I'm trying to cosmetically improve the raised hearth fireplace we have in our 30 yo home. The brick is not exactly beautiful, and it's too imposing in the room. I've torn off and replaced the bricks that capped the hearth with precast concrete cultured stone. Of course those come in set sizes, and I was going to end up with less overhang on the sides than ideal. skirting the lower brick on the hearth would have left almost no overhang, so I tore out a course of brick to find the underside of the raised hearth composed of cement blocks and rubble.
Finally to my question- because of the draft I can feel in there, what can I stuff I stuff in there to insulate? I'm thinking of closing the ends with a wood frame backed with a piece of firerock or cement board; that way I'd have a nailing surface for the skirt, and I'd be able to used a fir-stopping caulk to seal my homemade panel.
Does this sound reasonable, other than being more work than I rally wanted to do?
Finally to my question- because of the draft I can feel in there, what can I stuff I stuff in there to insulate? I'm thinking of closing the ends with a wood frame backed with a piece of firerock or cement board; that way I'd have a nailing surface for the skirt, and I'd be able to used a fir-stopping caulk to seal my homemade panel.
Does this sound reasonable, other than being more work than I rally wanted to do?
