Digital Journal: The Fireplace Saga

When I purchased my house, it came with two wood burning fireplaces. These units were tiny, and not equipped to transfer heat, but merely existed for aesthetics. The first I had removed and a pellet stove installed by specialists, at a considerable cost. I was somewhat happy with the results of large amounts of heat being produced through wood combustion. Yet, that room didn't really house many guests, and the majority of the time guests spent in my home was in the other room with the second fireplace. Since it was also useless, I wanted it to be replaced, and free from the restrictions of electric power in case of an outage. I planned on getting a nice gas unit, but to save on installation cost by doing it myself, and doing something about the horrendous design of the internal faux chimney. Here are photos of the original layout.

(Just moved in!)

Typical pocket wood burning fireplace

In the process of painting over the ugly yellow.

I selected the fireplace I wanted, but it required well over a month for someone to deliver it. The first step was to rip out the existing fireplace. Thankfully, I had a friend who had recently done a similar project who was willing to assist the process.

Ripped off the tile

Ripping off panels

Cut into the flashing to access mounting screws/bolts

Outside flashing and main unit removed.

Full assembly removed.

The next stage was to await the arrival of the new unit to be delivered. I arranged an appointment with the vendor to arrive and proceed with the basic hookup. To prepare it, I had to route an electrical line to power the blower. Thankfully, there was already an electrical line out there, and it only needed to be extended about 6' which was pretty simple. Soon enough, the vendor arrived and did a basic hookup/install.

Finally installed

However, I noticed something at the end of the installation. The model of fireplace was not the one I ordered. I ordered and paid for something with significantly higher BTUs, and a far superior burner unit. Basically, I paid for a Rolls Royce, and got a Pinto. The vendor noted the mistake, but it was the holiday season, and everyone was gone for several weeks. I simply made do with what I had until we could get it sorted out. In the meantime, I sealed the exhaust to the house which wasn't done properly, and a few minor adjustments.

Sealed the exhaust manifold. Chimney no longer used.

Eventually one of the owners of the company that sold me the fireplace arrived with the correct unit and personally installed the new fireplace. As an apology, he gave back $100 off the cost, which was much appreciated. Soon, it was installed.

The cats were happy

To seal the box from unpleasant winter drafts, I picked up some fireproof composite board, cut to shape, and mounted it around the fireplace.

Wonderboard is pretty cool stuff!

Sealed up quite nicely.

Next, I wanted to adjust that annoying curved taper of the faux chimney. I had considered removing it entirely, but after looking behind, it was clear the structure was built into the frame of the house, and would not be a good idea to remove it or heavily modify it.

Looking inside the faux chimney, straight up.

The curved section just looked goofy, and needed to go. I considered a few ideas:

I ended up going with the straight linear and simplistic profile for a gradual taper. Besides, it would use less tile, yet might make cutting the stone a bit more tricky. So I had to cut some 2x4s for supports and cover it with drywall.

2x4 supports screwed into studs

Laying up the sheetrock

Cut to length, and screwed into the 2x4s

Both sections setup

Had to cut a curved section of sheetrock. Used a cardboard template to make it easier.

Looks pretty good.

Both in place

Right side

Left side

TaDa!

Adding the mud

Taped and mudded. Time to move onto the next stage!

Before moving to the stone work, I wanted a fireplace mantle. I really liked the look of a free floating mantle, as well as a thick profile. Unsatisfied with local lumber yards and hardware stores, I went to Seattle to pick up a special section of hard oak.

Expensive piece of wood

Picked up several of these to act as supports

There she is!

Found the stud, and drilled holes to secure the bolts. Secured with Gorilla Glue

After cutting off the hex-heads, it was a matter of drilling holes into the mantle.

After some more thought, I was convinced to install LED lights on the underside of the mantle. Might give the fireplace an additional accent. So I had to drill some more.

Drilling the housing for the LED spotlight.

Snug, but seems to do the trick.

Had to drill deep holes to route the power wires.

Needs power!

From there I had to install a 120VAC-12VDC stepper to power the LED array. The first device was a bit too large, and I had to order a second component that was finally able to fit inside the electrical box I installed and routed power inside the faux chimney.

The stepper/inverter seems to be working

Little hands are able to fish around in small holes.

Presto!

They look great!

Wires can be tucked away

Next up is finishing the mantle, sanding, staining and sealing:

I've been sanding. Can you tell?? (Where's that air filter?)

Sanded, wetted, sanded again, and again.

Stained.

Stained and sealed.

Now it was time for the stone work. After spending a few months investigating various tiling/stone options, I ended up settling over some of the AirStone sold by Lowes. However, the particular stone I wanted was not available in the western US. Instead I had to have a pallet shipped over from Ohio. This cost me extra, but not nearly as much as any local competitor could offer. Plus, I really liked how light and simple the stuff is.