Masonry Fireplace FAQ
Let us tell you the story behind this special fireplace! Sometimes you have the best of intentions to keep a part of history when you are designing something new in the place of something old. We love nothing more than integrating the new with the old when it’s possible! When we decided that the original cabin didn’t have “the bones” to justify a renovation and that it needed to come down to the foundation, we also decided that keeping the OG masonry fireplace was a must!
We went as far as demolishing the cabin around the fireplace with the hopes to rebuild it, integrating it into the new space. Unfortunately, under current codes, the fireplace wouldn’t have met WETT certifications, which meant it would have had to been sealed off making it unusable, and insurance would have been very hard, if not impossible and/or expensive to get. So alas, we had to let the beautiful OG fireplace go. So began the planning of what to put in it’s place!
Here is a little bit of info that is important to understand about the fireplace we took down, since there are a few different types of fireplaces:
Masonry fireplaces are hand built on site, out of mortar materials such as concrete blocks, bricks, and stone and are part of the home's structural design. They carry a huge weight load and require a concrete foundation of their own. There are other types of fireplace inserts that can be used to incorporate a wood burning fireplace into a home, but there is no substitute for the charm and atmosphere created by an open fire which is why masonry fireplaces offer a fireside experience that is like no other. Because of all that, they also come with a hefty price tag! It’s one of those things that is either very important to the design of a space (therefore worth the investment) or something that isn’t necessary to create the desired atmosphere. I bet you can guess how we felt about how important it was to the design…. and so the rebuild began.
Back to the engineer we went to determine the new structure that needed to be added and to confirm what needed to be designed to make a masonry fireplace meet codes. Once all the technical stuff was sorted out we wanted to focus on the design, making sure to try and stay true to what was there. Part of why we loved it was because of the history, so to create something that was meaningful to the site, we used stones that were collected from the property to create the finished face of the new fireplace.
The material selection of the internal components of the fireplace were restricted by what was needed to meet code, so other than the finish of the hearth, there weren’t many design choices needed. We opted for a poured concrete hearth for simplicity and a material that would age well with the vintage design of the cabin.
Now here’s the tricky truth when it comes to certain elements in design: when there is artistic interpretation needed to build something, sometimes it can be a swing and a miss. As designers, there is only so much we can do to communicate the idea. We were very attached to the original fireplace design and with the new one, there were certain changes that were needed to make it work with modern standards, which included changing the original proportions of the fireplace. The “sparknotes” version of the issues this created was the mason who was cladding the fireplace with the stones from site, installed them differently than how we interpreted the existing design and the work had to be redone (never fun news for anyone). You can see here the photos below of the existing fireplace (top), attempt one (left) and then final attempt (right), which for the record was still not what we were looking for, but unfortunately at the time of install it was winter and not possible for new stones to be found.
So the construction continued and a very valuable lesson was learned - a picture may be worth 1000 words, but if you don’t communicate what those exact 1000 words are to you, the final product may reflect someone else’s interpretation, not yours.
Another important thing to keep in mind during the construction process is while it’s important to make sure things are done the way you want, sometimes you need to wait for the final product to make final judgements. Even though the fireplace wasn’t exactly perfect on it’s own, once all of the furniture and decor was put in place, the whole room came together and created a pretty special atmosphere. We can’t wait to show you the final photographs of this cabin now that the whole space has been curated!
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