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Help selecting raised hearth stone materials

10 years ago

We're in the process of building a new home with a masonry wood burning fireplace and need some advice selecting hearth stone materials. The fireplace will be faced with Eldorado stone and will have a raised hearth. We've been considering Cultured Stone hearthstones (their color and texture better matches our stone than Eldorado's brand). However, we're concerned that logs dropping on the stones, pokers, etc. will nick through the painted surface of the hearth stones fairly quickly (revealing the gray concrete underneath). We're told nicks can be re-touched with paint but this seems high-maintenance. We've considered stained concrete but have heard it's crack-prone (not sure why since hearthstones are made of concrete as well?). We don't like the tiled look as it's a rustic style fireplace and want the hearth color to be fairly uniform and neutral in color so as not to conflict with the stone. What are anyone's thoughs on granite or quartz if we can find a color that works? We've looked at natural stone too but run into problems with varying thicknesses, lengths, and patterns. Thanks for any advice, photos, etc!

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Comments (4)

adie.k
10 years ago
hi. granite would be much better than quartz to use for your hearth. quartz doesn't like a great deal of heat.a polished surface to the hearth makes cleaning alot easier, but if you got a flame textured or dolly pointed slab; it would work better with your rusic stone finish. have you considered having the base made from the same material as the breast. if so, make sure you have the minimum required projection infront of the fire to meet the regs. And lastly, look at the hearth temp of the appliance- do you need the inner hearth cut for expansion?good luck with your burning
m2day
Original Author
10 years ago
adie.k -- Thank you for your reply and encouragement to consider granite. We have been looking into it and selected a fairly dark 'honed'/ antiqued finish granite that will work well with our style of fireplace stone. It'll be nice to not worry about the hearth getting chipped from rough fireplace use. thx
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Actually, I think the term you wanted to used was 'raised firebox' but I think we all understood your question. ;-) By 'no mantle' and 'no surround' do you mean that the firebox will be installed flush into the wall with painted sheetrock coming right up to the edge of the firebox on all sides? Like this image ... I think maybe a simple concrete bench made that fits flush with the bottom of the raised firebox and is the same width as the box or 36 to 24 inches wider than the box would look nice. Maybe in a style like one of these: Concrete can be faux finished to coordinate with other finished like marble, granite, etc. And, if you ever decide that you no longer want the bench in front of the fireplace, a concrete bench, even one with a faux finish, can find a new home in your garden.
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Stone products are typical non-flammable material for the hearth. Your mason should be able to advise you on approved products. Stopping the stone at the mantle does not look bad. The finish above the mantle is a matter of taste. One look I like is sheetrock with a thick finish coat of joint compound spread to random thickness. It's a look I've seen in mexican and southwestern style restaurants and goes very well with stone or wood. Painting is a little more of a challenge. Of course, this look depends on compatibility with the surrounding decor.
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I get a prize because I have 2 of them! One in the living room is a gas fireplace with concrete mantle and raised hearth and the brick is peachy/orangy. Previous owners built this and it's been mine for 15 years. I've not loved it for a long time but have made due. It's also in the middle of the room and the back of it messes up my kitchen and dining room colors...oh well, it's clean. In the basement family room, I have a wood burning one with the same sort of concrete mantle and hearth......they made them look like stone like stacy's. The brick down there is blond and I hate it and am thinking of painting the whole thing. Right now I'm leaning toward starting with painting the concrete first and then seeing how I feel. I'm frozen....kind of scared to act. But I do have a pointless little way too high shelf made out of that concrete ....It's so high that nobody can see the top so I think I'll experiment with that first.
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I like both, but I think a floor level fireplace in your living room, would be a little more formal, while a raised fireplace in your family room/kitchen area would be more informal. I know you want to use the stone in the kitchen. What do you plan to use in the living room? Are you going with something more classic/traditional, like Monablair's second fireplace? IMHO, this would give each room a different feel and a little different purpose. I know you have a TV in the kitchen now, so a more informal, kick back and watch TV or help with dinner would be a nice balance, to a more formal, sit down and relax, have a nice conversation or maybe watch a little TV in the living room. Also, a nice white classic mantle (with maybe a marble surround?) would be so perfect, with your beautiful butler's pantry. More classic/formal in the front rooms, and more informal, casual cottage, in the back :)
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sue_ct
10 years ago
You might look into soap stone also, if it fits your decor. My brother had his done in granite tiles, which are less expensive than slab granite. Visit a good large stone yard/warehouse and see what types of stone they recommend. Is honed marble or marble tiles to your liking? Black marble can be nice, and there are dark greens, etc., also. I was amazed at the stones I was unaware of when I was visiting granite and stone yards for my kitchen.
sue_ct
10 years ago
Sorry I just reread your post and saw that you don't want tiles. I do remember seeing some honed stones, including limestone, that might interest you. Again, a stone yard or design center is a great place to get info. Don't know if one is available around you, sometimes a contractor can refer you if you are using one, but if you can get in contact directly with a local stone fabricator, you can usually pick from remnants they have in small pieces left over from larger jobs that did not use an entire slab of stone, at a greatly reduced price. The trick is finding and getting to talk to the fabricator directly. I was able to do that when I was ordering my kitchen counter.

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