Working on Brick Hearth - pic

[Razo]

Hi everyone,

I was truly inspired by some of the hearths I have come across here and thought I would share the progress on mine. Still have to build the base but the wall is done. Myself and a friend of mine were able to get this done in a few days’ time, I can’t wait to get this finished in time for the burning season. I'll post a pic once it is completely finished.

 

[jeepnerd]

Looks like you've done brick work before. Looks great!

 

[Simonkenton]

That is looking good! Is there a space between the brick wall and the wall behind it?
Those bricks will store a lot of heat for you.

 

[begreen]

That is looking good! Is there a space between the brick wall and the wall behind it?
Those bricks will store a lot of heat for you.

They will, unless that is uninsulated cement block wall behind it. That stuff sucks heat out of a room like a hoover. Regardless the brickwork looks great.

 

[Simonkenton]

Yes, hopefully there is an air space between the brick wall and the wall behind, even if it is a basement with uninsulated concrete block walls, that brick wall will store a lot of heat if there is an air space.
If no air space, too late to change it, but, it still looks great!

 

[Razo]

Thanks for the replies and compliments guys, and yes, there is a 1" air gap between the bricks and the block wall. My plans down the road include insulating the face of the block with foam panels and then drywalling this room.

Here are a few more pics after the acid wash and stoning. Really excited to get the base done.

 

[begreen]

Beautiful job. Where did you learn to lay brick like that? Are you a pro?

 

[Razo]

I guess it helps a little when your assistant has been a mason for 40 years

My girlfriends grandfather is assisting me with this and he definitely know his trade. I'll pass on the compliments.

 

[Simonkenton]

That brick wall looks great and, as you know, is a heat bank. Heat that brick wall up and it will give out heat for many hours.
I am going to build a log cabin next year and will put a Jotul Oslo in the corner. I have designed a similar wall for my new Jotul. The wall would be 8 inches thick made of brick. It will be faced with rock so will look like a rock wall.
It will be 5 feet long, to the corner, and then 5 feet long coming out from the corner. It will be about 4 feet high. There will be an air space between the wall and the stove, and between the wall and the cabin wall.
I know the brick/rock wall would do a great job as a heat bank but it would be a hassle to install. It will be on a framed wooden subfloor so, I would really have to reinforce that subfloor to take all that weight. Not sure if I will do the wall or not but I love the idea of it. I think it would look pretty good, similar to my fireplace to the left which likewise has a brick and block "frame" and is faced with big rocks.

 

[Razo]

That brick wall looks great and, as you know, is a heat bank. Heat that brick wall up and it will give out heat for many hours.
I am going to build a log cabin next year and will put a Jotul Oslo in the corner. I have designed a similar wall for my new Jotul. The wall would be 8 inches thick made of brick. It will be faced with rock so will look like a rock wall.
It will be 5 feet long, to the corner, and then 5 feet long coming out from the corner. It will be about 4 feet high. There will be an air space between the wall and the stove, and between the wall and the cabin wall.
I know the brick/rock wall would do a great job as a heat bank but it would be a hassle to install. It will be on a framed wooden subfloor so, I would really have to reinforce that subfloor to take all that weight. Not sure if I will do the wall or not but I love the idea of it. I think it would look pretty good, similar to my fireplace to the left which likewise has a brick and block "frame" and is faced with big rocks.

I do love the look of natural stone hearths, give that nice rustic vibe to complement the wood heat, especially in a cabin. The setup in your avatar looks great. I too would be worried about all that weight on a framed wooden floor. For my wall, these are the weights:

540 bricks at approx 4lb a piece = 2160lbs
(11) 5 gallon buckets of sand at 50lbs a piece = 550lbs
(3) 75lb bags of mortar = 225lbs
Total = 2935

So that's 1.5 ton of material sitting in that corner. I'm not an engineer or contractor but I'm glad that's all sitting on a poured concrete slab.

 

[Simonkenton]

Let's see, your wall is twice as high as mine, but mine would be over twice as thick. Walls are about the same length. I appreciate you crunching the numbers, so, I would have about 1.5 tons of masonry wall. Yikes!
That is on top of a 450 pound stove and, I am going to build a big hearth with thick, 2 and 3 inch thick rocks. That hearth will probably go 200 pounds.

I will be building the subfloor and, if you put enough 2x10s down there, you could support that wall but I don't know, an additional 1 1/2 tons in that corner is just too much! You have talked me out of it.

 

[Razo]

Yea its pretty deceiving, looking at it, it definitely doesn't look like 1.5 tons sitting in the corner. Could you maybe do cement board and get some type of veneer stone product that is a little thinner than real flagstone? I know it won't look quite as good but if you find a decent product it may come out looking great after all.

 

[Simonkenton]

Nah, I have just ditched the brick/rock wall. The point of it is to have the massive weight, that is what holds the heat.
This stove will go into the corner of a brand new hand made log cabin, it is a beautiful spot for a wood stove, I don't want to mess up the aesthetics and don't want to deal with all that weight, so, it is Auf Wiedersehen to the stone wall.