The first thing you saw when you walked into the house was this dirty, old and outdated stone fireplace. Although stone fireplaces can be beautiful, this one was not and it wasn’t the vibe we envisioned for the space. Not to mention the old wood burner stove was extremely inefficient and this was going to be the main heat source. An upgrade was high on the priority list!
One of our friends had a great idea to build around the stone instead of trying to remove it. So that’s exactly what we did! Maybe some future homeowner will uncover the original stone in another 40 years. Who knows?
Our first task was to remove the old wood burning insert and cleaned out the fire box. This required us to get up on the roof and take out the stovepipe which was quite the feat. That thing was really long and heavy! But we got it out and then we were able to remove the insert. And guess what we found?
I cleaned out all the ash that was in the firebox and as I was sifting through it, I found a crisp, hundred dollar bill! I’m serious, I can’t make this stuff up. We took this as a good sign that we made the right decision and soldiered on. This part of the reno is paying off already!
Next, we built a frame with metal studs and secured it to the ceiling and walls with 2×4’s. We got up into the attic space to add a header so that we had something super solid to attach it to. The metal studs are fairly easy to work with but feel really flimsy until you wall them in. After the framing was complete, we added the DUROCK cement board and then it felt solid!
We did add some extra plywood in case we wanted to add a mantle at some point as well.
After the cement board was up and the seams were sealed, it was my time to shine!
I used Henry Feather Finish to skim coat the entire fireplace as well as the stone hearth that we left in place. It took several coats to get the look I wanted and it turned out great!
Finished it up with a concrete sealer and we were done! Then came the hard part of getting the new fireplace wood burner insert installed. This thing was incredibly heavy and when we put it in, we realized it didn’t quite fit. Luckily, Damien is a metal worker and knew what to do. He cut out the piece of metal that was in the way and then it fit like a glove! He also rigged up the stovepipe which went all the way up to the chimney. We just reused what was attached to the old stove since it was in good condition.
Our electrician had also made space for an electrical outlet since the TV was going to be hung there and also added an outlet below the shelf for the wood burner fan to plug in to.
We fired up the wood burner for the first time and this thing was awesome! It’s super efficient and really cranked out the heat!
Our first night in the house, we decided to have a little slumber party in the living room and bask in the glow of our new fireplace! It was great!
We’re really happy with how the fireplace came out. I know I didn’t go into the built ins that I made on either side of the fireplace, but I will show you how I made those in a future post. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss it!
Until next time, happy DIY-ing!
-Selene Builds Things