[bluefish]

We are installing a wood stove in the house and are working on the hearth area now. Got the actual hearth done and now I'm kind of stuck on the part going up the wall behind, don't know what you'd actually call it. We have Durock running up the wall with a 1 1/2" dead air space between that and the actual wall. Now, it's ugly. What can a person put over that? I want something fireproof (obviously) put a little better looking than plain Durock. I don't really want brick either. That would be rather space intensive, I think. Would tile work on a vertical surface? And would that be something a total novice could do? Any other ideas?

 

[Jolly]

We are installing a wood stove in the house and are working on the hearth area now. Got the actual hearth done and now I'm kind of stuck on the part going up the wall behind, don't know what you'd actually call it. We have Durock running up the wall with a 1 1/2" dead air space between that and the actual wall. Now, it's ugly. What can a person put over that? I want something fireproof (obviously) put a little better looking than plain Durock. I don't really want brick either. That would be rather space intensive, I think. Would tile work on a vertical surface? And would that be something a total novice could do? Any other ideas?

Can a novice do tile?

Yep, and produce some very nice-looking results...

 

[mwhit]

That's what we did-- we have concrete board with tile on it behind and under our woodstoves.

 

[Cabin Fever]

Might I suggest faux river rock or flagstone. It's not much more work than tile. Just nail down "chicken wire" to the Durock, apply a layer of grout, "glue on the synthetic rock, and then grout between the rock. It will look something like this example"

 

[bluefish]

Might I suggest faux river rock or flagstone. It's not much more work than tile. Just nail down "chicken wire" to the Durock, apply a layer of grout, "glue on the synthetic rock, and then grout between the rock. It will look something like this example"

Where do you get faux river rock? And is it as heavy as the real thing? I like the looks, but don't want it too heavy.

 

[PineRidge]

The fake stone is just as heavy as real, it's basically cast concrete. I had the same concrete backer board look you have for over a year, it's not too pretty, lol. Here is what I used behind my stove, it was made to look dry stacked so I didn't have to mortar between each stone.

Sorry it's blurry, I had kids competing for a place in the picture. I used slate on the floor and the stone matches very well.

 

[Cabin Fever]

This information was at the Owens-Corning website (a manufacturer of cultured stone):

Made of lightweight aggregate materials, the veneers were approximately one-quarter the weight of full-thickness stone and could be adhered to most wall surfaces.

More info is availabe at http://www.culturedstone.com

 

[hmsteader71]

Ours isn't very pretty but we had someone give us enough bricks that we were able to make the pad underneath and the backing.

 

[Wolf mom]

I used 18" tile with two lines of contrasting 1" square tiles about 3" from the edge, all around the sides and floor on top of that concrete board.

Never tiled before & I did this when I was 62.

Would have worked from the outside in with the little tiles, due to cutting them, but it looks OK.

The large tiles give it a clean look and stick easily to the wall. They're also easy to clean with no places for dust to gather.

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

What Cabin Fever and PineRidge said. That's what I put behind my wood stove (and around my foundation outside), and it has held up fine.

 

[bluefish]

Thanks guys! I really like the look of the fake rock. I'll have to check around on prices though, if tile is cheaper we'll probably go with that. Might anyway, the hearth itself is tiled. One of those premade dealies, but we got it for free. I just don't have much faith in my ability to put up tile and, honestly, don't really like it.