Hello everyone. I'm a homeowner currently redoing my family room, which contains an old 80s still red brick fireplace. A mason friend who has done some exterior stone walls, steps and front door landing/steps for me has offered to help (really do it, I'm just assisting in the heavy labor) to cover the existing brick fireplace (natural, untreated/not painted/not sealed) with natural (field?) stone that we bought by a pallet from a local distributor. The pallet consist of beautiful stones that are rectangular in shape, ranging in size of course. He cut all the stones down to have a depth of approx. 2.5 inches or so do reduce the overall weight, so stones range from say, 2"x6" face to 3"x 12" face, all with an approx. 2.5" depth. We are also changing it from a fireplace that is approx. 5ft high to one that spans the entire height of the room (9ft). We built a box out of 2x4s covered in 3/4" plywood, that will be covered with black membrane and then wire lath attached to it to mortar onto. He has started to build the bases on both sides of the fireplace opening, with approx. 2" of cement behind the stones (and just a little in between as to not see it from the front) and will build up from there.
My points of concern are as follows:
-The cement he is using is comprised of Portland cement and sand and water. He said this is super strong and strength/adhesion will be no problem. I worry about how well this will stick to the existing brick, as well as how well it will still to what seems like a seemingly smooth surface of the stone (since all the backs have been cut).
-He says the majority of the weight will rest on the bases as the entire "wall" will rest on these bases. However, the fireplace opening is a concern for me. He thinks that the cement he is using will be strong enough to adhere to the brick and that bond will be strong enough to hold up the stones over the top of the opening (there is no transfer of weight to the sides here). If you can imagine approx. 7 ft of stone on top of this opening, that's got to be hundreds of pounds, if not a thousand or more, etc. Should I think about adding a lintel(?) or some kind of iron rod that goes across the bottom of the part on top of the fireplace opening that would basically transfer weight to the side supports, or some kind of metal supports that can be drilled and inserted into the existing brick? This one worries me quite a bit.
-On the plywood part, like I said above, there will be a metal lath attached to the plywood and then the stones will be attached via the Portland cement mixture to this lath. Is that enough? Will this be strong enough to hold up these heavy stones?
My mason has been doing masonry work for 30 years and he has done hundreds of large outside jobs, etc and has also done many many jobs of stone veneer. He has admitantly only done a handful of fireplace jobs and since this isn't really a veneer and is MUCH heavier, I just want to make sure the method described above seems sound... ...or not.
This is our family room, and there are children playing, etc. Last thing I need to worry about is a stone falling out from 8 ft up, as some of these weight 10lbs, or worse yet, the entire thing crashing down.
Thanks in advance for your help.
My points of concern are as follows:
-The cement he is using is comprised of Portland cement and sand and water. He said this is super strong and strength/adhesion will be no problem. I worry about how well this will stick to the existing brick, as well as how well it will still to what seems like a seemingly smooth surface of the stone (since all the backs have been cut).
-He says the majority of the weight will rest on the bases as the entire "wall" will rest on these bases. However, the fireplace opening is a concern for me. He thinks that the cement he is using will be strong enough to adhere to the brick and that bond will be strong enough to hold up the stones over the top of the opening (there is no transfer of weight to the sides here). If you can imagine approx. 7 ft of stone on top of this opening, that's got to be hundreds of pounds, if not a thousand or more, etc. Should I think about adding a lintel(?) or some kind of iron rod that goes across the bottom of the part on top of the fireplace opening that would basically transfer weight to the side supports, or some kind of metal supports that can be drilled and inserted into the existing brick? This one worries me quite a bit.
-On the plywood part, like I said above, there will be a metal lath attached to the plywood and then the stones will be attached via the Portland cement mixture to this lath. Is that enough? Will this be strong enough to hold up these heavy stones?
My mason has been doing masonry work for 30 years and he has done hundreds of large outside jobs, etc and has also done many many jobs of stone veneer. He has admitantly only done a handful of fireplace jobs and since this isn't really a veneer and is MUCH heavier, I just want to make sure the method described above seems sound... ...or not.
This is our family room, and there are children playing, etc. Last thing I need to worry about is a stone falling out from 8 ft up, as some of these weight 10lbs, or worse yet, the entire thing crashing down.
Thanks in advance for your help.