My alcove install. In pictures!!!

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cwill

Member
Oct 13, 2010
182
W. MI
Started with the original 1976 Preway z/c fireplace.

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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.
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Finally got the fire hazard out
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My living room full of stone!!
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We went with a drystack look
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After alot of work, we have real wood heat!!!
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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.
 
Amazing transformation! Congrats on all the hard work. Now you have a safe AND beautiful installation.
 
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.
 
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.
 
It's gorgeous, cwill. I'm going to move the thread over into the Perfect Picture forum...hang on, here we go. Rick
 
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.

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

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.
 
Fabulous work, that looks sharp! I like that you and your dad worked together on this. That will be a nice memory for a long time to come.
 
BeGreen said:
Fabulous work, that looks sharp! I like that you and your dad worked together on this. That will be a nice memory for a long time to come.

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 said:
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.

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

Ray
 
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