Floating a Hearth on Laminate

[Alaska 1967]

I am planning on placing a tiled hearth on top of my laminate floor. The hearth is small and my laminate floor has radiant heating under it, so it’s safe to say the floor is already accustomed to temperature swings. I have been told that I can, and cannot float the hearth on top of the laminate. Which is the true statement? Please help, It’s a lot of work to be a mistake

 

[nate379]

Don't see why you can't. Mine is on my laminate floor.

 

[snowleopard]

I was told that code required me to pin the hearth to the floor. I'm guessing my hearth was upwards of 150 pounds when I finished it, and the stove that I put on top of it is about 450 pounds. I figure if my stove started sliding around, I've got worse problems going on than that. I also figured that if I get enough of a shake-rattle-and-roll for the stove to start moving, a couple of bolts in the floor isn't going to stop it. And if we *do* get the 6.something quake I'm guessing it would take to slide it, it'll be easier to move back in place without the pins when the shaking stops.

I put some fabric down as the separating layer between the hearth and the laminate, just in case someone sometime decides to take the stove out of there. It made it easier to fine-tune placement and it protects the floor from scratches.

So far, so good. If the laminate-pinning-police come for me, I'll try to barricade myself in long enough to post a warning . . .

 

[rwhite]

Can't see why not if you have the proper r-values. Pretty much every hearth, unless the house foundation is concrete, sits over some kind of wood. Anyhow it's what I did. About 1/2 of mine sits over the old tile hearth that did not have the proper r-value and the other 1/2 is over hardwood floor. Are you going to buy it or build it? I put a few strips of adhesive back felt on mine so I could slide it in place without scratching the floor. It has 1" plywood, 1/2" micore, and 1/2" durock, the tiled.

 

[firefighterjake]

I am planning on placing a tiled hearth on top of my laminate floor. The hearth is small and my laminate floor has radiant heating under it, so it’s safe to say the floor is already accustomed to temperature swings. I have been told that I can, and cannot float the hearth on top of the laminate. Which is the true statement? Please help, It’s a lot of work to be a mistake

As long as you have the proper R value hearth pad I wouldn't see why you couldn't put a hearth right on top of the laminate without fastening it to the floor . . . I mean I've gone three years with a floating hearth pad and have had no issues . . . then again I also built a hearth pad that is pretty rugged (aka heavy) so it's not going anywhere. I'm not really sure why someone would say you couldn't put the hearth pad on top of the laminate floor unless it was due to restricting the movement of the laminate flooring if it is floating . . . but even then I wouldn't think that would be an issue.

I would not put the tile directly on to the laminate . . . I would adhere the tile to the proper cement backer board . . . maybe even use a thick sheet of plywood for the base for the cement board to restrict any movement of the tile.

 

[nate379]

I never gave much thought to it moving in an earthquake. I think a quake that shakes hard enough to move the stove around would destroy the whole house.

 

[jeff_t]

I think in some areas code says a stove has to be secured to the hearth. In the event of a shake, it could keep the stove from tipping and spilling fire. I guess that would make a bad situation really bad if you couldn't get out in a timely fashion.
Might be talking out my rear, though. Our major earthquakes around here aren't really noticeable.

 

[pyper]

There are two issues to consider:

1) is there any other point in the room where the laminate is fixed. There's not supposed to be, but if there is, then when it expands and contracts if it's fixed in another (by being pinned down by several hundreds of pounds of stove, tile, and whatever else) it will cause the floor to fail.

2) does the floor system have the crush strength rating to resist the weight. Take the total weight and divide by the contact area. If it's too high, you'll crack the laminate.

Is it possible to take a circular saw or a plunge router and remove a portion of the laminate?