My last stove thread I promise…. I’ve seen some 8mm thick Victorian style ceramic tiles that would look great on the hearth. I was worried about heat so rang the supplier to see what he thought and he said he couldn’t confirm either way, but would be more worried about the weight of the stove. Has anyone got any real world experience?

mine sits on 10mm quarry tiles on a concrete base.

when i moved in my stove was on tiles – they looked shit but they were tiles – just standard floor tiles.

not the best photo but it was just before we ripped them out.

provided they are laid propper with no voids and onto a constructional hearth there will be no issue.

if you dont believe tiles are tough buggers – look up jack olsen of 12 gauge garage fame battering his floor with a hammer to prove it .

Tiles are fine but I think that [as long as your stove qualifies for the thinner hearth] the minimum is 10mm. I don’t know whether a bed of mortar is counts towards the thickness but you can have a hearth made of 10mm glass sat on carpet.

if its on top of a constructional hearth (125mm minimum concrete) – then you dont need anything at all though – the tiles are merely to diferentiate between your floor and the hearth – satisfying the clearly marked boundary required under regs.

as long as what you use is non combustable it doesnt matter how thick – when atop a constructional hearth.

its 12mm minimum if your stove qualifys for the thin hearth.

ps as an aside – has anyone found a stove that heats the surface under to high temps ? laser thermometor says that neither of mine(neither approved) can heat my floor up to any where near 100 – even after being roaring for hours and the room being at 25degrees 😀 – at which point i come in and open the doors and vents to let the heat round the house and get moaned at for creating drafts 😀

also i found this in the stove fitters manual a while back and thought it was a peach.

“Note: You will see stoves with log stores underneath. These stoves must not, if building regulations are to be adhered to, be lit whilst logs are in the log store (’tis true).”

its 12mm minimum

Soz 😳

Cheers guys. There’s a constructional hearth, I’ve actually cast a new one as the original had cracked due to the backfill it was laid on subsiding a little. My concern is purely about the longevity of the tiles.

so long as you dont go dropping your stove from a great height daily i think youll be fine.

whats your stove ?

mines a 7kw alberg and even after being on for a few hours you can still comfortably put your hand down on the hearth under the stove ( i was experimenting to see where the heat transfered to most…. it turns out directly behind the flue was the warmest piece of wall near the fire as i was checking that the mantle wasnt getting too hot. ….. i meant to check it with and without the eco fan in place – ill be sure to remember and check that out tomorrow night actually.

Went for the Alpine Rosa 5kw after. It’s good reading what you say about the temperature, and personally I can’t see weight being an issue at all, 62kg spread over the four legs is not exactly massive.

10mm tiles will be fine as long as they are fixed without any voids due to lack of adhesive.
As trail-rat says the only damage would occur if you dropped the stove onto the tiles irrespective of its weight!
A little tip to fitting the stove into place is using 2 x strips of plywood on top of the tiles from front to back under each side of the legs; gently lower the stove onto these then slide it into place, to remove the plywood carefully lift one side of the stove and pull it from underneath do the same for the other side and you will have a stove in its correct position without any damage to your tiles or your back 🙂