STONE FACING INTERIOR CHIMNEY

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91LMS

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Oct 20, 2011
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MAINE
i have been kicking around several plans/ideas on how to attempt facing my interior chimney in stone. i would like to build a hearth on the first story and wrap the chimney in stone. being a corner chimney i am faced with some challenges as far as design and space. am i required to frame out and leave an air gap, attatching it to cement board or adhere directly to the block? if framing is required is it strictly steel? anyone seen something similiar done?
 
I have not done a masonry chimney but, from what I remember, if there are no combustibles involved you should be able to mount the stone-face directly on the cement block chimney. If there are any combustibles involved there must be a 2" air gap between the chimney and the combustibles.

Did the mason that built the chimney follow code on the two corner walls? Have the local authorities signed off on what has already been done?

I am sure some of the pros here will comment shortly...

KaptJaq
 
the chimney meets code and is more than required in clearance to combustables. however i have like 6 inches from the blocks to the wall that will need to be framed in some fashion in order to have the backer for the stone.
 
Is your interior chimney painted or just masonry? If it's just plain, unpainted masonry, you CAN parge it with a scratchcoat, and hang the stone directly with great success. However if it is painted, you will need to either blast off the paint (pain in the ass and very messy) OR do what I do and install metal lath over the painted masonry. Then do the scratchcoat on the lath, and hang your stones....

Go to my Napoleon NZ3000 install link in my signature below......I recently installed my natural stone veneer on the fireplace wall, it turned out great and wasn't hard to do at all. If you have any questions either ask me on this thread or PM me........

Also some pics of your situation would be nice for us to help determine what needs to be done.....
 
Is that the same chimney in your avatar that you are going to use on the first floor? How many flues are in there?

I did not notice the gap in the picture that was posted earlier. If there is a gap between the cement blocks and both walls and you want to hide that gap you will probably have to build a chase with a minimum 2" clearance all around. I would use steel studs and hang cement board to mount the stone face on.

If the walls are combustible then the mason left the gap to comply to code. How does the chimney penetrate the ceiling/roof?

Pics would help to get accurate answers.

KaptJaq
 
yes that is the chimney in the pic. it is single flue 8x12. the boiler is moving out of the basement and putting a woodstove on the hearth after its built. here is a pic from the first story and up through the roof. no paint just bare block as this portion of the house is unfinished. i do have a 4-6" void between the chimney and wall. i did put firerock behind the chimney as apposed to sheetrock. i will build a support from the basement to support the hearth. i am trying to build this with minimal protrusion into the room.
 

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Cultured stone is easy to work with and can be attached right to the block. Do a google on it and there will be all kinds of info for install I am sure. You will need to have a hand held angle grinder with a stone cutting wheel available. I have done tons of this stuff and it looks really nice and very natural when complete.

Take your time and mind your lines so they do not stack up vertically.
 
i like the idea of attaching right to the block for the weight supporting end of things. however studding the open air gap from the chimney to the walls is something i need to address as well.
 
As long as you meet fire code just frame it and go with the expanded metal mesh and a skim coat of mud. Attach the stone to that.

Make sure you overkill the nailing of the mesh or you get bumps and loose spots.
 
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Just a thought why not try some tile, maybe stone/slate or something funky?
 
Tile would be lower pro but I really like the look of the stone if it fits the decor. If I think of it I will take some pics at my friends place. We built his house a couple years ago and used cultured stone for the hearth, hearth wall, two walls in the kitchen, outside his chimney above the roof line, around the column supports for the porch roof, and on all the exposed foundation. Needless to say - lots of stone.

Your project is a one day deal and that includes opening the boxes of stone and laying a bunch out to veiw. Take your time and trial fit pieces as you go. make your cuts clean so the stones butt up nice and it will look every bit as good as true stone. Only a mason would know the difference.

Now if you do a hurry up job and have running vertical lines it looks obvious and I am really critical of poor craftmanship when I walk into a hotel or wherever that has poor stone work. I do the same thing with poorly fabed hand rail with buggered up welds too. After building the stuff I like to compare work and wonder about some peoples pride in workmanship. Ok, getting off the topic - sorry for the rant
 
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