Hearth Height above surrounding Floor

[nohope17]

Hi People.

I'm just starting to plan the installation of a Multi-fuel stove in my house.

The regulations around the height of the hearth don't really seem to be very specific, and I'm struggling to interoperate them.

They state

The boundary of this surface should be visually apparent to provide a warning to the building occupants and to discourage combustible floor finishes such as carpet from being laid too close to the appliance. A way of achieving this would be to provide a change in level[\I]

Really I want it to be raised as little as possible Ideally flush with the surrounding floor. 0.01mm would technically be a change in height? Or would the fact that the hearth is a different material from the surrounding floor mean that it is "visually apparent" and no change in height is required?

What are people thoughts and experience regarding this?

Thanks!!

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Every installation I've ever seen its not flush, at least say 10-20mm higher, often a lot more. Or there's a proper upstand or other means of achieving the same outcome 0.01mm will obviously make it very easy for a stupid person to fit carpet over the whole floor right up to the burner so that's a non starter, which is the purpose of the regulation. I expect it's a bit of a grey area with either your BCO or HETAS man applying their own stance.

 

[nohope17]

Thanks. It just seems odd it doesn't give you a specific minimum height.

I'm doing the building control paperwork later today so may clarify with the inspector before I start the work.

 

[tony1851]

Thanks. It just seems odd it doesn't give you a specific minimum height.

It's down to commonsense, really, in which case forget about getting your local authority building control involved.