Quake3World

The last few months we have been preparing to get our fireplace working, we had some major chimney issues that ran us over $3K to repair. I learned my lesson to always get a chimney inspector the $90.00 could have saved me some major cash on this project.

We went with a gas log set and with the help of my uncle we knocked out the install in a few hours. Arranging the logs to get the perfect fire took another 2 1/2. We still have a little fine tuning to do on the ember material, but it's done and fully functional.

Dry fitting the gas pipes.


Reading the manual?


Lit with no logs


My wife adding the embers



And finished...

This is a pick of our fireplace and we don't like the brick at all.




I have a few boxes of indian autumn slate tile in 12" by 12". Indian slate varies in color, pattern and shape so you need to play with it to get a nice look.



After laying out the tile the fireplace looked something like this which I don't like. I fell the 12 x 12 is too big for the fireplace and would look weird.



I picked up a tile cutter and will be cutting each tile down to smaller tiles. I just need to decide if I want to go with a neat symentrical brick pattern lie this.



Or my preferred random scattered pattern that looks a little more natural.

i'd install tempergass doors first

*actually not even doors, just sealed temperd glass

Thought about a wood mantel at all?
Might fit your layout better...

plained wrote:i'd install tempergass doors first

*actually not even doors, just sealed temperd glass

The doors are already installed see the first pic in my second post. Tinted tempered glass, with this fire the doors need to be open when there is a fire otherwise the fire cannot get oxygen.

werldhed wrote:Thought about a wood mantel at all?
Might fit your layout better...

I should have included that info. I already have a mantle design to match the existing woodwork in my house. It's similar to the one below except the mirror will be replaced by a TV. The exposed brick and hearth will be covered by the slate.

ok i understand a vent would work tho.

i think ur plan for a smaller dimension tile mosaic will look good.

Giraffe }{unter wrote:

werldhed wrote:Thought about a wood mantel at all?
Might fit your layout better...

I should have included that info. I already have a mantle design to match the existing woodwork in my house. It's similar to the one below except the mirror will be replaced by a TV. The exposed brick and hearth will be covered by the slate.

Ahh... I see what you're going for...

I retract my earlier statement.

Gas fire places are very nice looks like you did a good job

Giraffe }{unter wrote: I should have included that info. I already have a mantle design to match the existing woodwork in my house. It's similar to the one below except the mirror will be replaced by a TV. The exposed brick and hearth will be covered by the slate.

Thats hot.

*Adds to list of things I'll never get around to doing*

Are you sure about that spot for the TV? It looks like it's a bit too high and out of place. I'd put a mirror or painting there and move the TV some place else. But otherwise the fire place and your future plans look great.

some people don't plan their home life around the TV, gramps.

Doombrain wrote:some people don't plan their home life around the TV, gramps.

Really, Capitan Obvious?

Typically, TV's are mounted level with your eyes from a sitting position. (I didn't make that up) Furthermore, it seems like the people watching the TV would have tilt their heads back and look up to see it. That's why I said it's mounted too high. It also looks out of place because TV's don't tyipcally sit on/above the fire place mantels.

na, you're just a hic.

Tears in The Void thanks Duumbrain.

another GD topic trolled.

You just can’t help yourself.

Doombrain wrote:na, you're just a hic.

Yeah, I'm the classic example of a hick.

Please, give me one factual example of how I'm this "hick".

hummer

So your interpretation of a hick would be a person that drives a $40K SUV? Interesting...

I guess the term hick translates into something different across the pond.

Duumbrain can't even spell hick, let alone define it.

O-my-gosh! That conversion is so freaky inefficient that whenever it's on, it's minus whatever the efficiency was when it's not lit and just blowing natural gas outside.

YourGrandpa wrote:

Doombrain wrote:some people don't plan their home life around the TV, gramps.

Really, Capitan Obvious?

Typically, TV's are mounted level with your eyes from a sitting position. (I didn't make that up) Furthermore, it seems like the people watching the TV would have tilt their heads back and look up to see it. That's why I said it's mounted too high. It also looks out of place because TV's don't tyipcally sit on/above the fire place mantels.

Most people are mounting TVs above the fireplace now, but you are correct proper mounting would be eye level. When watching TV I lounge back with my head on the couch for the perfect viewing angle Also this tv is a secondary mainly for news and sesame street in the am. The proper viewing room will be in the basement where I will once again mount the TV above eye level because that is where I like it

Between last night and today I got quite a bit done with the help of my wife. We got the whole hearth edged, cut and set.

Friday I extended the hearth 9 inches on each side to make room for the pillars and one inch forward to cover up the missing floor area. Friday night we arranged the border tiles, and set them in place with thin-set mortar.



Then filled in over the wood with mortar to level it out for tiling the next day.



A good part of my morning was spent slicing 12 x 12 tiles into 2 3/4" pieces which will later be cut into a staggered brick layout to cover up the red brick.



My wife set in the border tiles, which are a softer edged tumbled slate. This gives us a rounded edge around the hearth to make it easier when you stub your toe



Cutting back the baseboard heater covers



Everything set in place with thin-set

Ahhh done...

I created a rough template to layout all the tiles since there were so many different colors.



Then once I had a rough idea i made my cuts using an exact template



And we set in all the tiles. The rest will be covered by wood YAY!

I wasted 2 days sealing the slate with what I thought was a good quality sealer. I grouted the tiles and the sealer did not protect them. The entire fucking thing looks aged and hazy.

I went at it for 4 hours last night after grouting and had no luck removing it with plain water. It's time for some brushes and some acid.

Lesson learned when people 50% on the internet say a product is bad and the other 50% argue with them, just find a product with better odds.