Steel Hearth Plate

bemak

We recently put in a stove and I'm looking to put a steel hearth plate in front of same. The idea is that the steel plate is flush with the floor so it should all look quite clean.

I bought the steel plate already, 1.4 x 0.5m @ 5mm thick. It's painted and ready to go. The only thing is I want to put in a base that will bring the steel up to the finished floor level.

The existing floor is suspended timber. The thickness of the timber floor is 19mm which means I have 14mm to make up. I'd rather have a uniform base as I want to avoid the hollow sound that would result if I was to support the plate in only a few locations. Obviously, whatever is used would need to be non-combustible which is the tricky bit.

Any ideas?

dathi

2.7.1 A solid fuel appliance should be
provided with a solid, non-combustible hearth
that will prevent the heat of the appliance
from igniting combustible materials. A hearth
should be either:
(a) a constructional hearth at least 125 mm
thick; (see 2.7.1.1) or
(b) a free-standing, solid, non-combustible
hearth at least 12 mm thick.(see 2.7.1.2)

this is taken from the building regulations TGDs as you can see a hearth must be 12mm thick to comply

bemak

The TGDs are guidance on how the building regulations can be satisfied. They aren't the only way.

The plate and the substrate, both of which will be non-combustible add up to 20mm

Calahonda52

Depending on what is there already the plate may be too small
2.7.1.2 Free standing hearths
A free-standing, solid, non-combustible hearth should only be provided where the appliance will not cause the temperature of the top surface of the hearth on which it stands to be more than 100o C. It should be at least 12 mm thick, and should have a minimum plan area of 840 mm x 840 mm as shown in Diagram 9.

perhaps 12mm cement board and 2mm shims on top of the floor joists

bemak

Cement board is a good idea! I had been in contact with a stove installer and he said that he comes across off-cuts all the time so I'm waiting to hear back. I was looking into Promat Promafour but it's very expensive! :eek: