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What type of tile should I use around my wood stove?
QUESTION
What type of tile should I use around my wood stove? - I am removing my fireplace insert and installing a wood stove. I would like to surround the back and sides of the opening with wonderboard and tile. Is there a certain tile I need to use?ANSWER
ANSWER - Using a ceramic tile (which includes porcelain ceramic tiles) around heat is not a problem because most ceramic tiles are fired well above 1200 °F and more like 2000 °F.What is important is to select a tile that is chip resistant so when logs and other equipment are dropped on them they don't chip. Of course it is important that the tile is installed correctly and that there are no voids under the tile to make it resistant to dropping items on it.
It is also important that the tile is easy to maintain. If it is porous then it can be stained by smoke and it can be more difficult keeping clean.
Using a either a glazed ceramic tile, or dense unglazed ceramic tile or a dense natural stone can work. To keep it stain resistant use a tile that is either impervious or vitreous to moisture, which is also normally an indication it will have a denser body and be more chip resistant. A glaze tile is normally impervious in the glaze on the surface, but the body of the tile could be more absorbing. Porcelain tiles had clay bodies that are impervious. Granite, slate, and quartzite are very dense stones that can perform well. Be sure to seal the tile and grout afterwards to make it more stain resistant and easier to maintain. Above all, make sure it is installed correctly because it will not perform any better than how well it is installed. Good luck.
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I am wondering if I can put the dense natural stone or glazed ceramic tile under a free standing woodstove tile-to-tile without using grout?
Whether it is natural stone or a glazed ceramic tile you cannot butt tiles together. Industry standards state that the tile grout joints should be at least 1/8″ wide, but never less than 1/16″.
The reason why you should not butt tiles together is that tile expand when subjected to heat or moisture, so if they are butted to tiles it can cause chipping along the edge and can lead to the tiles debonding if they are restrained.
Can you give me some information on expansion gaps in ceramic tiles behind a wood stove?, such as how many, how big, and placement? Thank you.
Expansion joints is a type of movement joint. Standards say that a movement joint should be installed every 20 to 25 feet for interior areas, and every 8-12 feet in exterior areas or interior areas subjected to direct sunlight.
Since a wood stove is giving off heat I would go with the every 8-12 feet. Normally wood stoves are near a wall, so the only movement joints near the stove would be at the wall where the floor tile ends.
If you are referring to a wall application behind a wood stove then that transition joint between wall and floor should be a resilient movement joint filled with a heat rated ASTM C920 sealant. The inside vertical joints between to adjacent walls in different planes should have a movement joint.
Can ceramic tile (PEI 5; weight 8 lbs; 17 x 17 in) be installed as a woodstove surround on drywall?
There should not be a problem to install a 4 pound per square foot tile to gypsum wall board on an interior application. It would be better to install a 1/4″ cementitious backer board over it first that would be more heat resistant.
Either way you can use a polymer modified thin-set mortar for bonding a ceramic tile to those respective substrates.
Can I use a glass tile around wood stove?
If you mean can you adhere a glass tile to a wood stone, the answer is yes it is possible to adhere tile to metal, but it would not be recommended.
Glass tile is produced in a manner where is under tension and is susceptible to fracturing when subjected to extreme temperatures.
What do you recommend for the walls? I have a wood stove that I am installing in the corner. I am installing 1/2 inch cement board with a one inch gap from my wall. Stove will be 10 to 13 inches from the wall at the corners.
I would like to go the tile option instead of brick…. which tile offers the best protection? Ceramic, porcelain, slate, etc…?
Porcelain tile is the most durable in either glazed or unglazed, although most ceramic tiles would work. Slate is very dense and can work too. As long as whatever you used is installed correctly. You can use a cementitous grout within the field of tile. At any transitions you should use the ASTM C920 sealant.
Is there a certain mortar and grout that tolerates the heat when setting ceramic tiles around the wood stove?
