HI everyone, designing my fireplace. I have a ceiling height of 8'3". Width between windows 8 feet. Our firebox is going to be 42" and I'm using 36" for a guesstimate height. I want a raised hearth, maybe 10 inches?? My concern is my mantle. We wanted a custom wood mantle 10-12 inches deep and the height 4 inches. The way I'm figuring is my mantle would have to be approximately 70 inches from the floor if I add the hearth and the box height, plus 24" if I use a 12 inch deep mantle. That sounds ridiculously high and would look stupid in my opinion. Should I lower the hearth or opt for a bluestone mantle? I having a really hard time visualizing this. I really wanted a wood mantel. The images below are my living room and the looks I'm trying to achieve. Help me please!
Woodburning fireplace design help
- Thread starter Dobiegirl
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What kind of fireplace is going in? Will it be masonry or a zero-clearance unit. Will this be for ambience burning or heat + fireview?
The reason I ask is that at least in the second picture, the fireplace appears to be a nice zero-clearance unit. In both pictures the ceiling height appears to be higher than in the proposed location. I think you may need to scale back the fireplace size to the proportion of the space and ceiling height of the room. Take some blue painter's tape and use it to outline some ideas on the wall. Play with it a bit to see what pleases the eye.
Great idea! We were trying to do that yesterday with objects. My husband even recommended going smaller which is so unlike him, lol. I like the tape idea. We are also thinking of going with a stone mantel because of the low ceiling height. We don't want to lose too much of the living room even though it's a decent size. 15x20. I want the stone have a little more depth than the zero clearance pic. We also decided to lower the hearth. I had wanted it a little higher due to his two spine surgeries. I think my brain is trying to find a combo to those two pics but unfortunately I am not one of those people that can envision a project and my ceiling height is hindering me, I can't thank you enough for the help.
Since you are going masonry, do you have a mason with experience in building fireplaces? You should consider a Rumford type fireplace, though you say you want it for ambiance a Rumford will at least provide more warmth to the area in front and around your fireplace.
We did find a good mason. We did consider that. We decided to build a masonry traditional box. We are building a 42" firebox considering that us or whoever may be living here in the future can install an insert if it is too horrible.
good thinking on the future insert. If you go with a wood mantle you may want to consider it's height also. That will allow clearance above especially with a free standing stove. My fireplace is early 1950's masonry with a beautiful colonial style wood mantle. I just miss the clearances required to install a small free standing stove and I don't want to disturb what I have so for now my wood burning is all in an open fireplace. Inefficient but I love an open fire and use it quite a bit once the cold weather arrives.
We want the feel of a real fireplace. Totally Inefficient but we want the ambience. We spend a lot of time home because of health reasons, no kids. So if we waste money someplace so it might as well be on something we enjoy. We discussed the clearances for the mantel with our mason. Put in for my permits today. So excited!
Simonkenton
Minister of Fire
Small world. I have a log cabin with a masonry fireplace. 42 inches wide and 36 inches high.
The mantel is oak, 3 inches thick and 10 inches wide.
I am not sure how high my mantel is off the floor, I am on the road in the big rig tonight and can't measure. But it is certainly close to 70 inches. Looks great!
Mine is a modified Rumford, not quite as deep as a true Rumford, but close. I will tell you, this fireplace puts out heat like no other fireplace I have ever seen. We had the sofa 8 feet before it, had to move the sofa back to 10 feet we were getting roasted!
Another great feature of my fireplace is that it is entirely interior. That is, the back wall of the fireplace is the inside wall of the bathroom. I get a lot of heat out of that back wall of the fireplace.
So that, on a 32 degree night, if I burn the fireplace for 5 hours, it will heat the house the entire next day. Next afternoon it will be 65 degrees in the living room, the fire having been out for 16 hours.
So try to make your fireplace entirely interior if possible.
If you have a fireplace on an exterior wall, on that 15 degree winter day, when you are not burning the fireplace, that cold is running right through that solid masonry and into your house. You are paying extra to heat up your cold fireplace.
That is a really high hearth that you are designing. Why a hearth so high? My hearth is about 3 inches high.
