I did the same thing for my hearth. Couple layers of durarock, then six, 1 1/2 inch blue stone slabs. I used very small mortar joints. Good luck

 

[greythorn3]

Botemout,
I did the same thing for my hearth. Couple layers of durarock, then six, 1 1/2 inch blue stone slabs. I used very small mortar joints. Good luck

i see you guys are using durock what about using wonderboard? i have 3 sheets of it from a floor install left.. would that work?

 

[begreen]

The original Wonderboard (all cement) is fine.

 

[begreen]

The stove and fuel! lol

Sounds like you have things pretty well figured out. Just be sure it matches the manufacturer's specs.

Emphasis on matching the manufacturer's specs. Otherwise it could be a painful tearout and rebuild. Fortunately the TL300 is just ember protection. But the old stove might require more protection? Do you have a manual for it?

 

[paulie]

It will look good and be fine. excactly what I did, except for my blue stone is all one piece...looks great

 

[botemout]

The stove and fuel! lol

Sounds like you have things pretty well figured out. Just be sure it matches the manufacturer's specs.

I have a Quad 5700 and I'm confused by the wall placement specs. On the one hand they say that, for a corner installation, you must provide 2" of clearance for the back corners (2" from the wall to each back corner of the the stove). But, on the other, the hearth spec says that you need 8" of space to the side (from the door opening). Since the door is 3" from each side of the stove, that means I'll have 5" of hearth on each side. But, if true that means I can't have 2" of clearance from the back corner. So which spec should I follow? Since 2" of space seems like too little (especially as compared to some other, say, soapstone stoves that need 18"!), I've decided to use 5" from the walls and preserve the full hearth space (actually because we're in a corner there'll be much more hearth space near the front of the stove, but just 5 at the back).

Sorry if the above doesn't make sense ;-)

 

[botemout]

Everything sounds great. I love blue stone. Being from PA I see a lot of it.

Are these blue stone "stones" or tiles? If they are 12x12 tiles, then 1/2 in thick mortar may be more than you need. It'll all depend on the thickness of your rock, the joint size you want between the rocks, and the size of the tile or rock, or if it is smooth versus textured / patterned on the backside. If it is standard 12x12 tiles w/ 1/4 in gapping, then 1/2 in mortar may come up in between the tiles on you and make it hard to grout.

You may consider a 1/4 x 3/8 notched trowel.

Another option you may find useful if you aren't used to tiling is to go w/ a smaller notch trowel (like 1/4 x 1/4) and then lightly and evenly back-butter the tiles.

If you tiles are larger than 12x12 then your 1/4 x 1/2 or more notch may be necessary.

I'm going to a nursery tomorrow to buy them, I'll know then what they have available. What a friend of mine had gotten from them were actual stones, rough cut to about 2'x2'. Good to know that 1/2" mortar might be too much. I bought one of those notched trowels too. The guy at Lowes gave me about a 20 minute rundown on the process; nice guy.

I guess I'd had in my mind, rather than squares, that I'd be piecing together irregular pieces of rock. Seems like that it might be hard to not wind up with large gaps between stones though...

 

[botemout]

The stove and fuel! lol

Sounds like you have things pretty well figured out. Just be sure it matches the manufacturer's specs.

Emphasis on matching the manufacturer's specs. Otherwise it could be a painful tearout and rebuild. Fortunately the TL300 is just ember protection. But the old stove might require more protection? Do you have a manual for it?

I didn't go with the TL300, but the Quad 5700. I'll pick it up this week but I have the manual that they make available on their site. In an above post I questioned how there could be only a 2" required gap between the back of the stove and the wall (when placed in a corner). Apparently Quads throw all their heat toward the front, especially with a fan (which mine has).

 

[greythorn3]

The original Wonderboard (all cement) is fine.

Is this the original wonderboard you talk of?

 

[BucksCounty]

Botemout,
I did the same thing for my hearth. Couple layers of durarock, then six, 1 1/2 inch blue stone slabs. I used very small mortar joints. Good luck

.

I meant wonderboard, not durarock.

 

[firefighterjake]

Incidentally, I know folks here some time ago said Durock was changing its "formula" for the 1/2 listed cement board and as such it may no longer be suitable for hearths . . . so myself and the Fire Inspector went on a field trip last week to our local Home Depot . . . where we found the 1/2 Durock and the UL listed for floor protection for stove sticker. I'm not sure if this is the case everywhere, but it satisfied my curiosity.

