Tile on steel fireplace possible? How?

[G Henslee]

I've never attempted that type of thing, and probably wouldn't. Does the steel get hot?

[William.Deans]

Greetings,

I don't know if you can tile the steel buy you may be able to get very thin steel studs (make sure the guage selected will support the weight) and frame out in front. You could then screw cement board to the studs and tile the cement board. Fill the gap between the cement board and metal with a fireproof insulation such as fine perlite if it makes you feel better.

Hope this helps, William

[SQLit]

How about another explanation for us that are mentally challenged. I do not understand what your trying to do. Putting tile directly on the fireplace will certainly never work if you use it at all.

[thrugoodmarshall]

My wife and I have a steel fireplace. "Vermont Castings" if that matters; it seems to be just a steel box with ceramic inserts. The front (upper and lower) portions of the fireplace is flat black painted steel. The surround & hearth are covered with a 13x13" white tile. Cinca brand; seems to be a pretty typical tile off the shelf at the tile store. The spec for the tile is "EN 176 BI GL" I have no idea what this means; it looks like a 13x13x1/4 inch tile, glazed on the front and rough with a grid pattern (presumably to take a tile adhesive) on the back.

We'd like to continue the tile onto the black sheet steel, but don't know if this is possible. Can this be done? What is the appropriate method of attachment?

My concerns are that the steel might flex and crack any grout that we use; also that we use an appropriate adhesive to stick tile to steel.

Thanks for your kind assistance!