Also, you must have an exterior air intake. Otherwise, you will be sucking cold air through any crack in any window. My exterior air intake is 14 x 8 inches, works pretty well at that size.
Simonkenton
Minister of Fire
That's right. There is a space between the exterior masonry and the firebox. If you have an exterior fireplace, you want to insulate that space.
But if you have an interior fireplace, you want to fill that space with small pebbles, or gravel. This will transmit the immense heat of the firebox out into the exterior wall of the fireplace, and out into the room.
But if you have an interior fireplace, you want to fill that space with small pebbles, or gravel. This will transmit the immense heat of the firebox out into the exterior wall of the fireplace, and out into the room.
I can't do interior because my livingroom is over the garage and hubby is not giving up one square inch of his shop. If we bring it in we have to put the foundation in the garage because of the weight. We are doing the raised hearth to raise the viewing area and it will be easier on hubbys spine to maintain. I'm going to ask my mason about that space to fill. I know he is doing an air intake. I love your fireplace. That is exactly our taste, log home, lodge look.
Based on the description I would install a quality, epa, zero-clearance fireplace that allows open door burning. This solves many issues. It can be beautifully finished with a stone masonry facade, just like in the pictures posted. The weight and support issues are easy. It will heat well if desired, no need for future insert to be considered. It will cost a lot less.
As noted earlier, the picture posted is an example of a nice looking ZC installation.
As noted earlier, the picture posted is an example of a nice looking ZC installation.
Simonkenton
Minister of Fire
I just measured my mantel. The top of the mantel is 65 inches above the floor. This is a pretty good height.
Simonkenton, you rock! Thanks for remembering. So with your 36 inch height on the box, that leaves you with about 29" of clearance for the mantle and we were coming up with 30 in our calculations. I was concerned about a wood mantle getting too hot. I feel better now.
Simonkenton
Minister of Fire
I didn't remember, I made it back home, and measured.
The mantel is, after all, 4 inches thick. Georgia white oak.
The hearth is 3 inches high. So there is 22 inches of clearance between the top of the fire box and the bottom of the mantel.
Even with the massive heat that my fireplace cranks out the mantel is still in pretty good shape.
It has never occurred to me that my mantel is too close to the fire and I have never checked the temp of it. Might have to do that this winter.
But, I built the fireplace 20 years ago and no problems so far.
The mantel is, after all, 4 inches thick. Georgia white oak.
The hearth is 3 inches high. So there is 22 inches of clearance between the top of the fire box and the bottom of the mantel.
Even with the massive heat that my fireplace cranks out the mantel is still in pretty good shape.
It has never occurred to me that my mantel is too close to the fire and I have never checked the temp of it. Might have to do that this winter.
But, I built the fireplace 20 years ago and no problems so far.
Seems like it works ok to me! Thank you for your insight. I've learned a lot. Just researched doors now. $$$ I just can't wait to get this project going although I may have to leave my house once they start tearing apart my living room wall, lol! Going to be a great winter!
Simonkenton, I noticed you burn without a screen. I leave my screens fully open when I’m burning hardwoods that don’t throw sparks. It is amazing how much heat a screen blocks.
Simonkenton
Minister of Fire
No, that is fake for the picture, you can see the fire better so I removed the screen for the pic. I have a big screen that I set on the hearth. Even burning hardwoods like oak and locust, I get sparks out onto the wood floor without the screen. There are about 6 nice big nickel sized burns there that happened before I got the screen.
Maybe it's the species of oak, I get no sparks with the oak I burn, some with locust. I leave the doors open when I'm burning my oak. Cherry sparks the most of my hardwoods, maple sometimes. I had a species of pine which I was never certain what it was that surprisingly didn't spark at all which was very unusual.
enigmablaze
Member
Didn't read every response but, I love the lower hearth myself...just seems more fluid with the room. But might depend on if you have kiddos to think about and if you feel the higher hearth would make them safer 
You might want to look into Isokern fireplace fireboxes. This ensures firebox and draft performance, and provides a pretty high R value at the rear of the firebox. The Isokern chimney also has a high R value so it heats up quickly.
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