homemade woodstove hearth

[cdodge04]

I've been working on it slowly, I finally got the tiles down today. All I have left is the grout...and it looks amazing so far. When I get it completed I will post some pictures up. My final design was to use 2x4's for a base, lay plywood over across the top, put the durarock down on top of the plywood and then put tiles down on the durarock. I decided that the bricks would be too much weight on the floor without some sort of support in the basement.

edit: The durarock was easy to use, I just cut it with my skill saw and a regular blade. I know they say to wear masks and all that for safety, but I skipped that step. Cut it all up outside, screwed it all together with 2inch screws...its a beautiful thing.

[contented]

i see you've begun and it sounds great. i built one once that worked great. i had a steel hoop which may have been on a big barrel or an old wagon wheel, just not sure about that, but it was about 1 1/2" high and a little under 4' accross as i recollect.

i just put it on the floor and filled it in with used brick, some of which i broke to size. because it was round, it solved the toe stubbing issue and worked fine under the stove. i let it project forward a bit so it looked like a hearth too.

[flashpipe]

We just got a pellet stove and are going to build our own base. Sounds like 3/8" plywood, durarock and tiles (ceramic or stone? Does it matter?), yes?

Was thinking of using some trim around the edge to hide the lip.

Any special type of thinset or grout needed for this??

Thanks!!