# Stone fireplace facelift..before and after



## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

I got a call while in CT last year to take a look at this fireplace because the HO wanted the hearth fixed. When I came back a few months later, this is what I saw...


Before.....

















































This was installed over nice antique brick with lath and ( I'm guessing ) spec-mix. No stone was thicker than 1.5"....the biggest mortar joint was close to 3.5" wide! 
The son-in-law thought this mess looked great...the HO's were not around during the install...the home was being remodeled before they moved down from the northwest corner of SC. They told me they were sick about how this came out.


----------



## NYCB (Sep 20, 2010)

The before pics didn't show up.

But more importantly.....how much did they have to pay for that thing?


----------



## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

I told them there was nothing I could do to the hearth that would make a difference...they needed to leave it or rebuild. We are not in stone country around here and the few places that have building stone have extremely limited stock. What this yard had is fieldstone from Tennessee which was split in two and it only had one flat face...though I was able to split certain ones in two myself. Sizes were limited too...I had mostly small stone to work with so I had to make due with what they had. 

They let me lay it up how I wanted after I discussed a couple different options with them. I took inspiration from Machu Picchu and for those that get Stonexus, the Japanese dry stone walls in the magazine. Both places have notching and it's something I haven't done before. I blended that style with something I do often...scribing stone to each other and letting the lines flow. I didn't want the look to be linear but more free form. The concrete hearth is the same one from the pressed concrete thread.


----------



## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

sitdwnandhngon said:


> The before pics didn't show up.


No? I can see them.


----------



## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

After










































I recycled the old mantle..it is 3" solid cedar. I had a paint store scan a piece of the concrete hearth and painted the mantle. The lighter color was intentional.


----------



## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

There we go. Yes it is improved by 1000%.


----------



## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

Close ups....


----------



## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

Man, that is a lot of cutting. Did you scribe and cut or scribe and let someone else cut?


----------



## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

sitdwnandhngon said:


> But more importantly.....how much did they have to pay for that thing?


Two fiddy


----------



## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

Tscarborough said:


> Man, that is a lot of cutting. Did you scribe and cut or scribe and let someone else cut?


No..I did everything myself. Believe it or not I did more chiseling than cutting...but it was still tons of cutting.

I forgot to mention..this veneer is 3"-6" and I used a 3:1 mortar type S.......yes, I used ties.:laughing:


----------



## tgeb (Feb 9, 2006)

That looks Fabulous! What did you do to the fire box, paint it also?....it went from brick to black.

Again, a spectacular job!


----------



## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

tgeb said:


> What did you do to the fire box, paint it also?....it went from brick to black.


Yes I did.It was something my first boss did often and I used high heat spray paint.

They don't plan to use the fireplace believe it or not.


----------



## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

That's real nice, I like the color of the stones. Are they just fieldstone?


----------



## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

Btw I love the thin stone on the other pics.someone must have had a real good idea that day, and to put wire on the bricks too, priceless....


----------



## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

JBM said:


> That's real nice, I like the color of the stones. Are they just fieldstone?


Yes. I have worked with this stone a couple times now and it's got a wide variety of color...mostly buff tones, some rose, orange, brown, etc. The hardness varies too..some stones were soft like certain types of limestone or sandstone and others were hard like basalt.


----------



## lukachuki (Feb 11, 2005)

Every stone installed with TLC


Looks Great...really great!!!


----------



## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

That job is worth more to the trained eye than that of it's counterpart...particulary being 3"/6 veneer with that fancy hearth.

Owner must be very pleased as I would expect :thumbsup:


----------



## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

JBM said:


> Btw I love the thin stone on the other pics.someone must have had a real good idea that day, and to put wire on the bricks too, priceless....


Here are some demo shots just for you then. I was told they did this wonderful job in two days. 

They let me have the brick and I saved all but a few....they may get new life in my next WFO ( not in the dome ). The mortar was lime/sand.


----------



## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

What a mess.


----------



## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

JBM said:


> What a mess.


54 pails of rubble to be exact..that doesn't count the thin stone ( which they wanted ) and all the brick.


----------



## Fundi (Jan 5, 2009)

stonecutter said:


> The son-in-law thought this mess looked great... They told me they were sick about how this came out.


What did they do to the son-in-law ?

oh, and very nice work.


----------



## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

Fundi said:


> What did they do to the son-in-law ?
> 
> oh, and very nice work.


I don't think it ended well...:hang:


----------



## NYCB (Sep 20, 2010)

I can see them on my computer, the laptop must be broken.

Looks great now, night and day.


----------



## CJKarl (Nov 21, 2006)

Super work as always. It's nice to see joints measured in millimeters instead of inches. :thumbsup:


----------



## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

Fundi said:


> What did they do to the son-in-law ?


They should have had him do all the demo work. The thing is, the only ones that thought the stonework was horrible was the poor HO's....a super nice older couple. They had all kinds of clueless people offering opinions...some were laughable, like this one..... 

There was a neighbor that told them that the reclaimed brick was worth $100 a piece....if I had been drinking coffee, it would have sprayed out of my nose. What are they made of, gold dust? Before I even touched the brick, we discussed the estimated value of them. The most money I have ever seen for historic brick was $3-5 each....and these are now spec mix stained. I don't think you could get more than .25- $1 each. I told them if the neighbor could sell them for $100 each we should let him and split the money...we had a good laugh.

I actually gave them a break and traded the labor of the demo for the material....they actually did better with this arrangement. But like I said, I may use them for my pizza oven here.


----------



## lukachuki (Feb 11, 2005)

stonecutter said:


> They had all kinds of clueless people offering opinions...some were laughable, like this one.....


We Southern Carolinians are long on opinion and short on facts, just deal with it man. :thumbup:


----------



## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

Some people just have no idea.

machu pichu is right. That's some nice keywork.


----------



## Captainsls (Nov 8, 2007)

stonecutter said:


> Yes. I have worked with this stone a couple times now and it's got a wide variety of color...mostly buff tones, some rose, orange, brown, etc. The hardness varies too..some stones were soft like certain types of limestone or sandstone and others were hard like basalt.


That stone looks like our south bay quartzite from Champlain. Friggin awesome stone work. Usually those notches would bother me... but I really like them here. How much stone waste would you say was created? 40%?


----------



## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

Captainsls said:


> That stone looks like our south bay quartzite from Champlain. Friggin awesome stone work. Usually those notches would bother me... but I really like them here. How much stone waste would you say was created? 40%?


I am familiar with south bay quartzite...I did a small job in MA just before I moved. It has similar buff colors but I think sbq has tighter grain structure. SBQ is nice stone for sure and they always have really nice big flagging pieces.

I really didn't have that much waste because I tried to be strategic were the notches were done. I did have a dump pile onsite...I would say it was maybe a couple wheelbarrows full of chips and chunks.....lots of dust though! If I had to put a percentage then I would say less than 15%...based on sqft.


----------



## DavidC (Feb 16, 2008)

Not being a real mason, I do long to be smart enough to make compliments on your technique and style. Just put me in the same boat as your HO as far as that goes then.

I liked the old one well enough. I did think he needed some contrast on the hearth though, to break it up a bit. Your choice with the contrasting concrete was a wise one. And the colors in your stone are great.

One thing I've always admired about you good stone guys is how everything looks random until you get to a corner or arch. Then you miraculously hit straight and plumb or a nice smooth arch. It's real obvious that you take pride in your work.

Good Luck
Dave


----------



## 6stringmason (May 20, 2005)

Nice work!


----------

