Desperately seeking advice for hearth extension (pics included)

[mskif]

I need to extend my hearth 9" and have hit some roadblocks. Hopefully someone can help out before I mess this up. The bricks lay flat as seen in the photo. I cut the oak flooring and filled the subfloor with self leveling thinset (subfloor was uneven) and 1/4 inch cement board. A standard 2 inch brick is too high. I actually need about 1 1/4 height brick (laying flat). I found a 1 7/8 cement paver that almost works. It is too high as seen in the photos and my tile saw blade is not large enough to cut it.

I have been struggling with this all week and I am not sure what I should do to get the right height. I have been to several stone supply shops. Their recommendation was to use bluestone which is 1 1/4 height, in two foot slabs. The space I need to fill in 9" x 48". The bluestone may not look right.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I would hate to mortar an ugly mess in our living room and am tapped out from buying a new stove and cord wood to hire a mason. Thanks.

 

[LLigetfa]

What about a slab of pink granite or granite tiles and set it flush with the wood floor instead of flush with the existing brick?

 

[Tudorman]

Take the bricks to one of the stone shops. Offer some dead presidents to shave them down to what you need.

 

[Crabbypatty]

how about a slate tile? you could wrap it around the sides as well for asthetics

 

[kork]

What is it nine bricks? Find a company doing a job on brick pavers and throw the guys ten bucks to shave em down for ya.
Hank

 

[fossil]

Do you insist that the extension be at the same height as the rest of the hearth, or could you just find a really nice complementary 1/4" thick ceramic tile to put down where you cut out the wood flooring? From a stove standpoint, it doesn't matter if the "step-down" is there. Rick

 

[Shari]

First of all, I know nothing about R values to know if you are within the bounds required. I borrowed your photo and played with it a bit. Personally, I think if you can't match the existing brick then use something completely different to add 'accent' to the fireplace. You shouldn't have to worry about making a mess of it if you use some other material than brick. If anything, it might look a little funny just extending out to the front, you have the space, so why not extend the sides the same width you are doing the front? Here's an example of what I am talking about.

Shari

 

[sarahf]

I agree with Lopi. Some nice tiles that are flush with the floor could be really nice. You could use tumbled marble or ceramic in a nice geometric pattern (if you are into that). You have a saw to cut that so yo could go crazy. Wrap it around if you want but not necessary. Unless you need the extension for something other than sparks and aesthetics.

Sarah

 

[LLigetfa]

...my tile saw blade is not large enough to cut it.

You should be able make a shallow cut all the way around and then split the bricks with a chisel. Then place them broken side down into the mortar.

 

[ansehnlich1]

I think they make 1 inch brick pavers. Get yourself enough of 'em and just lay 'em in a mortar bed in there that'll bring you up to the height you need. That should work! Find yourself a local brick yard and call em up, bet they can hook you up with some one inch pavers.

 

[begreen]

Agreed, what you want are split brick pavers. They are 1" to 1.25" thick and would look great in this application. You can color the mortar bed so that is brick colored.

(broken link removed to http://www.castaicbrick.com/product_pavesplit2.htm)

 

[pinewoodburner]

Do you neen the cement backer board? You do with tile, but is the subfloor under the backer board good enough for the brick?

 

[Crabbypatty]

that woosd subfloor is questionable.......just because you put some cement on it and some tile or brick on top doesn't mean it's gonna meet code.heat goes right through masonary quite well

 

[fossil]

IF all you need is non-combustible ember protection out there, then you've actually already got it. If that's the case, and you wanted to put tile down, you could just put it down with thinset over what you've got. It's not going to see a lot of traffic. I'll attach a pic of our hearth the way it's shaped up...please excuse our mess, remodel's in its final throes. But, just to give you an idea of a hearth extension from brick to tile at a different height...here's an example. Rick

 

[mskif]

Wow.. 10 responses in 40 minutes. There is a lot of good advice here and it is much appreciated. This definitely gives me some options to think about. Thanks again.

 

[mskif]

IF all you need is non-combustible ember protection out there, then you've actually already got it. If that's the case, and you wanted to put tile down, you could just put it down with thinset over what you've got. It's not going to see a lot of traffic. I'll attach a pic of our hearth the way it's shaped up...please excuse our mess, remodel's in its final throes. But, just to give you an idea of a hearth extension from brick to tile at a different height...here's an example. Rick

I like the tile surround. This looks nice.