Finally completed the aesthetics of our North Star fireplace which replaced our WMC42 wood pig.
Last October I tore out our WMC42 and installed the new North Star. I never finished the new cultured stone or new hearth extension until this week.
We got a 1.5" thick piece of cleft slate and some slightly darked colored cultured stone for the bottom portion, and replaced the cheapy prefab mantel with an old barn beam.
From this:
To This:
The cultured stone grout is still wet, I believe it will lighten somewhat.
This has been one heck of a project. I did everything myself except for the cultured stone installation because I'm not good with making looking aesthetically pleasing or messy things like mortar. I tore out the old one, fully insulated and lined the chase with type X drywall (it wasn't before...no wonder I had smoke in the room for the first 5 minutes of starting a fire in the WMC42), installed the new (old) 10x12 barn beam mantel (300lb's,installed with pipe flanges on the back of the chase wall with 1.5" pipe coming thru to support it), built the raised hearth extension from metal studs and micore, placed the slate, and had a husband/wife mason team over this afternoon to install the new cultured stone thats been sitting in my garage for several months.
I've got more hours into this darn fireplace replacement than I can really count, but I think it was worth it.
We're really happy with the way it turned out and I think it was a decent investment in the home both aesthetically (the old setup never really did justice to the 28' ceilings and bigness of the room), and from a $$ perspective as our properties supply plenty of free wood, well free being a relative term with the work involved, and the North Star surprisingly heat this 2500sqft home without much intervention from the main propane furnace, really only when it gets below 10 or so outside and sometimes in the morning to bring the house back to temp.
I still need to seal the slate and get a new indoor wood storage and some new fireplace tools. But, basically, done.
Last October I tore out our WMC42 and installed the new North Star. I never finished the new cultured stone or new hearth extension until this week.
We got a 1.5" thick piece of cleft slate and some slightly darked colored cultured stone for the bottom portion, and replaced the cheapy prefab mantel with an old barn beam.
From this:
To This:
The cultured stone grout is still wet, I believe it will lighten somewhat.
This has been one heck of a project. I did everything myself except for the cultured stone installation because I'm not good with making looking aesthetically pleasing or messy things like mortar. I tore out the old one, fully insulated and lined the chase with type X drywall (it wasn't before...no wonder I had smoke in the room for the first 5 minutes of starting a fire in the WMC42), installed the new (old) 10x12 barn beam mantel (300lb's,installed with pipe flanges on the back of the chase wall with 1.5" pipe coming thru to support it), built the raised hearth extension from metal studs and micore, placed the slate, and had a husband/wife mason team over this afternoon to install the new cultured stone thats been sitting in my garage for several months.
I've got more hours into this darn fireplace replacement than I can really count, but I think it was worth it.
We're really happy with the way it turned out and I think it was a decent investment in the home both aesthetically (the old setup never really did justice to the 28' ceilings and bigness of the room), and from a $$ perspective as our properties supply plenty of free wood, well free being a relative term with the work involved, and the North Star surprisingly heat this 2500sqft home without much intervention from the main propane furnace, really only when it gets below 10 or so outside and sometimes in the morning to bring the house back to temp.
I still need to seal the slate and get a new indoor wood storage and some new fireplace tools. But, basically, done.