Hearths

[Fraxinus]

Fraxinus:  are you sure that rock isn't upside down?

Hehhehheh.  Yup, I'm sure.  It's picked on the top.  Now Vermont narrers down some on the south end as I'm sure you know, but it ain' t picked. :D

[Jeff]

17k



Mike, there are plenty of instructions on sizing photos within the forum. We dont encourage linking to photos off site, in fact just the opposite for many, many reasons.

[Don_Papenburg]

Patty were in SD did you get your granite ?  I got Wisconsin Red from Dakota Granite in Milbank.  I am useing it for the window sills and the hearth opening on a brick oven .

[mike_van]

Jeff, nice job on my photo - I use the irfanview program, by the time I get the  album  here to take the photo,  it's real small - hard to see. 

[Patty]

Don, we went to Dakota Granite also. We bought their Rushmore Mahogany for our shower, China Black for the bathroom floor, and the fireplace hearth is China Mist I think. They've changed the names here recently and it is hard to tell from their itty bitty pics. I really like the Wisconsin red you are using as well.  They are pretty decent to work with up there; we have used them on the last two houses we built.
Here is a link to their site.

http://www.dakotagranite.com/


Murf, your fireplace surrounded by the staircases is AWESOME! Did you build the house yourself? What kind of wood are your stair treads?

[sprucebunny]

Mike- I've always liked that style of rockwork. It does look very theraputic ;)

Murf - That's sure big. Did you ever see the Tulikavi woodburners that use a short fire and hold the heat ?

I've had it with the rocks and unless the wall gets too hot , this is as far as the rocks are going.



I thought maybe I'd use up some granite and marble tiles by putting them on the wall above the rocks but that would look kind of busy so I gave up on that.
All those rocks and I never seemed to have the RIGHT one : Been on several rockhunts in the rain...

I have a heat shield thought up for the cieling that might put some of the 'stunning' back into this project but I'm only saying that you all are really going to like it ;D ;D

[Murf]

Patty, thanks for the kind words, the house was already built, but the guy who built it was a dough-head with no common sense or taste, so I rebuilt a good chunk of it. The stairs were originally just a single, straight flight down the wall to the left in the first picture. The stairs, and all the trim is oak, no stain, just Varathane. The treads though got carpeted shortly after I put them in, they were too slippery.

Joan, the Tulikivi was my inspiration for the fireplace in the first place. It just wouldn't have worked in this house, it's too formally laid out, the stove would have looked out of place. Before you put the stove in you can easily deal with the heat issue, just put a layer of drywall on the remaining wall, it looks like you have wood to the right and a door to the left to use as a termination point so it won't look funny. A ceiling fan somewhere in that room will also go a long way to moving heat around so the heat can't build up on the wall or ceiling.

[beenthere]

SB
That is looking great.   You sure are working fast, as just a few days ago, this was a pile of stone on the floor. I like the stone effect, very much.

[sprucebunny]

Thanks, beenthere. It's been about 8 days of building after 4 years of avoiding it : ;D

I meant to mention earlier that I like Tom's idea about sticking something odd on there ;D
Finally found a spot for a "lucky" style rock..... ( Does anyone else know about  lucky rocks ? black with a white band thru them ??? Maybe it was just something my mother made up...) ... And I excavated a little spot to stick a coin or shell or something.
;D

[iain]

Bunnie that rock work is looking real good
i like it a lot


  iain

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Bunny, yer doing a great job. The color on this monitor stinks (16 colors), but it still looks good. DON'T quit now. Yer almost finished.  ;) ;)

[beenthere]

SB
I'm not one of the kind that has a lot of 'vision' beyond the 'what you see is what you git'.  However, I 'vision' a mural above the stone of a scene like one of your fall color pictures, where there is a woods trail and and fall color on both sides. That scene could add depth to the stone (which I vision as looking like a pile of stone   ) and provide interesting thoughts while sitting around the woodstove.
(If I was real clever at 'fixing' up pictures, I'd try to superimpose your two pics together to see how it would look. 

[Roxie]

I am so impressed Sprucebunny!  I just can't wait to see the ceiling heat shield! 
Looking good!   8)

[mike_van]

Looks fine SB, cold nights  comming!!!!!!! Don't stop -  Oil companys are rich enough -

[Patty]

Joan, personally I don't think "stunning" ever left your project. You are doing a VERY nice job. Keep up the good work; you are almost done! 8)

[pigman]

SB
I'm not one of the kind that has a lot of 'vision' beyond the 'what you see is what you git'.  However, I 'vision' a mural above the stone of a scene like one of your fall color pictures, where there is a woods trail and and fall color on both sides. That scene could add depth to the stone (which I vision as looking like a pile of stone   ) and provide interesting thoughts while sitting around the woodstove.

I think beenthere should paint a mural like this for sprucebunny. ;)

[beenthere]

EXACTLY as I pictured it, Pigman. Thanks for the 'assembly'.   It does distract a bit from the nice stone work, but then again, it sure presents a nice scene for behind the woodstove (a painting may have less impact on the stone too, and meld into the background.).  It sure adds a third dimension to that corner, the way I see it.

SB
Don't want to leap too far ahead of your own creativity on this, as you have your own ideas.

pigman just took away my 'project' for the evening. nice rendering of the two pics however.    My painting skills are nil to none. What software did you use to 'merge' these two pics?

[pigman]

pigman just took away my 'project' for the evening. nice rendering of the two pics however.  My painting skills are nil to none. What software did you use to 'merge' these two pics?

I just used "Microsoft Picture It Publishing 2001" that came on my puter. I used the cut out feature to remove the wall in the hearth picture and layered it on the trail picture. 8)

[Larry]

SB, I think the hearth is looking great.  Doing it yourself also gives the pride of ownership that nothing can diminish.   Keep up the good work.

[sprucebunny]

Wow, Bob  8) That's really cool ;D Thanks.

And thanks for the encouragement, everyone.

Earlier this morning i was conversing with someone else who thought a mural would be neat and then my friend Paula came over and said the same thing so a mural it is  !!! ;D But when you see the ceiling heat shield your ideas of a mural may change ;D ??? ;D

Has anyone used a sealer on stone that they would recomend ???

[Larry]

Anything made by TileLab is good....sister company to...I forgot. :-[  Anyhow I have used the sealer on granite some years ago and worked good.  Be prepared for sticker shock...just bought a quart at Home Depot and it was a little north of $30 bucks.

[Jeff]

Great Joan!  Love it!

Could the heat shield be the hood off a 55 Belair?  ;) If it was in my house I would be looking for a skidder butt plate to put up there for a shield, then just winch my firewood in through a set of patio doors.

[isawlogs]

 Joan this is looking really good  8)  Now what kind of stove you have in mind of sticking in there . ???

[Roxie]

Pigman, it's nice to see you use your photo editing skills for good and not evil.   :D :D

[sprucebunny]

Thanks, Jeff  The hood might be a little much but I really like the butt plate idea....maybe just mount a Farmi up there :D   ...I already have the door ....hhmmm ... ;D

Larry, I looked at Tilelab and they don't list a penetrating sealer but I found 2 other products .

Marcel , I've had the stove on my upstairs deck for 4 years..... got to get it back down  : It's an Upland that I got used.

I got the grout on the floor done yesterday. A little more to do on the walls.