Built for Safety. Designed for Peace of Mind.
There’s nothing quite as cozy and comfortable as a fire on a cold evening, and that comfort starts with proper fire protection for your home.
As fire safety standards evolve, it’s worth reviewing your stove’s requirements and ensuring your hearth protection is up to date. A homemade hearth or an older version of the ember protector that once met past codes may no longer provide adequate coverage under today’s building requirements. Current safety standards require Hearth Pads to provide ember and thermal protection appropriate to the stove model.
At Hearth Classics, providing our customers with peace of mind has always been at the heart of what we do. All of our Hearth Pads are tested to meet or exceed UL 1618. We offer two protection levels to match every stove’s needs, along with accessories and upgrades that take protection even further. Our Hearth Pads are suitable for burning gas, wood, pellets, corn, coal, or oil stoves.
Understanding Type 1 & Type 2 Hearth Pad Protection
Type 1 Ember Protection
Type 1 protection defends against falling embers. Type 1 protection does not include thermal protection, so it’s important to verify your stove’s requirements to confirm Type 1 is the right fit. All wood, pellet, coal, and corn stoves require hearth protection against ember exposure for proper fire safety. Our reinforced Ember Defender Hearth Pad is a highly effective Type 1 protection option.
Type 2 Ember & Thermal Protection
Type 2 protection guards against both embers and heat. Stoves that direct significant heat downward and forward require Type 2 protection to prevent heat transmission through the floor beneath the stove. Hearth Classics’ Traditional Hearth Pads provide non-combustible Type 2 protection with R-values of 2.3 or 1.592. This level is well above the minimum Type 2 requirement of R-value 1.0.
Understanding Thermal Protection
R-Value is the measurement of how well a material resists heat flow and is what determines overall thermal protection; the higher the score, the more resistant the material is.
As a leader in Hearth Pad innovation, Hearth Classics is continually working to advance safety in the hearth building process and to create superior thermal protection for customers. All our Hearth Pads and additional accessories are built with non-combustible materials to achieve extremely high R-values.
To help you understand the real strength of thermal protection, here is a chart comparing how many layers of other common non-combustible materials would be needed to meet our R-value standards. The chart shows the thickness of each material required to achieve the same R-value (1.592) as a single ThermaShield pad.
| Thermal Protection Comparison: ThermaShield vs. Other Non-Combustible Materials |
|---|
| Material | Amount Needed |
|---|---|
Durock ½” | 7 Layers |
Hardibacker 500 ½” | 34 Layers |
Cast Hearthstone 2 13⁄16″ | 3 Layers |
Brick 2 3⁄8″ | 4 Layers |
Ceramic Tile ¼” | 78 Layers |
Cement | 9″ |
Marble | 31″ |
Maximum Protection with The Low Profile Pedestal
Hearth Classic offers the Low Profile Pedestal to meet the needs of stoves that require significantly higher R-values. This Hearth Pad was engineered for advanced performance with an award-winning, low-profile base. At just 1″ thick, the low-profile base provides additional insulation beneath your hearth pad and provides an R-value of 2.4. The Low Profile Pedestal is a great option for installations where carpet cannot be removed.
For homeowners who need enhanced heat protection and higher R-values, Hearth Classics offers the Low Profile Pedestal Floor Protection System. This system adds a specialized matching 6″ pedestal with Low Profile Hearth Pad to achieve an R-value of 2.4.
For even more thermal resistance, our Low profile Pedestal System can be customized to achieve R-values up to 10.