Hearth Pads
Hearth Pads & Floor Protection
Non-combustible pads sized and rated for your appliance — stone, tile and steel. Get this wrong and the stove is not legally installed, whatever it looks like.
The Rule
R-Value and Extension, Not Looks
A hearth pad has two jobs and they are both numbers, not opinions. It has to hold back enough heat — that is the R-value, and it comes straight out of your appliance’s manual — and it has to extend far enough in front of and to the sides of the appliance to catch what falls out of it.
A beautiful tile laid straight onto a wood subfloor has an R-value close to nothing. Tile is a surface, not a thermal barrier. This is the most common install error we are called out to correct.
What We Stock
Pads, Boards and Custom Work
Listed hearth pads
Off the floor at the showroom
Manufactured pads with a published R-value on the label, in stone, tile and steel. That published number is what makes the install documentable — we can point at it on paper when the inspector asks, which you cannot do with site-built tile.
Standard rectangles, corner pads for a stove tucked into an angle, and pads with a front clip for a loading door that swings out.
- Stone and tile faced pads in a range of finishes
- Steel pads where the look is industrial or the budget is tight
- Corner and clipped shapes for real rooms
- Published R-value on every listed pad
Non-combustible boards and site-built
When a stock pad will not do
Where the shape is unusual or the look has to match a stone wall, we build it — non-combustible board to the required R-value with your finish on top, or a solid stone hearth cut to the opening.
The rule does not change: the assembly has to meet the appliance’s required R-value, and we document what went into it. A pretty hearth we cannot document is a problem at resale and a bigger one at claim time.
- Magrahearth stove pads in 48×60, 38×46 and 48×48 with an 18″ clip
- Non-combustible board assemblies built up to a specified R-value
- Solid stone — see hearth stones
Before You Buy
Bring Us the Model Number
Tell us the make and model of the stove or insert and we will look up the required R-value and extension ourselves. It takes two minutes and it is the difference between a pad that passes and a pad you have to buy twice.
Things that are not hearth protection
Tile or slate laid directly on a combustible subfloor. A sheet of steel on its own where the manual asks for insulating value. A pad that is the right R-value but too small in front of the door. A rug — and we have seen it.
If your existing pad came with the house and nobody knows what is under it, we can open a corner and find out during an inspection.
Come See It
Bring the Model Number
Come by with the make and model, or send it over and we will spec it before you drive out. Getting the appliance too? Start with the builder.