Hearth and Home
What do you want to use for the hearth on your new stone fireplace? You first need to decide what sort of fire you’re going to have, if any. If you’re having any sort of solid fuel ‘traditional’ fire, then you should use a tough hearth material. This is because, coal buckets, logs, ash and fire irons are all abrasive things and they will take their toll on your hearth over time. That’s why the oldest stone fireplaces (visit your local castle) will have hard clay quarry tiles; stone flags or other hardy materials in the base of the fire. In the case of proper ‘wood-only’ fires, where the fuel is burnt straight on a pile of ash that is lying on the hearth, their is a lot of heat involved and your hearth material needs to be able to withstand that too.
One of the best materials we’ve found for a stone fireplace hearth is clay quarry tiles. Their colour contrasts beautifully with the stone, and they are as tough as old boots. They are also authentic, and we have seen them in many very old fireplaces where they have stood up to the rigours of thousands of roaring fires.
We can make a hearth out of cut stone too, but you must be aware that soot, ash, coal, and logs will inevitably stain it over time, but that again will only add to it’s functional charm.
Whatever you decide, get it installed as soon as you can, because the log fire season is here, and the nights are cold and dark already!!