Floor sealant for flush hearth

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Elciteeve

New Member
Dec 6, 2016
68
Albany OR
Good day all!

I'm new to posting on this forum but I've been lurking for a few months now to research for the house my wife and I just purchased.

There are however two questions I can't find an answer for and I'm hoping someone can help point me in the right direction. We are installing two new heat sources. A wood stove in our living room and an electric "fireplace" in our bedroom. The electric heat will have a flush hearth (this was necessary because the previous owners tried to do this and failed - miserably. Leaving a ruined mess of holes and sawed out chunks in the floor. Now I get to fix their stupidity), while the wood stove will be on a hearth pad.

First question is: For the flush hearth where the brick / mortar meets the wood floors, and some of the supports where the floor was recessed, do I need to seal the wood some how to prevent wood to concrete rot damage? If so what do I use that I don't have to worry about the R rating, or combustibility etc. As far as I know my hearth is within spec for my area, so I doubt I need to worry as much about the heat. I thought I should check anyway though.

Second question is: For the hearth pad I was told I have to leave a 1 inch gap between it and the wall and I'm wondering if this is true (the manual my stove came with doesn't specify anything of this nature, just that there needs to be ember protection 18" in front of the door, and that the unit must be 3" away from the walls.), and if so if there's a work around... I think it will look horribly stupid with a gap like that and I will go to extreme lengths to avoid it if possible - including moving / expanding the walls... basically whatever it takes. Since the house is down to bare studs currently, now would be the time to do something major like that.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!
 
I can help with the first question. No. Grout, stone, brick, cement..is fine right up against the wood as long as there is not moisture coming through long term. If you are worried about the quickset being wet and drying and discoloring the wood...don't. I have many places in my home where quickset and grout meet wood and I have zero visible issues. It all sets up quickly these days.
You might want to use a right angle metal transition piece or not...it is your call.
 
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I can help with the first question. No. Grout, stone, brick, cement..is fine right up against the wood as long as there is not moisture coming through long term. If you are worried about the quickset being wet and drying and discoloring the wood...don't. I have many places in my home where quickset and grout meet wood and I have zero visible issues. It all sets up quickly these days.
You might want to use a right angle metal transition piece or not...it is your call.

Awesome, thanks very much for the info! I'm re-using 100 year old brick (a gift from the house) so it's all pretty uneven. I think a transition piece would look too polished for the more rough look that I think I'll be getting with this old brick. Which is fine with me, it will look old and weathered, which is sort of what we're going for.
 
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