Sealing fireplace door surround

[Heat Sink]

So, my home has for some time had an open fireplace - no doors. The old one was taken off during renovation, we had one lined up to install, but that fell through.

We purchased a basic fireplace door kit and installed it. It's a tight fit - the frame of the surround only clears the fireplace by about 3/4" on both sides. The larger surround was not available and would have been on the large side.

This wouldn't be an issue except for the fact that the wall around the opening is brick, and there are fairly large gaps due to the mortar areas being further away from the surface than the face of the bricks.

I'd like to seal this up, but it's exposed enough that I think caulk may not be appropriate (for both aesthetic and practical considerations).

I've considered caulking from the outside ( messy and would need a lot of caulk ), caulking from the inside ( same ), mortar from the inside, and I also have been considering trying to add 3/8" gasket rope around the frame and cementing that in place.

How would you all approach this?

 

[bholler]

So, my home has for some time had an open fireplace - no doors. The old one was taken off during renovation, we had one lined up to install, but that fell through.

We purchased a basic fireplace door kit and installed it. It's a tight fit - the frame of the surround only clears the fireplace by about 3/4" on both sides. The larger surround was not available and would have been on the large side.

This wouldn't be an issue except for the fact that the wall around the opening is brick, and there are fairly large gaps due to the mortar areas being further away from the surface than the face of the bricks.

I'd like to seal this up, but it's exposed enough that I think caulk may not be appropriate (for both aesthetic and practical considerations).

I've considered caulking from the outside ( messy and would need a lot of caulk ), caulking from the inside ( same ), mortar from the inside, and I also have been considering trying to add 3/8" gasket rope around the frame and cementing that in place.

How would you all approach this?


View attachment 286152

I would leave it as it is. There isn't really any benifit to having it sealed.