 

[botemout]

Incidentally, I know folks here some time ago said Durock was changing its "formula" for the 1/2 listed cement board and as such it may no longer be suitable for hearths . . . so myself and the Fire Inspector went on a field trip last week to our local Home Depot . . . where we found the 1/2 Durock and the UL listed for floor protection for stove sticker. I'm not sure if this is the case everywhere, but it satisfied my curiosity.

I'll check my sticker too.

Also, I guess the change in formula explains the dramatic, hideous, highly toxic-smelling odor that these slabs put out. They got wet on the way home from Lowes and the smell is overpowering.

 

[Wet1]

Everything sounds great. I love blue stone. Being from PA I see a lot of it.

Are these blue stone "stones" or tiles? If they are 12x12 tiles, then 1/2 in thick mortar may be more than you need. It'll all depend on the thickness of your rock, the joint size you want between the rocks, and the size of the tile or rock, or if it is smooth versus textured / patterned on the backside. If it is standard 12x12 tiles w/ 1/4 in gapping, then 1/2 in mortar may come up in between the tiles on you and make it hard to grout.

You may consider a 1/4 x 3/8 notched trowel.

Another option you may find useful if you aren't used to tiling is to go w/ a smaller notch trowel (like 1/4 x 1/4) and then lightly and evenly back-butter the tiles.

If you tiles are larger than 12x12 then your 1/4 x 1/2 or more notch may be necessary.

I'm going to a nursery tomorrow to buy them, I'll know then what they have available. What a friend of mine had gotten from them were actual stones, rough cut to about 2'x2'. Good to know that 1/2" mortar might be too much. I bought one of those notched trowels too. The guy at Lowes gave me about a 20 minute rundown on the process; nice guy.

I guess I'd had in my mind, rather than squares, that I'd be piecing together irregular pieces of rock. Seems like that it might be hard to not wind up with large gaps between stones though...

If you're going to use stone or tile larger than 12"x12" (such as the 2'x2' stone you mentioned), then you'll probably want to use the 1/2 x 1/2 trowel.

 

[botemout]

Just an update. The hearth is "done enough" and I got the stove hooked up and we had our first burn last night. I ultimately went with sheets of 2"x2" slate (1'x1' mosaic, I think they call them). Still have to tile the front of the hearth. Took about a night to make the hearth base; another night to add the tile; another to grout; another to install the stove (oh, probably another night's worth of time to run to various stores for parts ;-)

 

[tickbitty]

You know they don't believe you here without pics!

 

[CountryGal]

You know they don't believe you here without pics!

 

[botemout]

You know they don't believe you here without pics!

Alrighty then ;-)

 

[botemout]

I was going to start a new thread about this but, ..., what do you guys think about how close I have the stove on the right side to the wall? The quad docs say that for a corner orientation I can go as close as 2" to the back right corner. The first fire I made got a little hot (thought for a bit that pushed in was off!) and the side wall got pretty toasty. I think it may need to be farther because of the angle I have the stove at (where it's not really in the corner).

thanks

 

[r_d_gard]

I was going to start a new thread about this but, ..., what do you guys think about how close I have the stove on the right side to the wall? The quad docs say that for a corner orientation I can go as close as 2" to the back right corner. The first fire I made got a little hot (thought for a bit that pushed in was off!) and the side wall got pretty toasty. I think it may need to be farther because of the angle I have the stove at (where it's not really in the corner).

thanks

What is the wall covering? I know it's not, but it looks like wood paneling. If it's 2" you would need a clearance shield to prevent heat build up. Even then you are looking at a substantial distance

 

[tickbitty]

Botemout,
I did the same thing for my hearth. Couple layers of durarock, then six, 1 1/2 inch blue stone slabs. I used very small mortar joints. Good luck

So you recessed most of that below the floor then? Interesting. And what's supporting underneath that? It looks very nice.

 

[botemout]

Botemout,
I did the same thing for my hearth. Couple layers of durarock, then six, 1 1/2 inch blue stone slabs. I used very small mortar joints. Good luck

So you recessed most of that below the floor then? Interesting. And what's supporting underneath that? It looks very nice.

I just removed the carpet (leaving the sub-floor); then put 2x4" on their sides; then 1/2" plywood, then durock, then tile. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, though the best part of it is that it didn't take very long ;-)

 

[tickbitty]

You know they don't believe you here without pics!

Alrighty then ;-)

Looks nice, like the look of the tiles a lot. But yeah, is that wood panelling? I would maybe get a couple decent looking wall shields and put them up to either side regardless of the stated clearances. It might help deflect more heat into the room too?