slab of stone for hearth pad

[firefighterjake]

I used bluestone 1.5 inches thick,,, four pieces cause i didnt think i could carry one in,,, priced granite and it was 1600.00 needless to say i went with the bluestone and actually i have no regrets about material choice... yet with hindsite 20/20 i would have raised it to about 12" rather then 4.5

And yes the ashpan door handle is open...

You know us so well Phatfarmerbob . . . incidentally I like the bluestone . . . looks nice.

 

[ryanm527]

ploughboy: The limestone was in place long before I was even born, so I don't know how it's been finished or what's been done over the years to it, but it appears to be just polished.

 

[Wade A.]

Nice to know my choice of materials has some historic cred. My instinct is to just let the stone be, well, stone. That makes me feel more certain about it. Thanks Ryan.

 

[JBiBBs5]

I used a single piece of 1.25" granite counter top slab for my hearth. I put it on top of a 2"X"6" frame, 3/4" plywood, and a piece of micore (I used another brand of similar material, but would use micore if I did it again). It's been in for 2 months and is working great. I can't imagine this piece of granite breaking w/ this type of install.

The guy who is going to be installing my stove told me that throwing a 1" thick slab of granite on top of the rug is sufficient for a hearth pad.

What do you guys think about that? I'm worried it may crack.

 

[Arc_Dad]

You should go w/ the stove specs. It should have an R value for the hearth. Stone has A very poor R value so I doubt that would be safe & up to spec.

 

[begreen]

I used a single piece of 1.25" granite counter top slab for my hearth. I put it on top of a 2"X"6" frame, 3/4" plywood, and a piece of micore (I used another brand of similar material, but would use micore if I did it again). It's been in for 2 months and is working great. I can't imagine this piece of granite breaking w/ this type of install.

The guy who is going to be installing my stove told me that throwing a 1" thick slab of granite on top of the rug is sufficient for a hearth pad.

What do you guys think about that? I'm worried it may crack.

Correct, it will depend on the stove hearth requirements. What stove is this for?

Even if it is just ember protection my preference would be to place the stone on a level bed of cement board.

 

[JBiBBs5]

I'll be using a cast iron Enviro M55 FS..

 

[begreen]

So this is for a pellet stove correct? If so, you're fine, but my preference would still be to cut out the carpet and have the solid stone on a flat base.

 

[mhrischuk]

Has anyone used a slab of granite or any other stone for building a hearth pad? I did a search on Google about using granite and found a couple people that had their granite crack on them. Does anyone have a recommendation for a single piece of stone that I can use to build a hearth pad? I am looking for something that is durable, won't crack (if properly level and supported) and somewhat scratch resistant. I would like to build my own hearth pad but I do not think that I want to get involved with tiling. I would use a 2X4 frame with lots of cross beams, plywood layer, enough cement board to achieve the required r-value, then put the slab of stone on top. I would then trim the outside with wood. Any thoughts or ideas would be great.

That's exactly what I did but took it a step further. Typical granite comes in 1 to 1.25" thickness. I needed an R1 insulation value. I could have put the one piece on top of the insulation substrate panels but I didn't want to go the wood trim route. So we laminated the underside edges with granite strips to double the thickness. This is often done on countertops to give the impression of thickness but control weight. This gave me a pocket to put the substrate in and the look of thick granite.

Granite won't crack if the floor can handle the weight of both the granite and the stove and it's properly supported, meaning even support. I used Absolute Black granite which they claim is one of the hardest available.

Cost was $1300 but they made some big design mistakes that I talk about in the thread (link at the bottom of this post) so I will get that price greatly reduced.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/78654/

 

[mhrischuk]

I used a single piece of 1.25" granite counter top slab for my hearth. I put it on top of a 2"X"6" frame, 3/4" plywood, and a piece of micore (I used another brand of similar material, but would use micore if I did it again). It's been in for 2 months and is working great. I can't imagine this piece of granite breaking w/ this type of install.

I would love to see a picture or two of your hearth pad.