When I bought my
WSM back in 2004, I started out with a metal water heater pan under it. I later found a concrete and fiber grill base that was round at either HD or Lowes and used that. It was about 3/8" thick and very stiff. Still have both and whenever I use the
WSM the fiber/crete base is under it.
I believe this link is the model I have, but I bought it over 20 years ago.
Lowe's "Original" Grill Pad
I don't see them in stock as of today however.
I recently bought a Humphrey's Pint and the grill protector they sell is also made by DiversiTech but it's the flexible rectangular one. I found the exact same pad on
Amazon for much less than with the smoker purchase. This is the one I have under the Pint. They have 2 sizes and they are MADE IN THE USA!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZH3D4Z
The other thing I would add for use on a deck/porch would be to ask is your porch covered? If so be aware that if you ever leave the
WSM alone while starting a basket of charcoal and the main body is in place but the dome cover is off, you may have a "jet engine" burn if there is any creosote on the interior that gets hot enough to catch fire.
I had this happen once and the porch was an open deck at the time. Easy to put out, just use a BBQ glove on your hand to put the dome cover on and close all the vents to choke the fire to death. Now if my porch had been a covered porch, I would have had a major house fire. The blast column of flames was at least 6 feet out of the top of the
WSM!
This sort of fire would be unique to a WSM or a barrel smoker (UDS style) with the small air intakes at the bottom and a long tube body with the top open. It even sounded like a jet engine roar when I had mine. You will remember it and be paranoid if it ever happens. I think half the roar comes from the flames sucking in air super fast through the small bottom vents to feed the fire.
All this being said, the WSM stayed on the porch for years even after we had a roof installed on the porch (it's a 10' deep by 30' long porch with 12' ceiling). Never had another "jet engine" burn, but I was always making sure there was zero buildup inside the body and it was not left open and unattended. And I always clean my racks and the water bowl (or ceramic flower pot base) after a cook and used HD foil to cover the bowl or ceramic pot base to aid in grease removal.
My WSM is the old style before they put the heat shield on the bottom and I don't think it ever would have gotten the deck boards hot enough for a problem. I was more concerned about a errant hot coal being dropped while dumping the
Weber chimney into the charcoal basket or reloading and stirring the coals. But the fiber/cement base pad solved that.
