Choosing tiles and adhesive for wood stove hearth

[snufkin]

Hello,

I'm getting a wood stove installed in my house. It will be free standing - there's no existing fireplace or chimney - so I need to make a hearth and surround.

The floor is concrete and the wall the stove will be up against is internal plastered brick.

I'm thinking of using 150x150x12.5mm red quarry tiles on the hearth and on the wall behind the stove (http://www.wallsandfloors.co.uk/product-details.php?tid=98). Here's my questions:

1 - Are these quarry tiles a good choice or would a different type of tile be more suitable to withstand the heat?

2 - I have been told that the plaster might crack or come away from the wall due to the heat. Would it be best to mount fire-resistant board to the wall and tile on top of this?

3 - Can you suggest a suitable adhesive and grout for this situation? Having looked at the specs for the BAL range, I was thinking of their 'Gold Star' + 'Admix AD1' or 'Single Part Flexible' adhesive, and the 'Superflex Wide Joint' grout.

 

[lancenotalot]

1 - Are these quarry tiles a good choice or would a different type of tile be more suitable to withstand the heat?

They should be fine

2 - I have been told that the plaster might crack or come away from the wall due to the heat. Would it be best to mount fire-resistant board to the wall and tile on top of this?

Fire places are built using fire bricks and fire cement to withstand the higher temps,plaster would definatley crack,perhaps chop out the exiting plaster and rend with fire cement then tile onto that,a wood stove would not provide as much direct heat to the brickwork/tiles as a normal fireplace.

3 - Can you suggest a suitable adhesive and grout for this situation? Having looked at the specs for the BAL range, I was thinking of their 'Gold Star' + 'Admix AD1' or 'Single Part Flexible' adhesive, and the 'Superflex Wide Joint' grout.

I have tiled in a couple of fire places and have used granfix Single Part Flexible adhesive and Wide Joint grout on both and have had no problems thus far (did them a couple of years ago)remember to remove the spacers before grouting

 

[snufkin]

Thanks very much for the advice - I might keep an eye out for the Granfix brand if it's much cheaper.

Your suggestion about stripping the plaster might be the way to go, but doesn't fire cement only harden properly when subjected to heat? Is it suitable to tile over after being left to dry at room temperature, for however long? I wouldn't want it to shrink and shed the tiles after the stove is in use.

This will be my first attempt at tiling, but after reading the tiling how-to guide I think I'm up to it. At least I won't have to do any cutting!

 

[gcol]

As your fire will be free standing and not have direct heat, your existing wall surface will be fine when tiled.
Your tiles will not be a problem - they're fired at seriously high temperatures so the heat around a wood burning stove wil not be a problem.
Use an adhesive like Bal Rapidset and it'll stand 150°C heat which will be way and above what your fire will kick out.

 

[snufkin]

Thanks gcol. I thought because of the heating causing expansion, I would need a flexible grout. The BAL specs say that the rapidset adhesive is suitable for heated screeds/limited movement when the admix is added, so this seems like it might be more suitable given the 150 degree maximum temperature rating.