How To Extend Mantel

Those rules apply to custom work, whether a homeowner or a contractor performs it. In case you missed it, see my detailed living room transformation post to see how we brightened and updated our living room here. I first removed the screen and whitewashed the brick on the fireplace. Are trying to obtain the look of the picture below?

Please only post pins that link to original source. Most codes specify mantel distance from the firebox itself. Make sure those marks are level, centered and extend far enough to cover the mantel’s length.

This Old House general contractor Tom Silva shows how to beautify an old, ugly brick fireplace. (See below for a shopping list and …

Fireplace Mantel Installation Tips – How To Extend Masonry Mantel

I was covering and taping the map into place. You could absolutely be a hearth consultant. It is a genius idea, and isn’t it fun to have extra depth for all of your gorgeous decorating goodies, especially during the holiday season!

I might have to clean up my living room to get to the fireplace!

My fireplace is in the dining room so it would also add extra seating. I wish we had the slate slab like you have. In my old house we had a more rustic fireplace, and the mantel was about four inches thick, and probably 9 inches wide. I decorated it back then, but not like we do these days. Your project turned out really great!

I was spoiled in the old house cause our fireplace and mantle were 9 feet long!

Do you struggle to decorate?

Lay books on their sides to break things up. Then, we ran the trim down the very side of the fireplace down to the actual outlet which is hidden behind the floor mirror.

It almost looks as if the wood could slide over the brick ‘mantle ‘ (before the front is attached that covers the brick mantle).

I may make the length a bit a longer, say 4 to 6” on each side and then make the wood sides longer to cover the width so no bricks from the mantle would show.

I can already see “mean mommy” emerging from the shadows. I had the privilege of celebrating 9 years of marriage with my incredible human being of a husband, and it felt so good to get away to the mountains and unplug for a while.

This obviously makes it so you never get the heat. The other is to put in a plug and take it out when you want heat. I have this for you though: use ceramic wool. You can probably get the little bit you need from a chimney sweep. My other suggestion is to paint it black so you don’t have to look at “white stuff” tucked in the holes. Just use spray paint once it’s in place. If it’s any consolation, when the masonry gets heated up it will keep giving heat for a long time after the fire is out.

I wound up closing them up with fire rated mortar. I am planning on replacing the old drafty steel firebox with an energy efficient wood burning fireplace insert. If you are in our service area we would of course love to replace them for you, but we do understand many people have the skills and desire to do this sort or work themselves.

It has two fans at the bottom that draw air in and push it up around the converter and out into the room. The catalytic converter broke and was removed in pieces. I had replaced it myself only a few years ago. It’s held up by a bar of metal in the firebox. I took a shop vac and vacuumed it out. I did pick up some ash and pieces of creosote. There was a small amount of creosote pellets on the floor of the old fireplace. There is no connection between the liner and the insert. Do you have any idea what’s wrong?

These things do have a useful life and do start to break down toward the end of it. The hatch is rusted shut, but is loose in the masonry and can be lifted out. The fireplace has screen doors and glass doors. It might be seeping out the can lights set in the ceiling. They shoved a camera up the chimney and concluded that there had been a chimney fire, as the clay liner had large vertical cracks in it (1/4″ max).

I ripped out the ceiling in that area to get a look inside. and if it can’t easily be repaired, is the smoke getting into the basement a fire hazard?

If there is a negative pressure (vacuum) relative to the outside of the house, the air/smoke will move to equalize the pressure, simple physics.

If the upstairs has a vacuum relative to downstairs, there’s air movement to equalize that pressure as well. If you send air up the chimney you have to replace it. Nowadays houses are tight and replacement air is prevented from entering. Not to mention we use kitchen fans, bathroom fans and radon fans to further depressurize our homes! The upstairs or attic can be so much warmer than the rest of the house it makes a better chimney than the chimney itself.

I do not think this is the problem though because the fireplace on the first floor would probably smoke if it were. Still, don’t rule it out until you know for sure this isn’t it. If the problem is worse on very sunny days in the winter this could have something to do with it. A test for that would be to crack a window on the first floor on the windward side of the house (usually the north/west side; but wherever the wind blows- open it on that side) and see if this helps.

