Looking to build a hearth pad for the NC30 Im purchasing. It will be going in my unfinished basement, block walls and concrete floor. My thought was 1/2" plywood with a layer or two of 1/2 durock then covered with tile. My question is whether introducing plywood is a bad idea?
Hearth Pad question
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Just to check, is the hearth pad simply to get the stove up higher than the floor for easier loading?
If you use plywood, you'll need to have enough non-combustible material above it to meet the manual's required r-value of 1.5.
5/8 in durock has an r-value of .49 so you'd need 3 layers of that, for a total of 1.47 plus your ceramic tile at .02 just to barely get there, or 4 layers of 1/2 in at .39 per to be safe.
Other materials such as micore have a higher r-value per inch.
Or you could use all non-combustible material in your pad and not worry about the r-value since you are on concrete to start.
Or, just put the tile right down on the slab.
pen
If you use plywood, you'll need to have enough non-combustible material above it to meet the manual's required r-value of 1.5.
5/8 in durock has an r-value of .49 so you'd need 3 layers of that, for a total of 1.47 plus your ceramic tile at .02 just to barely get there, or 4 layers of 1/2 in at .39 per to be safe.
Other materials such as micore have a higher r-value per inch.
Or you could use all non-combustible material in your pad and not worry about the r-value since you are on concrete to start.
Or, just put the tile right down on the slab.
pen
jdp1152
Minister of Fire
If you're just looking to elevate, pick up some bricks and mortar and create a single layer platform. If you want higher, get some masonry blocks. Throw a good mortar scratch coat on it and you can tile if you want to. No reason at all to use plywood on a basement floor. You're just going to have to redo it a few years as it slowly rots. Here is a brick platform on a wood boiler I inherited with home purchase ( I do not use it).
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No hearth pad required on a concrete floor unless you're doing this for the visuals. You can tile directly on the floor I think.
BTW, hope it's in the plan to insulate the basement walls. They are a giant heat sink, sucking up about 30% of the heat. That really drops the efficiency of heating from the basement.
BTW, hope it's in the plan to insulate the basement walls. They are a giant heat sink, sucking up about 30% of the heat. That really drops the efficiency of heating from the basement.
Thanks all for the responses. THe wife wants a pad to make it look a little nicer and also in preperation for when we do decide to finish the basement. Althought we'll never have any flooring right around the stove.
Our stove is in the same setup us your and all we did was get some retaining wall block and laid out a 5 sided heatrh and covered it with 16x16 landscape pavers. Now we have a nice 10inch high raised hearth. Would post a picture but just got a new laptop with windows 8 and not quit sure how to post pics from it yet.
I would just tile directly on the cement slab if it is in good condition. You could use a nice thick tile and some matching bullnose edging to make it very attractive.To slightly raise it, lay down some cement board on the cement floor and tile that. I don't see any need to introduce wood in this hearth. If you want to raise it, consider using metal studs or hat metal.That way you will be able to use this hearth for any stove you want if you change in the future.
http://www.ehow.com/how_4891038_tile-concrete-floor.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_4891038_tile-concrete-floor.html
Thats probably what ill do...lay down the cement board and tile over that. how would you anchor the cement board to the floor? Would liquid nails do the job? if I wanted to stack two sheets of the cement board should i glue them as well?
You would do best to check with the tiling forums. I wouldn't use liquid nails. It would work, but then you lose the totally non combustible quality of the install. Instead, first be sure you use real cement board, Wonderboard or Durock. Bond it to the cement using a good quality latex modified thinset. Trowel it down with a notched trowel. Press it down good, then let it set up undisturbed for 24 hrs.
http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin...27f00d119a1549a4f2e9257&p=621591&postcount=14
http://www.ehow.com/how_6688739_using-floors-ceramic-tile-installation.html
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Another vote for thinset. Go to a real tile store (not Lowes Depot), and tell them your application. They'll send you home with the right stuff.
Thinset for sure,,, not S type mortar,,ask me how I know, 120 dollars later in cut bricks that didn't hold, and shame on the masonry shop for giving my S type mortar when it said right on the thin brick box to use Thinset! Wow does that stuff hold... I tested it on a piece of wonder board, first just buttering the board and nothing on the brick, next a section buttering the brick and the board,,, the next day I couldn't get either one loose..Thinset!
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