Anthony B

Hi everyone! I wonder if you can give me some advice. We had an outdoor fireplace built about 18 years ago and following a total refurb last year, the garden was re paved with Indian sandstone and the same product was used on the hearth within the fireplace. Last week we made a fire outdoors in the fireplace (we have a large cast iron basket to hold the logs etc) and once the fire was going really well, suddenly there was a loud bang and the central sandstone tile completely exploded sending shards of stone all over the place. Luckily neither of us were in the vicinity as it could certainly have proved fatal! What is surprising is that the same product had previously been used for the past 18 years without incident, so we are wondering if there might have been a gap beneath the stone which resulted in the air expanding rapidly causing the event. Does anyone have any advice on the best product to use to replace the blown tile and indeed what kind of cement/bonding we should use? Someone suggested using granite or granite chips on sand. Obviously we are now reluctant to use the fire in case the same thing happens. Many thanks in advance for any suggestions!