Normally a cementitious grout is used on tile installed on walls adjacent to wood stoves. If you are bonding a porcelain tile to a cementitious substrate it naturally readily conduct and transfer heat. Exterior tile Veneer walls in direct sunlight at 100 degrees F atmospheric temperatures normally get as hot as 150 degrees F or hotter. So as long it isn’t touching the wood stove that normally works ok.
How durable would granite tile be as a hearth for a wood burning stove , or which one would be best ?
A true granite natural stone would be a good choice as they are very durable and should be resistant the type of heat generated from a wood burning stove. I am assuming you are not bonding it to the stove, but that it is on a wall or floor adjacent to the stove.
Not all granites are equal as their physical properties can vary from area to area and shipment to shipment. As long as it meets ASTM C615 it should work if it is installed correctly.
Just poured a concrete floor 5” thick. It has a 4 foot deep stem wall and is 15’ by 11’ with no expansion joints cut into it. I will be installing a pad of some sort, not yet decided what. Should I have some sort of heat shield under the pad to protect from cracking the concrete?
You should have put a closed cell polyethylene foam along the stem wall and poured the concrete up to it. I assume you put rebar in the concrete floor. If it is an exterior application you. Not sure what you mean by pad. Maybe a layer of natural stone? Normally there is no reason to have a heat shield unless you are in freeze-thaw areas where you may want a snow melting system installed.
You shouldn’t have to worry about something cracking the concrete. You might need to add a crack isolation membrane over the concrete to prevent any shrinkage cracking from telegraphing up through the floor finish.
Hello,
We are replacing the flooring in our space and would like to replace the existing tiles under the wood stove . Do we need fire board under the tiles? Or can we just lay the tiles or pour a smooth concrete finish?
Concrete doesn’t burn so you can bond the ceramic tile directly to the concrete floor. Make sure the concrete isn’t too smooth to adhere the tile to. If so, the scarify the concrete to open the pores and to provide some texture.
Or if you are saying you have a wood subfloor, then you do need to put down either cementitious backer board or float a mortar bed over the wood per industry standards before adhering the tile.
I have ceramic tiles around my log burner, and the closest is 13 cm away from the heat source. Is there a glaze or treatment I need to apply to the tiles to reduce the chance of them cracking?
There is nothing more resistant to the heat than the ceramic tile itself. Most ceramic tiles are fired in a kiln at as high as 2,000 degrees F. If you have a cementitious substrate to which the tile is attached is will further dissipate the heat.
That’s very reassuring, thank you!
Question regarding tile placement. The wood stove pedestal is 23″ and the tiles are 23″x23″ and 3/8″ thick. Installing on Hardie backerboard. My concern is weight distribution. Should I cut tiles so the pedestal straddles them evenly or have the stove rest primarily on one tile? Thank you in advance.
It really doesn’t matter if the tile is sitting on one or multiple tiles if they all are the same type of tiles. Assuming you have a porcelain ceramic tile. What is important is that the substrate doesn’t have too much deflection and no more deflection than L/360 (L= Length of span). If the substrate is a wood subfloor than you might have to add additional bracing and another wood subfloor lay.
What is also important is that the tile is fully supported by the thinset mortar particularly at edges and corners.
Hi, we’re building a home and going to install a wood stove that sits in a soap stone box or frame. Our floors are engineered hardwood. My question is: can the soap stone (1/2”) frame just sit on top of the hardwood or do we need to place ceramic tile down and then sit the soapstone box on top of the tile. The firewood stove is a Vermont Bun Maker 750 Wood cook stove. Thanks much for your advice!!
Soap stone, the natural stone material, should be heat resistant. It does need to be placed on a very flat surface so it is fully supported. 1/2″ thickness is on the thin side, so it needs to be fully supported. It would be better to have a cementitious base, like a cement backer board or a mortar bed for it to sit on, which could be covered with a porcelain tile.
Whatever you put down will likely cause the hardwood flooring to discolor. If there is underlying moisture below the hardwood flooring then condensation could develop between the wood and the stone or cementitious base.