Hearths

sprucebunny · October 16, 2005, 07:45:56 AM

With the jump in oil prices lots of people are building hearths and installing woodstoves. Of course, lots of our members had them already or have outdoor boilers.

I built an addition to my house about 4 years ago so that the poor rusty old backhoe would have a roof and in the leftover space I planned to put a woodstove. The room has been filling up with rocks all this time and I've been dreading actually building the hearth cause I want it to be stunning but I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to masonry work. Also it's not my first project with free rocks and I have a tough time getting them in just the right arrangement :

This is what I started with.

Did you build a hearth recently ??? What's it made of ?
Do you have a warm air circulation system of any sort ?

Let's see some pictures of your hearth ;D

Norm · October 16, 2005, 08:55:48 AM

Looking forward to seeing your project Joan. I've been working off and on finishing out ours.

The bottom is granite and the sides are honey locust, I've got a huge red oak beam that Patty has been working on putting a finish coat on. As soon as our worthless concrete guy gets some cement down so there's not so much dust around we should get a last coat of poly on.

Paul_H · October 16, 2005, 09:10:30 AM

The hearth is looking good Norm.I think this could be a great thread.

SB
You've got your work cut out for you,looking forward to seeing your progress.

Fraxinus · October 16, 2005, 01:39:14 PM

Sprucebunny, if you have time and are so inclined, go pay a visit to an old man in Easton by the name of Ellsworth Hubbard. He lives on Paine Road. He has the most stunning fireplace I've ever seen. It has a replica of the Old Man of the Mountain, backlit. I bet he'd be happy to talk to you and give you some pointers. He and his wife are in their 80s and don't get out of the house hardly at all. They love to have people come by to visit.
My father built a unique fireplace about 35 years ago out of rocks from all over the country that my mother collected on all of their various trips. Between the mantle and the firebox is a mounted bear skull, recessed into the rocks. The bear's jaw is wired so that it can be moved and there is a 3/4" plastic pipe that runs from the back of the skull to the rear of the fireplace, out of sight of the casual observer. When someone leans over to inspect the bear skull, another person can surreptitiously sneak around behind the fireplace and growl into the pipe and make the bear's jaw snap shut. Fun to watch people's reaction.
Come on over some time and I'll take you up to mom's house and show it to you if you like.

Tom · October 16, 2005, 02:34:45 PM

Don't know much about fireplaces and hearths except that we had one and Charlie and I spent many enjoyable hours in front of it. The fireplace was red brick and the hearth red, square, 4" ceramic tiles.

What do I remember about it the most? Well, Granddaddy would stand on the floor-level hearth, warming his hands and behind, and do a little tapping jig while he recited "Shave 'n a Haircut, two bits".

I guess, when it comes to remembrances, looks aren't everything.

SwampDonkey · October 16, 2005, 03:12:11 PM

:D :D :D :D

Can remember my uncle complaining about freezing to death in front of his. ;D

Best of luck Sprucebunny with your project.

sprucebunny · October 17, 2005, 06:44:20 AM

WOW , Norm and Patty 8) That's a beautiful hearth !!! I really like the window being near it.

Fraxinus - I sure wish I'd mentioned this sooner as I could have used some inspiration like you mention.The Old Man of the Mtn is a great idea .

I'm going to have to trade stunning for done ;D I just can't stand it anymore :

I've spent 7 days on it and only getting about 5 rocks stuck on a day because I spend so much time trying to get it just right. It's not in the living room, it's just a good place to put the woodstove and I have an air circulation scheme to keep the whole house heated. I hope.....

By "hearth" I was thinking woodstoves as much as fireplaces.

Patty · October 17, 2005, 07:25:23 AM

"Done" is huge! At some point in time you just have to say, enough, just git r done! I have reached that point on many projects, and usually I am the only one that sees the screw-ups. Show us photos of your project as it proceeds, I would love to see how it goes together, Joan.

I love stone used for hearths. We don't have one single rock on our whole farm. I envy those who can just go out and pick up stomes to use in their projects. My cousin built her whole fireplace and hearth from river rock....those smooth round stones. I think they look just awesome.

sprucebunny · October 17, 2005, 07:50:27 AM

OK, Patty ;D

Here is the floor part mostly done

It sure ain't stunning :D

I guess we are lucky to have all these rocks just lying around free for the picking up. I got started using them for things as a way to get rid of them and also to hide a couple of things but more keep following me home :

If anyone wants a bunch of flat rocks, I'm going to have some extras :D

Teri · October 17, 2005, 07:55:18 AM

You're doing great! 8)

SwampDonkey · October 17, 2005, 08:15:28 AM

Patty, we've picked a mountain of rocks on these old farms here if ya want some. ;D :D :D

Looking good sprucebunny, keep it up. ;) 8)

Tom · October 17, 2005, 08:31:54 AM

Looks good to me too. Put something in it that doesn't belong so thatyou have a conversation piece. A coin or two or three works. So does and old nail or hinge if you are really feeling humorous.

