I want my hearth the level of my floor. It was 12 inches high. Look at the picture below. The former owners burned a wood stove and there is creosote everywhere. Thats why I had the chimney cleaned and a liner put in. My question is, I want to put my new stove stove partially in the firebox. Probably an Englander 30. I want to cover the firebrick on the back and sides of the fireplace to make it look better and cover the thin layer of creosote on the brick and the mortar joints. I wonder if I could just nail a metal lath up and just stucco it with an inch mortar layer. Maybe just cover it with stone over the lath. What do you guys do? I'll probably make the floor level hearth go back and cover the floor of the firebox with the same material. What do you think. Give me some ideas. It's going to be burning season in a month.