My Hearth Pad

I promised I would show my new hearth pad once I got it completed. I call it a hearth pad because it is not permanently attached; it is more like the prefabricated hearth pads on the market. When I ended up going with the Madison stove from England Stove Works, I no longer needed the R2 hearth and thus could build a cheaper solution.

I started with a 4x8x15/32 sheet of plywood as the base. My sister drove over in my brother-in-law's big 250 GMC truck to get the supplies. She helped me to pick out a nice tile; the tile was porcelain and I found out that you needed different mortar for porcelain tile. I cut out a 4x6 rectangle from the sheet of plywood and did some angles at the corners. The hearth did not need to be that wide but I thought it would be more pleasing to the eye and it gives more room for setting implements and extra fire wood.



I went with premixed mortar; more expensive but less likely for me to screw up. It did not want to behave though, some times when I did the notches it would do correctly then other times it would mess up and I had to go back and redo it. I decided after reading a post on the net to back butter all the tiles to make sure they would adhere properly. I started by getting the center lines and started laying the tiles from the centre out.





I ran out of mortar before I finished the project; probably because I was back buttering the tiles, so cleaned up around the tiles so I could pick up without having the problem of chipping mortar off the plywood. I had never done any tile work before so it was not the best of jobs plus the issues I had with the mortar not wanting to behave correctly. I grouted the tile and then had an issue with the grout haze not wanting to come off. They make it sound so easy in the video tutorials and maybe it is with some tiles. I am sure the grout glaze issue is not as bad with ceramic glazed tile since the surface is much smoother. These tiles are meant to mimic stone and the surface is not completely smooth.



I trimmed the edges with some oak moulding from Lowe's. I was surprised that oak moulding is only a bit higher in price than pine. I got Lowe's to cut the two tiles at the corners and there was no charge for doing so since it was only a couple of pieces. I must say, the tile cutter went through these tiles as if they were butter on a hot summer's day.

Hopefully this hearth pad will be suitable for my new wood stove. It may not be the best of jobs but function over beauty.

 

Looks good

 

Thank you.

 

Looks nice, can't wait to see the stove on it...

 

Thanks, don't look too closely or you will see my boo-boos. I will admit that I was rushing to get this finished. I should have took more pains with it.

 

Thanks, I can't wait either and it has turned cold here.

 

Nice!

 

Thank you.

 

Normally I use the weather underground. I have a desktop thingy that links to the page.

 

I froze outside today. I went out and took all the firebrick out of the stove and the door to make it lighter for bringing in the house.

 

Soon, very soon.

 

I second that!

 

What's your plan there...go to Lowes and bat your eyelashes at a couple big burly Lumber Jack types then challenge then into a stove lifting contest?

 

Ya' gotta' quit using such confusing technical terms.
They're.......confusing.