Wood Burning Fireplace Framing Extension

[aarbor989]

I am renovating a home I purchased and looking for some feedback on framing out the fireplace. The fireplace is an original brick masonry wood-burning fireplace from 1963. We want to extend the framing out more and then up to the ceiling to give it a more modern look. We are in NY State.

If you look at the attached pictures, the wood studs highlighted in red will be replaced with metal studs. After that, the areas in blue will be filled with non-combustible cement board, and then on top of that we will do a skim coat and finish with plaster. Do you see any problems with the proposed plan?

Thanks!

 

[EbS-P]

Just to be clear the goal is to keep it a functional masonry fireplace?

 

[aarbor989]

Just to be clear the goal is to keep it a functional masonry fireplace?

Yes, that’s the goal!