Patty · October 17, 2005, 09:47:50 AM

Looks very nice, Joan, you are being too hard on yourself

I can't wait to see the project as it moves forward.

We looked at those flat rocks before we built our fireplace, the shipping cost was unbelievable!

ended up buying granite from a place up in South Dakota.

Fraxinus · October 17, 2005, 12:24:51 PM

I have a flat rock, albeit not a very large one, in the shape of the state of NH. I expect I will get inspired some day (if I live long enough) and put it somewhere where it can be appreciated.
Do you have one in the shape of the state? Shouldn't be that hard to find one.

ScottAR · October 17, 2005, 12:48:26 PM

No hearths but fun with rocks nonetheless...Maybe it will inspire these neat projects.

HarveyLacy.com

Bro. Noble · October 17, 2005, 02:40:28 PM

That is really nice looking rockwork, SB.

All of our hearth rocks are shaped like states-------well, like Colorado :-\

Actually they are fake rocks :-[ They go along with our plastic siding, synthetic floorcoverings, and imitation wood cabinets :

Well kick me off the forum if you think you must, but I'm cheap and lazy and plan on getting old someday. Actually I always new I'd get old some day, but I never dreamed it would be this soon :

PS I can look out my windows and see some trees and birds, and real rocks :D :D

mike_van · October 17, 2005, 02:52:56 PM

One of my projects was an after-thought of sorts. I built this retaining wall behind our house, the first one was of old poles 25 years ago. They don't last long that way, ants, etc. This wall is over 80' long, up to 7' tall, it took me 5 or 6 years, I would get a section done every summer. In the corner here, we had planned one of those waterfall things, this idea came to me though & Mary Ann thought it was great. Never made a fireplace before, so it was a challenge. Its about 30" wide, 24" high, we cook on it a lot - and really enjoy just having a fire there too. The wall is all broken blue stone - The stuff from N.Y state they use for patios, only a snapped edge shows, boy I got good at that after a while. Most of the pieces you can see are 2" wide, cement holds it all together, a few thousand bricks you can't see are behind it. Wish we could do larger pics -

beenthere · October 17, 2005, 03:15:08 PM

Mike
You can do larger pics, but the bytes in the larger pics are limited.
Not sure how to tell you, as it took me forever to finally find the software (that I already had available in several 'kinds') that will first let me size the pic I have to 375 x 375, and then to save it below the byte limit (I'm using one that came with my camera).
I suggest just keep playing with the different ones you might have that show images, and you will find the combination needed to make your pics bigger but stay within the byte limit.
Just hope this is encouraging rather than discouraging.

Patty · October 17, 2005, 03:34:34 PM

Mike, your fireplace is beautiful. Blue Stone is what we were looking for to do ours in, but the shipping was prohibitve. :-\

Vermonter · October 17, 2005, 03:36:15 PM

Fraxinus: are you sure that rock isn't upside down?
sb; that looks great....
I built mine from some recycled chalkboards from an old school I renovated. I had them cut down to 2' x 2' and 8" x 8". I'll try to post some pics when I can.

mike_van · October 17, 2005, 03:48:04 PM

Patty. I trucked most of the stone from Fish's Eddy N.Y., a small town west of Monticello, maybe 2 1/2 hours from me. There's a stone quarry there, Tompkins Bluestone, boy they had stone as far as you could see - I bought what they called wall stone [good name, huh] it was about 60.00 for a 2 ton pallet. The rest I got from all the local mason - stone supply places, they always have broken patio stone that got dropped, etc. I'm going to miss working on that wall, I might have to start another on the other side of the garage.

Murf · October 17, 2005, 04:25:53 PM

I would have rather had a stone fireplace at the house, but it was not to be. :

Besides, it was designed more for function than beauty, and since it forms a load-bearing column which holds up a whole bunch of the first & second floors, it was just easier to do it in brick over blocks.

The chimney is a four flue design, with a flue for each of, the siamese twin fireplace behind this one, the furnace / water heater and the fireplace downstairs. When anything is burning, the entire mass of masonry heats up and acts like a storage unit. The backside of the chimney is also the hall wall on the second floor.

A good fire in this insert will heat the chimney enough that it's still warm to the touch a two days after the fire is out.

There is now a 'conversation pit' setting in front of it, two wing chairs and ottomans, with a loveseat in the middle directly in front of the fire.

It's out favourite spot on a nasty day. ;D

beenthere · October 17, 2005, 04:30:36 PM

Murf
That's impressive. I like the visual effect as well as the practical side of heat storage.

Murf · October 17, 2005, 04:55:28 PM

Thanks BT.... we like it.

I don't have a good shot of it, but this is the back half of it in the family room, before we put the insert in that side.

Problem is the room is a lot smaller, and if I get a little carried away with the fire :

you can't even sit in that room. :D

mike_van · October 17, 2005, 05:27:22 PM

Try this link - --Photos MUST be in the Forestry Forum gallery!!!!!--.com/albums/v386/MikeVan/?action=view&current=Fireplace.jpg It's a web site that hosts pics for free. It's a lot larger pic.