Huge rock fireplace
Jennifer Johnson
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
We are buying a house and there's a giant rock fireplace in the living room. What can I do to soften it up? I don't think a mantel will be enough. I'm not interested in whitewashing it. We plan to do white tongue and groove on the ceiling. The wall color will also be lighter. Any advice is appreciated.
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tatts
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Prospective homebuyer, but there's this HUGE fireplace
Comments (5)Do you know if this is a prefab fireplace insert? I have seen construction where they build a wood and Sheetrock enclosure for the prefab unit and just face the whole thing with a rock veneer. The chimney is usually built the same way and it sometimes does not use the stone in the house as a support for the weight of the chimney. Take a look in the attic to see if the rock extends all the way through and supports the chimney on the roof. If the chimney is just a veneer over framing that is directly supported by a reinforced area under the roof, you can take away the stone inside without causing any problems. However, if the stone extends all the way up through the house and bears the load of the chimney you have remove the exterior chimney first. Bruce...See MoreNeed advice on refacing huge stone fireplace
Comments (4)You can do it the way you suggest although it may be difficult to attach the plywood (near the firebox opening you can use cement board which meets the code requirements for non-combusitble materials). However, I would suggest that you use mortar, and trowel it on in a sufficient quantity so that it fills up the irregularities and mortar joints and you end up with a reasonably smooth surface. You may have to do it in two coats - first partially filling in the recesses and then a finish coat - the reason is that otherwise a thick coat may sag before it dries. Then you will end up with a surface that is perfect for adhering stone or ceramic tiles to (and it won't stick out into the room as far as a plywood overlay), or even dry wall if you use lead or plastic anchors. This assumes that the existing stone has not been coated with something that will cause the mortar not to stick. If it has, you can use fortified thinset mortar, although it is messier to work with. Hope this helps. Also, since it's 15 feet high you will need a sturdy ladder or even scaffolding (cheap to rent) since the mortar is heavy and you need leverage to apply it....See MoreAdding insulation to an exposed ceiling
Comments (22)klem1 - I'm not sure I follow completely - my brain is all used up. lol. So I keep thinking about a glass of ice water... water in the glass is cold, room outside is warm, so condensation forms on the warm side of the glass. Same as when we lived in an RV (traveling the country for a year with the kids). When it was cold outside, condensation would form on the windows and potentially on the ceiling or even under the mattress. Condensation and mold is actually a big problem with RVs especially in areas with high humidity. A lot of rver's would get dehumidifiers to help. Correct me if I'm wrong, but my main concern would be in the winter time when the inside of the house would be warmer than the outside air. So condensation could form on the warmer side. Is that right? Luckily the air is usually drier here in the winter. sktn77a - yes! thank you! If we put on a shingled roof, it would be pretty easy to do a ridge vent. We do have a weird clerestory window that throws a bit of a twist into that set up though. I'm not exactly sure how they would vent the area by the window...it's the highest point in our roof too.. HU-592188739 Yes, when my neighbor added rigid insulation to his roof maybe 20 years ago, he said he was the first house the company had done that on. He has a ridge vent in his shingles but no vents in the eves. The roofer I talked with yesterday said you didn't need to have eave vents... just a vent up at the top of the ridge for hot air to escape. The other roofer said we needed both. And since I'm in a high fire area, if you do put vents in the eaves, you have to be careful to use ones with more of a wire mesh than holes...because in a fire, embers can find their way into your attic space via the vent holes in the eaves. We could continue living with no insulation in the living room as all the original walls in our house do not have any insulation currently...and have been that way since the 1950's. Our weather is pretty mild with a scattering of weeks with temps in the 90's (and then the living room gets into the 90's). But figured while we were updating, it might be nice to have less of a temp swing in the living room (it's always the hottest/coldest spot in the house)....See MorePlease help me with this HUGE Fireplace!
Comments (8)This is exactly what I have except not 20' tall I thought I would hate it and now my fave in the house we used the back for the kitchen I love the juxtaposition of the very contemporary with the stone. I love your FP but not with those wood walls , The bottom pic here is my LR on the FP side....See MoreJennifer Johnson
4 years agoJennifer Johnson
4 years ago
Allison Rogers
4 years ago- PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
4 years ago 
Lynda (Zn9b/23 - Central CA Coast)
4 years agoWe had a fireplace that was a wall of rock. It took up 2/3s of the living room wall and didn't leave us much space on either side. We replaced it with a smaller (about 1/3 of the living room wall) fireplace that allowed for furniture on either side. It made the room feel bigger and was more usable without sacrificing the fireplace. Here are some before and after:
Jennifer Johnson thanked Lynda (Zn9b/23 - Central CA Coast)
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