12mm hearth for woodburner?

shar46y

We're thinking of replacing our gas fire with a woodburning stove :j and have just had the first company to survey and quote.

From reading around on here and other websites, I got the impression that with some models we would be able to get away with a 12mm hearth laid over our wood flooring. But the chap who came to survey has just said that we will need a 40mm hearth. That sounds really, well, intrusive-looking - I really don't fancy something like that!

Would very much appreciate if someone could confirm either way!

silverwhistle

I believe it depends on the model and I'm sure there are some needing only 12mm but if you go over to the wood burning section of The Green Living Forum there'll be an expert to confirm.

If you can remove the flooring underneath a 40mm slab it wouldn't stand so proud though?

lostinrates

We are going through this ATM. The depth in intrudes out in to a room for buildings regs rather than up is the bigger problem IMO.

shar46y

silverwhistle wrote: »

I believe it depends on the model and I'm sure there are some needing only 12mm but if you go over to the wood burning section of The Green Living Forum there'll be an expert to confirm.

If you can remove the flooring underneath a 40mm slab it wouldn't stand so proud though?

That's one of the websites I was reading and I've seen several woodburners online that say they only need 12mm.

I don't think we could remove the flooring underneath without wrecking the floor It is the click-together (don't know the proper term) type of solid wood, on top of the old floorboards.

alleycat`

Building regulations

If a stove is placed on a combustible floor then the hearth must be at least 250mm thick (or 125mm thick with a 50mm air gap underneath). This hearth thickness can be reduced to 12mm if the stove does not raise the hearth temperature to 100 degrees centigrade.

Many stove manufacturers have tested their stoves and should be able to state whether their stove does raise the hearth temperature to over 100ºC or not.

Contemporary stoves, with wood stores underneath, are very unlikely to heat the hearth to more than 100ºC.

You should bear in mind that if you are using a 6mm glass floor plate or a 2mm steel plate on a combustible floor that you should place another non-combustible layer under the floor plate to bring the total up to the 12mm required by regs.

Basically that.
No idea where the 40mm came from?

weanie

Years ago, we had an insurance claim because the carpet got damaged by a piece of coal or wood or something falling out of the multifuel burner whilst the doors were open. In the event, the Insurance company paid up but the assessor measured to make sure the distance from the carpet was over 12 inches. I have no idea if this was according ot insurance rules or building regs at the time.

shar46y

alleycat` wrote: »

No idea where the 40mm came from?

We'll wait for the written quote and maybe it will give us a clue. Could be they only sell hearths in 40mm thickness?

mysk_girl

We had one installed in a laminate floor, and we cut a hole for the hearth into the laminate. Used a tenon saw. Was exceptionally tedious, but it can be done! Used sandpaper to tidy the edge up and then silicon to fill the gap.

shar46y

My OH (who was the one at home with the woodburning chap and should have been listening:mad:) thinks that maybe that the 40mm for a stone hearth, because a thinner one wouldn't be strong enough. So presumably if we chose some other material we could have a thinner one?

gas4you

Is your hearth 12mm all over, now?

For gas fires, the hearth should be a minimum of 12mm, but increasing to 50mm at the edges, hence why a standard hearth of 50mm is usually fitted.

shar46y

gas4you wrote: »

Is your hearth 12mm all over, now?

For gas fires, the hearth should be a minimum of 12mm, but increasing to 50mm at the edges, hence why a standard hearth of 50mm is usually fitted.

Don't have a hearth at the moment. We currently have an inset gas fire which is this sort of thing (but much less fancy looking).

http://www.brilliantfires.co.uk/product/information/Gas/LEDGE+30