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Thanks everybody for your compliments regarding my mantel in the other post. It was my first project that didn't consist soley of rough carpentry. Since posting it yetsterday I've gotten eleven PM/e-mails from members asking me specific questions or for additional pics.
I agree, adding a fireplace not only adds charm to your home but it's aesthetics adds resale value should you decide to sell down the road. Mantels seems to be a popular project, especially if your adding a fireplace from scratch, like I did. So instead of repeating myself I figured I'd post some info in an additional thread for these folks and others who may want to eventually tackle this project. It's not tough.
I was looking to do a complete living room overhaul and fiqured, why not go all out. Never had a fireplace, it'll be a nice touch. The firebox is gas and vents outside so it had to be place against an exterior wall.
My living room dimensions are small (13X18) so, to save even a few more inches (in case we decided to go with a coffee table in the middle of the room) I decided to recess the firebox into the exterior wall to gain 5 more inches of floor space (yes, this firebox can be placed but-up against wood framing). This is obviously a load-bearing wall so it had to be framed accordingly. The mess of 2X4 on the front framing was to accomodate the mantel. I wasn't sure what the final mantel dimensions were so I wanted to have a nailer in each of the three possible scenarios.
Ready for paint. The sidewall's are 14" but for some reason look half that in these pics.
Painted.
Instead of sanding the floors like I had wanted, the wife falls in love with some "natural white oak" flooring from Lowes so mantel is put on hold. Dig the 1979 ghettoblaster? Who needs a milwaulkee or Bosch job site radio when you have this classic.
The mantel supports were cut from an 8' length piece of mdf. I needed 6 sides (3 pieces each column) so, to ensure identical dimensions, i ripped three strips, mitering the edges, which I then cut in half. Miter the edges, don't use butt joints, especially with mdf, they'll show through horribly
A tip: Make sure you miter all edges of each column that butt the wall, this way when it doesn't sit flush with the wall (cause we all know no wall is perfectly flat) and you scribe your line, you'll only have to remove the tinyest amount of material since only an 1/8" is actually touching the wall. The column carcass is assembled with four pieces of 2X3 connecting the sides every 10". The top (front) is glued to the sides and nailed to the 2x3's. This pic only shows a dry fit, thank God, b/c I was simply going to route a decoritive groove up and down each side of the column but the wife chimes in that the sample I'm copying has a recessed look. Ugh! So I had to meticulously jigsaw out the center of each column and soften the edges with an ogee bit. 1/4" hardboard was used as backing to the front piece to create the recessed look. Sorry no specific pics but you can see the hardboard in the some other pics near the end.
The center section is the witdth of the fireplace plus 2X the width of your side tile. Because of the size of the arc, I had to improvise and make a super simple trammel. Make sure your pivot pin is centered with the center of your workpiece. My center section is actually two pieces of 3/4" mdf. Again, it would've been so much easier to simply rout a groove with a plunge groove bit but she wants it the way she wants it.
Tip: Stick a golf pencil into your routers 1/4" adapter and lower it to the workpiece so you can make some test cutlines. With arcs, you pretty much get one shot. When you get it just right replace pencil with bit and make several passes until your though the 3/4".
The two pieces glued and nailed together creating the recessed look.
Since I wanted to create a neat look where the tile meets the center section, I rabbeted the bottom back edge. This way, if the tile cut was not perfect, it wouldn't matter - it was hidden. The depth of the cut should be the thickness of your tile plus an 1/8" to compensate for wall deviasions.
The two center tiles are installed so the center mantel piece can be mounted and leveled accordingly. The rest pf the mantel is built up around the center section. Much easier this way in case adjustments
need to be made.
Any height adjustments can be made by overcutting or undercutting the size of the column feet. Since I made these last, and trim covered the part where they met the floor and the column, I added 1/4" shims as deemed necessary.
Installation of remaining granite and paint.
I hope this answered most questions. If not, feel free to e-mail or PM me. I'll e-mail you back on an individual basis. If you can use any of these ideas or tips, great. Just ask me for permission
Hope this helps.
