Quadrafire 7100 - pictures before and after with stonework

[scfa99]

Posted are the before and after photos of our fireplace. The house we bought had a 18 year old preway that produced no heat and was drafty when not in use. In Nov we installed a Quad 7100, burned 4 cords this winter and saved approx 1500 on our propane bill. Our house is approx 2700 sqft and the quad along with one small box fan kept the house 70-75 degrees throughout the house. It took us 4 mos to find the right stone and we decided to use two different styles (70% southern ledge and 30% fieldstone. We are really happy with the way it turned out. If anyone has any manufactured stone questions let me know and i'll try and answer them, i've done alot of research on it and visited a lot of showrooms. Up next is carpeting. Thanks to everyone for helping answer all my questions this year, especially ELK who helped me through some codes issues that the installers performed.

What do you guys think?

 

[scfa99]

more photos

 

[scfa99]

finished product

 

[scfa99]

last one

 

[begreen]

Excellent, well done! I like the random pattern of the stones. It has a lot of character.

 

[PAJerry]

Beautiful installation! The warm coloring of the stone will really enhance the warmth of the fire. You will really enjoy it!

 

[Corie]

WOW!


Came out spectacular!!

 

[scfa99]

Impressive....very impressive.

Did you do the stonework yourself??

I especially like the absence of a distracting mantelshelf.

Unfortunately i can't take the credit, i was thinking about doing it myself but decided to go with a stone mason. I did some of the prep and helped lift that 550 pound peice of tennessee in. Stone mason and his assistant spent 80 hrs (total) on laying the stone. Luckily i wasn't paying by the hour. We really like the peices he picked to place above the arch rather than a keystone kit (that was my wifes idea).

No mantel was my call. THe reason is twofold, simpler look and not having to worry that someone will hang a stocking or placing a combustible on it.

 

[BrotherBart]

That did it. I just went up and threw a beer can at my ugly hearth.

 

[Mo Heat]

Wow! If there is a more dramatic example of hearth transformation around here, I don't remember seeing it. I love that stone work.

Did you expand the width of the projecting wall more than just to accommodate stones on the sides? It's hard to tell from the original photo angle. If not, then it's amazing how different the whole wall dimensions look. Outstanding. Truly outstanding. I agree that the rock positioning is well done and very pleasing to the eye.

I also agree with Brother Bart's comment, which gave me a chuckle. I feel like I'm looking at a plain brick wall for my hearth, and I'm looking for a beer can to throw at Babe, my pig head trophy.

Thanks for sharing the photos.

 

[cnrmoose]

Another Wow. Did you use Cultured Stone from Owens Corning? What color? If it is not Cultured Stone, which color of theirs is closest to yours? Rustic? Fawn? Caramel? Honey? Thanks

 

[scfa99]

Another Wow. Did you use Cultured Stone from Owens Corning? What color? If it is not Cultured Stone, which color of theirs is closest to yours? Rustic? Fawn? Caramel? Honey? Thanks

Ah your testing my memory, had to check their site. Yes OC cultured stone, southern ledge is chardonnay (i really wanted caramel but was vetoed) and the dressed field stone color is bucks county. I've seen the caramel on some outdoor jobs and it looks fantastic, really warm. my wife felt it would blend in with our wall color too much.

One thing that really saved us. We did a LOT of looking around, going to different places, looking at samples, tire kicking. we actually liked other brands more based on photos and samples and luckily ordered a box of each of the other manufacturers. Well we got the boxes in (no returns allowed) and HATED the colors, looked nothing like the samples or pics. We did the same thing with Owens and found them to be very true to the pictures in the catalog. so I always tell people its much better wasting 60-70 bucks on a box that you might have to throw away vs buying all the stone and living with something you hate. another thing, when the stone is in the box, its not very impressive, we took it all out and laid them all out on the floor to get a better sense of how it would look. becareful of red and orange hues, red sometimes is hot pink and stone with lots of orange really looks fake, depends on the manufacturer. i'll have to update my photos with a roaring fire going. good luck and let me know if you have any other questions.

Matt

 

[cnrmoose]

Thanks. I would have thought it was the Rustic for the southern ledgestone. I can see the reds in it after I look closer. How many boxes did you use? I am leaning towards a Heat-n-Glo Northstar with a stone surround alot like yours, but maybe a flush hearth. Is your quad sitting level with the hearth? Could I sit my northstar up on like a 12" platform and then do a flush hearth, so that it would be maybe 18" from the floor up to the bottom of the doors? Man, I have a million questions I could ask you? Luckily we aren't very far along in our build? I have plenty of time to decide on this.

 

[scfa99]

boxes, for the SL I think it was one of those huge pallet boxes. then there were a bunch of boxes for the field stone and all the corner pieces. the stone place should be able to figure out how much you need including waste.

Northstar is a nice unit, twin brother to the quad, it will give off alot of heat. yes quad is flush with the hearth, you shouldn't have any issues, just make sure you consider all the specs and clearances. they also sell a keystone kit (OC) to help with the arch.

 

[struggle]

That is really a nice set up.

It only hacks me off to look at it and makes me want to build a new home to build in all these creative things I see here. But what I have is nice and warm just not nice like yours ;-P

 

[tinkabranc]

wow! that's beautiful! You should be proud!

 

[glassmanjpf]

Awesome stonework, nice job!

 

[bmwbj]

Very nice. Great job.

 

[velvetfoot]

That looks fantastic!

 

[scfa99]

Here's an updated photo with an actual fire going, also shows the side angle a bit.