Need Help with Detailed building instructions

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Barry3254

New Member
Nov 20, 2010
2
Ontario
First time post so forgive me if I'm out of place.

Our home basement renovation is near completion and now down to the fireplace design. I've come up with the look we are happy with using Google Sketchup and now for the hard part - turning this into a real design. I haven't much experience with taking an idea and turning it into the instructions needed to make it happen. But give me an exploded view showing all the 2x4's, plywood layers, etc, and I can build it. So this is where I hope you on the forum can help me out. Below is a snipping of my design from Sketchup. Can someone be so kind and turn this into a design or building instructions? I can send the full sketchup model or more details. I would not expect a solution with the few details provided here and will provide more details as needed.

Some basics: the room is 12' x 21' x 7.5'. The mantel will be a solid beam, 6" tall by 6" deep, spanning the 12' width of the room. The fireplace (Valor Horizon) depth is 16" minimum from the wall. The outside grade is about 2' down from the ceiling so the vent pipe leave the fire box vertically and exits through the wall about 1' from the ceiling. The room walls and ceiling are finished. The subfloor is ready for the floating laminate flooring system. The stone wall be cultured stone that comes in 6" tall x 12" panels to make application easy.

I attached seen screen shoots from the Sketchup design and I'm not sure if they show up when posted.

If interested, I could attach the sketchup design file.

The immediate question I'm trying to answer today is what thickness to expect the hearth stone to be. 2-1/4"? 1-3/4"? Is there such a thing as a standard size?

Thanks, Barry

P.S. I posted the same question on the Wood Magazine forum and got some limited responses. I hope this doesn't break posting rules.
 

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Hi Barry, and welcome.

I can't help you with building plans (I'm busy screwing up my own :) ), but have one question for the forum--what do you think about the TV over the stove (besides it being too small, chuckle)? How hot will it get up there?

Otherwise it's a sweet arrangement; being able to watch the fire and video.
 
I'm not aware of any "standard" thickness dimension on veneer stone or brick.


besides a potential heat issue with the TV some don't like that height, can be a bit much on the neck unless you are quite a distance away.

looks nice like that though.
 
billb3 said:
I'm not aware of any "standard" thickness dimension on veneer stone or brick.


besides a potential heat issue with the TV some don't like that height, can be a bit much on the neck unless you are quite a distance away.

looks nice like that though.

Good point on the height. Looks sweet, though I'd worry about heat...

One suggestion to the OP--make sure the framing around the firebox is metal, and that you have a header above it to code, if that is a load-bearing wall, though you're probably already on that.
 
Thanks for the comments. I forgot to point out that the fireplace is gas. The manufacturer clearly states the minimum clearances and my framing I show meets these requirements.

I suppose the issues I'm having is the use of a 2x4 frame to hold the fire box up vs. a fixed base made from 2x8's. I started with a 2x8's sort of base but it just seemed so unnecessary since the fireplace isn't all that heavy.

As for the TV overheating, it seems to be rather popular to place the TV as I've shown, here in Ontario. Of course, the fireplace store stated they've got a lot of customers with this configuration without problems. I'm still a bit skeptic and the back up plan is placing the TV into the corner, on the floor in the corner - or simply no TV at all! I'm not much of a tv watcher (Fraser is/was my last favorite show).
 
BarryInOntario said:
Thanks for the comments. I forgot to point out that the fireplace is gas.

You're very welcome. Gas, eh? I don't know *nothin'* about no gas fireplaces. :)

Edit: But one thing does catch my eye. It looks like you have your fireplace supported by 2x's that are only attached at the ends--in shear. If It were me, I'd be sure to put some supports directly under the firebox so the load is transmitted directly downward--move those front-to-back 2x's below and just outside the firebox to the inside below it, and add some more below it. I'd hate to have you get that sinking sensation. Just my $.02

Good luck!
 
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