Hearth for log burning stove?

[RosieLig]

Hi,

I'm getting a stove put into our cottage. It's the Charnwood Country 6. I'm not sure what to do about a hearth? It's a holiday cottage so it would be good to be fairly robust as it's rented out.

The builder has suggested slate on top of a concrete plinth ( to save money but how much would a thick piece of slate be?) and then edging it in oak to protect the edges. This is the bit I'm not sure about, the edging.

The room will be carpeted so the edges of the hearth will be vulnerable to hoovers and general wear and tear, possibly more so than if it was a wooden floor.

Any thoughts/help would be great. Thanks!

We reused some flag stones for our hearth and then edged them with the coloured concrete bull nosed edging stuff you get from builders merchants really cheaply. It's quite high, six/eight inches but your builder could cut it down if you needed. It's v.robust and stops any logs rolling out on the carpet.

We have slate - looks great: easy to clean. We've lived with them for 5 years and no issues at all. I think ours are slate floor tiles - out flors are wood and terracotta tiles with a slate insert so all fits in - and our stoves are matt black.

I have a piece of slate under mine, it's about a cm thick and is approx 90x70cm. Think it cost around 100 quid. Installed in 2008, it's placed on top of our laminate floor and until last year when we put the safety guard up around it, was fine to be knocked by anything that knocked into it, I'd never given that any consideration tbh

Thanks all, that's really helpful. I think we'll go for the slate and see what it looks like without a trim but maybe look at getting something in a slate colour to protect it from knocks.