Fireplace work

Fireplace before.

Last winter, Ariane constantly complained (and I agreed) that our family room was just too cold.  After living in the house for about a week, we found that the room had five areas of cold air leakage:

• The cooler vent, which I stuffed pillows in then covered with plastic. 
• Door to the garage, which didn't seal up correctly.  I surrounded the door with weatherstripping that completely seals it.
• The window -- which still does leak but we have to get that replaced sometime.  We did cover it with that window plastic though.
• Wall on which our TV and other electronics are had holes in it!  These were where the wires for all the components plugged in and were run, and somehow air got through them all.  So, sealed that up with expanding foam.  
• Wood-burning fireplace.  <-- does that make any sense??

The answer was no!  It seemed that even with the damper closed on the fireplace, cold air just rushed in!  We decided that we were going to have to re-do the fireplace.


The previous owners, when they remodeled the room, had drywall overlaid on top of the masonry fireplace and hearth.  This spans the whole wall.  What was stupid of them was that they framed around the fireplace with 2x4 wood studs!  I found this during the inspection, where a tile was missing and I could see the wood!  Um ... wood burns.  So, we decided that we will re-do the area and put in a gas insert.  Gas is so much easier to use, can have a blower to heat the entire space (and more), and even has the ability to be remote-controlled!!!

After going to the fireplace dealer and picking out the one we wanted (that also had a good deal), we contacted all the other contractors as well for estimates.  The price breakdown was about like this:

Fireplace - Heat n Glo Supreme i30 - $1899 + $100 remote

Supreme I30 with Folio Front

Gas line & install - $1100
Electrical (for blower) - $300
Finish work - $1000

Total: $4399

The finish work was quoted at $1000 because of the fact that we needed to completely demo the front facade around the fireplace because of the wood studs, then re-frame and re-tile.  The tile work was going to cost about $600 on its own.  We asked how much it'd be if we did the demo and all they did was reframe and hang cement board?  Answer: $330.  WAY BETTER.

So, Ariane and her mom spent part of a Friday removing the tile and previous framework.  I helped a bit at the end with removing some of the tougher studs, but they did all the harder stuff themselves!  They really did a nice job and the demo went pretty well.

Ladies at work.

All demoed (that is a speaker wire).

After this was done, we had the finishers come out to reframe with metal studs and put up the cement board.  They came out, did their work, and left.  I was there while they worked, but I didn't keep a close watch of what they were doing and thought they knew something I didn't -- which was why they just finished it flat against the wall!  They also left gaping holes in the tile at the bottom where the previous frame covered!

After first finish job.

I didn't like the way it looked but thought I could work around it.  When Ariane saw it, boy was she not happy!!  She did call the contractor back and asked them to come back out and do it with the framing popping out a bit like it was before.  They agreed and said it would only be $90-$100.

So, they came back out and framed it again:

Mid-framing second try.

Finished second framing job.

See how much better that looks!?  Yeah buddy. Only cost $100 more bucks to have them come back and do it right.

After this piece was done, we hired the electrician.  He was $200 plus the $100 permit fee (which we haven't had him pull yet, so haven't paid yet).  He just ran a line from some wiring in the garage out the side of the house then back in through the fireplace and added an outlet.  He did a good job, but didn't clean up when he was done which was pretty strange.

At this point, Ariane said it was OK for us to place the order for the gas insert.  The total charged to the card was $2041, which was the insert and remote + tax.  It should be here in about 2 weeks!

I created a 3D model of our family room so that we could verify that we did in fact want to do tile, and we had to figure out the layout of the tile as well.  Making up this model was a great (although time-consuming) way to figure it all out!

3D Model of our family room.

Since the insert was now on the way, we decided to get the tile done this weekend.  We were originally going to just texture and paint the cement board, but finally decided that wouldn't look as good as stone around a fireplace.  So, off to Home Depot.

Luckily, Home Depot still stocks the same exact type of tile.  It is natural Travertine stone in 18" x 18" tiles, and came in packs of 4 for $17.  We got two packs of those, some of the accent tile, some pre-mixed mortar and grout (to save time and frustration), and the mortar and grout trowels and sponge.  Since we would have to cut each tile, we also had to purchase a wet tile saw for $88.  Even though that was an additionaly unpleasant cost, we still only spent $214 at Home Depot.

Tiling was a bit difficult as it was our first time and the tile was very breakable.  We did get through it though mostly frustration-free!  We think it turned out with a cool pattern and we like the way that the tiles look really big!  Plus, we saved about $400 in the end on the finish work!

Ariane doing a great job.

Back-buttering the tile (for adherence!)

Mortar action.

Tile-sawing!

Reppin' the tile.

Paint cans added because we were scared the tile would fall.

All finished, although we still have to grout. 

We just have to grout and seal, and all done with the tile.  We're very pleased with how it turned out.

Now, we just have to wait for the fireplace to arrive and save up some $$$ for the gas install!