Hearth pad

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chrisasst

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Aug 13, 2008
1,289
cortland ny
Ok, can't find what I am looking for. What would the average cost be to build your own hearth pad vs buying one? Also I can't find like a step by step guide to build one if I went in that direction. Any one have a link for a step by step guide or something good. Probably will need a corner pad.
 
I used cast concrete paving stones. They are 12 x 12 and cut easy with a skill saw and a masonary blade. Go in the nursery dept. of HD or lowes and build your own for less than $60.
 
Indy3 said:
I used cast concrete paving stones. They are 12 x 12 and cut easy with a skill saw and a masonary blade. Go in the nursery dept. of HD or lowes and build your own for less than $60.

That's what my neighbor did. 1st covered the rug with a piece of plywood then put the paver's on top. bingo!

Not me though, I got my sliding mitre saw out and bought some 2x4 lumber, plywood, cement board, porcalin tile, grout, mastik, trim boards and Red Rope light and made a raised hearth with a lighted tile back and mantel with candles in only 3 months!

oops forgot to mention the black grill. It is a 220 volt 900 watt electric kickspace heater to warm my feet when the stove is down for cleaning!

Only cost $600 plus my labor!

This guy made a nice corner hearth >> https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/64373/
 

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Check your stove manual and with your fire inspector as to what is required.

In most cases all you need is a "Non-combustible material" that extends sufficient distance for clearance.

Basically a sheet of galvanized metal could work.

I chose to make mine out of Paving stones set on the flat for the border and 5x5's for the field. Set in thinset mortar on Durock over 3/4" plywood. Way overkill.
I used polymeric sand as the grout between the pave stones. I edge wrapped it with some red oak 1x I had laying around.

It has held up well for going on 4 years now.

All my inspector wanted was to look at the stove manual to see if I followed their instructions, and a check for $25.

P.S. Camera really shows the dirt (ignore that :-) ). And the blue thing is a Lego guy staying warm.
Good luck,
---Nailer---
 

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As nailed nailer said check you owners manual to see just how far to extend your hearth pad beyond all sides of the stove.
I made mine using 2x6 on edge. I over built it with underside braces. I wanted to be sure that there was now flex in the top too crack the tiles. I sometimes stand on my hearth holding my pellet bag to fill my stove and there is no flexing of the top. It's all screwed together no nails. I wrapped it with 3/4 oak trim on the sides that will show. Counter sunk the holes and glued (I believe there called oak mushroom caps) in the holes.
The edge trim was purchased at Home Depot tile section. You won't need much tile and I bought an inexpensive tile cutter for the large tiles. The small ones were a pain. I shaped them with a electric drill and a carbide blade where I had a few angles meeting.
The sales assistant in the tile area gave me some good hints. I constructed mine in the garage and two people carried it into the house and the I applied the grouting.
As I recall I used cement board. and screwed it down on top of plywood. I think I sealed the cement board seams.
Mine is heavy yet not attached to the floor as a matter of fact it has a number of those self adhesive feet attached to keep it just off of the floor. If need by I could remove it and not need to do any hardwood floor.
repair.
I was surprised just how much the stove stores wanted for a poorly constructed thin hearth pad.
Believe me I am no carpenter so I am sure you can do it if you try.
It was fun building it and you can size it exactly the way you want.
 

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Since pellet stoves are completely different from wood stoves, if all pellets stoves are like my Whitfield Advantage then there is no heat anywhere near the base of the stove, nor the sides for that matter, so it seems likely to me that the hearth pad requirement is an unnecessary carry-over of wood stove installation requirements. Sure, a pellet stove shouldn't be positioned on a carpet, but most, if not all other, flooring materials will be unharmed by a pellet stove placed directly on it, especially tile, stone, marble, brick, hard wood, and probably linoleum. But no jurisdiction will acknowledge that fact because it takes a national standards organization to give its OK and none has bothered to even examine the issue since there's no loud or reputable voice calling for it.
If anyone knows of a real-world fire danger from the base of pellet stoves, please let's hear about it.
 
Another option would be to check out a marble/granite countertop shop and get a remnant piece cut to the
size you need. Got me a piece of black granite cut and polished up for about $80 that now sits under my
Harman Advance.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/41725/
 
I am thinking I might go with a marble tile. However I don't want to adhere it to my floor, because I hope this summer to redo my floor and don't want these stuck down. Will this be ok to not adhere it down, just grout the gaps and call it a day...
 
Throw down a sheet of Durock directly over your existing floor in the shape you want your hearth to be.
No need to attach it to the floor.
(broken link removed)

Cover that with the Marble tile (use Thinset mortar not Mastic to hold them onto the Durock)
(broken link removed)

Use whatever grout you want and trim the edge however you like.

Should look great and depending on materials....should be less than $100.

Shoot us some pictures when done.

Good Luck,
---Nailer---
 
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