Obviously you can’t keep the window open all the time but if it works you know you have a replacement air problem. I suggest going further in sealing up the system. Bad mortar, missing bricks, wrong kind of bricks used etc. There are lots of problems in smoke chambers so they need to be sealed up too. Not sure of how to fix it without seeing the setup. Presumably that particular product has refractory properties. As you say, the question is now finding someone with a sprayer and the knowhow to do it! Would this be an ‘air tight’ door?

Those kind of doors these days are higher-end doors and will likely be a little more expensive than average. You should be able to get them from a good hearth dealer, one who handles better lines of doors. The difference in pressure between the inside of the chimney and inside of the house.

Masonry Fireplace Height Extension Kit

So the smoke is warmer than the air in the house. The molecules of warm air are further apart than less-warm air. This would be the definition of a relative vacuum. A matter of semantics in the description, but you get the idea: the warm air in the chimney is a relative vacuum. Regardless, smoke does or doesn’t go up a chimney because there is or isn’t a vacuum relative to the inside of the house.

Fan assisted appliances (ie not natural draft) actually push air into the chimney. While built-ins have somewhat fallen out of flavor, thoughtful and unique built-in shelves have a place in most homes. While some of these enhancements can be expensive, they infuse a living room, family room or bedroom with updated elegance. Stucco, drywall, paint, veneers and some tiles can oftentimes be attached to the existing fireplace surface. As such, they require much more labor and materials, thus increasing your fireplace refacing cost. If the remodeling project involves removing and replacing the mantel, cleaning the chimney or making major brick repairs on a rooftop chimney, you’ll likely want to hire a local fireplace contractor.

Looking for accurate quotes on your project? The inside surface of the smokechamber shall not be inclined more than 45 degrees (0.39 rad) from vertical when prefabricated smoke chamber linings are used or when the smoke chamber walls are rolled or sloped rather than corbeled.

Ditto for a point onthe plywood surround. Thiscould be obtained with a ruler and a weight scale. Many of us would like to see this requirement dropped or made optional. Chimneys located entirely outside the exterior walls of the building, including chimneys that pass through the soffit or cornice, shall have a minimum air space clearance of 1 inch (25 mm).

Seismic requirements are definitely moving east. At best the six square inches required is insufficient for an open fireplace. The idea of the air space was to have some air circulating around the masonry to cool it. So how do you close the gap between the wall and the chimney or around the hearth?

How many living rooms have you seen with sheet metal trim around the mantel?

But what if only the edge of the plywood sheeting touches the chimney?

It would stand to reason that a masonry chimney with its surface mostly exposed would dissipate more heat and not get as hot as a totally enclosed chimney.

Older and historic masonry chimneys, especially the ones in better houses, often contained three or four flues or were built into thick solid masonry walls.

These were long standing practices based on experience. Rumfords andmasonry heaters were not clearly permitted by the codes developed with the decorative but ineffective fireplace of the 1950s in mind. The throat shall not be less than 8 inches (203 mm) above the fireplace opening. The cross-sectional area of the passageway above the firebox, including the throat, damper and smoke chamber, shall not be less than the cross-sectional area of the flue.

Grout shall be prevented from bonding with the flue liner so that the flue liner is free to move with thermal expansion. Straps shall be hooked around the outer bars and extend 6 inches (153 mm) beyond the bend. Brick fireplaces are the most popular to replace. For the brick fireplace shown here, she wrapped the whole thing in tile. You could also choose to drywall or plaster over the brick, creating a blank canvas that you can then do pretty much anything you want with.

Henry doesn’t prefer the look of painted brick, it’s a relatively inexpensive update that can easily be changed. Summer months, it’s dressed in soothing colors of blue, white and tan (hard to believe this space was once covered in all things red, gold and green)!

I painted and is what launched my furniture painting frenzy, including the the table and chairs. I painted them white and have never looked back!

His bathroom was recently redone in blue, tan and white. .. Before you go, let’s take a quick peek outside. .. I think they were just the thing to bring a rather dated gas fireplace insert into a more classic, timeless style. I love vignettes because they are an affordable way to bring charm, character, and life to any space.

Eldorado Stone Fireplace Installation With Mantel Time Lapse “Read Disclaimer In Description”