Mortar, Stone and Structural Support?

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jbomb

Member
Mar 31, 2011
13
Southeastern MA
I have existing brick fireplace and I covered it with ledgestone and increased the size of the hearth to fit my soon to be installed insert. When I laid the cultured ledgestone with mortar (Quikcrete Mortar Mix -yellow bag) I built a temporary wooden platform to support the stone above the fireplace opening until it dried. I have since removed the wooden support because the stone is fully cured in place. I was later told that I should have put a peice of metal across the top of the opening to support the stone, long term. That does make the most sense but was not formally instructed to to this by anyone prior to installation and I am a first-timer with this type of project (no excuse!).

Now, my question is, should I reinforce the opening with angle iron or steel or some material to prevent problems later on with the stone? Will the heat from the stove (LOPI REVERE) eventually break down the mortar and the stone will fall off? I have no experience with this and if so I am quite disappointed with myself for not doing the project the right way! Help!

Thanks!
 

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The piece you omitted is called a brick lintel. Any masonry supply house would carry one. It is just an L shaped piece of heavy gauge stamped steel. A piece of regular angle iron can be substituted, sure. You might be able to retro-fit it with a little chisel work to your mortar joints. If it were me though, I'd first see how it rides without it. If you see cracking and sagging, well.... The purpose of the lintel is to carry the load above it. With the faux stone you have, the load is going to be minimal, not like a true brick or stone stucture. It also looks like you have a solid piece across teh lintel anyway, which should count for something. For a first time job, it looks like you really did some nice work. Don't beat yourself up over this detail, I'd say.
 
Your brick had a lintel. That should carry the stone if the stone remains adhered to the brick. So the goal is to keep the stone attached to the brick. If one becomes loose, try putting it back with a spot of neat Portland cement. If you are worried, get an accurate distance from a location on the bottom of the center stone. Epoxy stainless steel pins, bolts or screws into the stone and the hearth to get consistent readings. Remeasure periodically to see if the lintel is bending or rotating under the load over time. Always measure at the same temperature and relative humidity. It might settle a little in the first few years, but in the process redistribute the stress and become stable. Structures are always moving around, expanding, contracting, settling, or heaving. Don't become overly concerned until you see a consistent trend over the years that might need a closer look. Nice looking job by the way.
 
As others have said, for the stone facade you shouldn't need the lintel. The structural support is the brick behind it. Your good!
 
I have a similar set-up, and plan a similar stone job if I end up installing a second stove. Brick lintel should suffice.
 
Thanks for your input! If I get a pile of fallen ledgestone around my stove from the excessive heat over time, I will surely send a pic of the disaster for some laughs because at that point it will be between a laugh and a cry! :) Sounds like I should be all set though. Again, thank you.
 
Hi everyone,

I have a similiar question as to structural support with some additional stone that I'd like to add to our hearth. I'm almost finished with a total redo of a builder's open hearth fireplace that was horribly inefficient. I've managed to save all the original stone with the exception of 1 that cracked in half but can still probably be reused as an end if I square it up. The original facade runs about 1/2 way up the wall but DW would like to see it up to the vaulted ceiling which is about another 6 ft X 6 ft. There are only 19 boxes of this type of stone remaining from the distributor which discontinued the product about 3 years ago - each flat contains about 10 sq ft. I know there are only 19 because I ordered 1 flat in ancticipation I would need some extra for the difference between the new unit and the original fireplace opening so I'll need to act fast.

The front facing wall is a load bearing wall with a king stud on either end and a couple of jacks around the original fireplace opening. "If" DW gets her way and we go with the stone up to the ceiling (who am I kidding?) do I need to make any additional considerations for the weight ??

See pics attached for context.

As always, appreciate all the feedback ... this site has been awesome !!
 

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This is faux stone, a/k/a Coronado type, like jbomb's, right? You talking about the whole increased mass of the structure needing support, or just the opening. Either one, I'd look up the manufacturer's specs for spans w and w/o a lintel support, and required specs for height support. As for the opening, a brick lintel is cheap, why not put one in? If you are against the look of it, you could always frame up a temporary arch form and do a fan arch instead. If it were me, the thing that would give me the most worry would be tying the face of it to the structure at that additional height. (Yeah, she will) The fastening between your durarock substrate and the structure is key, but you might also want to install some corrugated steel brick tie strips throughout to anchor is good and solid. Seeing your whole rock face tip towards your easy chair some cold winter night would really quash your buzz, I'm thinking!
 
Nope, not possible, fuggetaboutit.

(Hope I just saved you a ton of work.)

PS: The finished project looks great! Now get outside and mow the lawn. :lol:
 
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