Good luck,
Greg
I agree, adding a fireplace not only adds charm to your home but it's aesthetics adds resale value should you decide to sell down the road. Mantels seems to be a popular project, especially if your adding a fireplace from scratch, like I did. So instead of repeating myself I figured I'd post some info in an additional thread for these folks and others who may want to eventually tackle this project. It's not tough.
I was looking to do a complete living room overhaul and fiqured, why not go all out. Never had a fireplace, it'll be a nice touch. The firebox is gas and vents outside so it had to be place against an exterior wall.
My living room dimensions are small (13X18) so, to save even a few more inches (in case we decided to go with a coffee table in the middle of the room) I decided to recess the firebox into the exterior wall to gain 5 more inches of floor space (yes, this firebox can be placed but-up against wood framing). This is obviously a load-bearing wall so it had to be framed accordingly. The mess of 2X4 on the front framing was to accomodate the mantel. I wasn't sure what the final mantel dimensions were so I wanted to have a nailer in each of the three possible scenarios.
Ready for paint. The sidewall's are 14" but for some reason look half that in these pics.
Painted.
Instead of sanding the floors like I had wanted, the wife falls in love with some "natural white oak" flooring from Lowes so mantel is put on hold. Dig the 1979 ghettoblaster? Who needs a milwaulkee or Bosch job site radio when you have this classic.
The mantel supports were cut from an 8' length piece of mdf. I needed 6 sides (3 pieces each column) so, to ensure identical dimensions, i ripped three strips, mitering the edges, which I then cut in half. Miter the edges, don't use butt joints, especially with mdf, they'll show through horribly
A tip: Make sure you miter all edges of each column that butt the wall, this way when it doesn't sit flush with the wall (cause we all know no wall is perfectly flat) and you scribe your line, you'll only have to remove the tinyest amount of material since only an 1/8" is actually touching the wall. The column carcass is assembled with four pieces of 2X3 connecting the sides every 10". The top (front) is glued to the sides and nailed to the 2x3's. This pic only shows a dry fit, thank God, b/c I was simply going to route a decoritive groove up and down each side of the column but the wife chimes in that the sample I'm copying has a recessed look. Ugh! So I had to meticulously jigsaw out the center of each column and soften the edges with an ogee bit. 1/4" hardboard was used as backing to the front piece to create the recessed look. Sorry no specific pics but you can see the hardboard in the some other pics near the end.
The center section is the witdth of the fireplace plus 2X the width of your side tile. Because of the size of the arc, I had to improvise and make a super simple trammel. Make sure your pivot pin is centered with the center of your workpiece. My center section is actually two pieces of 3/4" mdf. Again, it would've been so much easier to simply rout a groove with a plunge groove bit but she wants it the way she wants it.
Tip: Stick a golf pencil into your routers 1/4" adapter and lower it to the workpiece so you can make some test cutlines. With arcs, you pretty much get one shot. When you get it just right replace pencil with bit and make several passes until your though the 3/4".
The two pieces glued and nailed together creating the recessed look.
Since I wanted to create a neat look where the tile meets the center section, I rabbeted the bottom back edge. This way, if the tile cut was not perfect, it wouldn't matter - it was hidden. The depth of the cut should be the thickness of your tile plus an 1/8" to compensate for wall deviasions.
The two center tiles are installed so the center mantel piece can be mounted and leveled accordingly. The rest pf the mantel is built up around the center section. Much easier this way in case adjustments
need to be made.Any height adjustments can be made by overcutting or undercutting the size of the column feet. Since I made these last, and trim covered the part where they met the floor and the column, I added 1/4" shims as deemed necessary.
Installation of remaining granite and paint.
I hope this answered most questions. If not, feel free to e-mail or PM me. I'll e-mail you back on an individual basis. If you can use any of these ideas or tips, great. Just ask me for permission
Hope this helps.Good luck,
Greg
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