Stiffening The Floor

leeave96

Don't know if this is the right section to post - but here goes...

I've got a woodstove I installed in my living room. It weighs about 500 lbs. The only requirement beneath it is a non-combustable surface. I put down per the manual a sheet of thin metal, dura-rock and ceramic tile on top of that to finish it off.

Here's the problem. My floor flexes a bit up and down when my kids come bouncing through the room. This flex has caused the tile to begin to break-up and I need to grout/repair.

My floor has 2 x 8 joists on 16 inch centers running a span of around 13 ft. The center of the stove is about 3 ft from the wall.

I have a basement beneath and I was thinking of putting up some supports from the basement floor to the floor beneath the stove - 4 posts, one at each corner and finish it in like a closet, which would work.

If I don't want to tie-up the basement floor with poles/closet type structure, what would you recommend?

The up and down movement is not severe, just enough over time to crack the grout/tile.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Bill

Bud Cline

Youy could run a beam below the area with the support collumns at either end. Those floor joists are small and over-spanned but you already know that. You are correct; the deflection should be resolved before trying to repair the tile.

oh'mike

Aside from the deflection--the tile installation sounds wrong---let us know more about that part also.

__________________
New members: Adding your location to your profile helps in many ways.--M--

Bud Cline

I was saving that part for later Mike.

oh'mike

I know you were---you never miss much---

If It would look right in the house---I'd make a removable platform --2 sheets of plywood glued and screwed--a nice trim--1/4" backer board -mudded and nailed--then tile or stone--

That would stand only 2 inches up from the floor---Mike-----

__________________
New members: Adding your location to your profile helps in many ways.--M--

leeave96

Thanks for the replies. The stove is in my living room - but the room ain't very big in anotherwise small house. The hearth pad is made to the minimum dimensions per the manufacturer's recommendations (length and width) so as not to intrude on the room. What I've got is the floor/subfloor which is about 1 to 1-1/4 inches if I recall correctly, then the sheet of thin metal (for a fire/spark stop), then 1/2 inch durarock and 1/4 inch ceramic tile. This is all per the manufacturer's recommendation. This also puts me flush in height with the carpet in the room and give me what amounts to a flush to floor hearth pad. Again - I don't want to intrude on the room due to space and this is why I did not make a raised pad.

My problem is the floor wants to flex up and down just enough to break the bond of the outer ceramic tiles on two sides of the hearth pad.

Again - any advice on stiffening the floor would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Bill