My alcove install. In pictures!!!

Started with the original 1976 Preway z/c fireplace.



We found some scary stuff along the way. Hole in the firestop for the ceiling, and lots of blown in insulation trapped around the fireplace. One of the intake tubes was venting smoke into my attic and the other wasn't attached at all. It was dumping cold attic air in all winter.



Finally got the fire hazard out




My living room full of stone!!

We went with a drystack look


After alot of work, we have real wood heat



All the work was performed by me and my father. I figure that we have about 25hrs just in the stonework. This was a ton of work but very much worth it. The compete build album is Here if anyone wants to see more pics..

WOW, that's just beautiful. Way to go! That little Century couldn't ask for a better home.

Looks fab. Love the stone.

Amazing transformation! Congrats on all the hard work. Now you have a safe AND beautiful installation.

Excellent work. Love the setup. Pat yourself on the back.

Beauty Great Job

Looking real nice - just in time for some nice wood heat! Cheers!

Very nice. Great job. Very rewarding to see all your hard work come together like that.

Did you keep the electrical outlet behind the stove? If so, do you have a blower put on the stove?

Turned out great, alot faster then mine is coming along. Much better IMHO then what was in there before. Your stone and tile work turned out looking really good.

Great work and nice selection of stone. I like the dry-stack look as well.

Wow, beautiful job!

Super looking install!

For a moment, I thought I was looking at an Englander 30-NC with legs, but with the handle on the left vs right side.

Enjoy!
Bill

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

I added the outlet and a slider switch for the blower so I don't have to reach around behind a hot stove to adjust it's speed.

Wicked good looking install.

Sweeeet...Looks like a lot of hard work, Great job my friend!!

Wowza!
I am diggin your setup....job well done
Enjoy...I am sure you will...

looks fantastic....and much better as a heater than that old prefab unit.....you deserve a big pat on the back.......love the stonework

cwill, great looking job. Looks like you will have some nice fires and good times.


zap

Great job on that install! So beautiful! Can I ask how hard it was to lay all that stone on the wall? Ive been thinkin of doing that to the exterior of my chimney and wasnt sure how difficult it was.

Looks great! I am glad you got the old ZC out of there. The blown in insulation laying on top of it is pretty common. We have had many fire calls involving ZC fireplaces that were covered in blown in insulation. Those guys that do that don't pay a lot of attention as to where that stuff is going. As a fire service person, I hate blown in insulation......it causes a lot of problems.

Beautiful!!

You should be proud you did a great job transforming that hearth! The stone looks beautiful!

Ray