Installing the Fireplace Part I

Woke up this morning and headed out to buy materials for the job: concrete, blocks, mortar, vermiculite, and a big mixing bucket..

First step: brick up the back of the chimmney stack. Easy job! No need to care about clean pointing on the mortar, or perfectly straight courses, because nobody is going to see them anyway! Quick and dirty...




Since I had to chip away at the plaster above the lintel and found the bricks completely loose, I did some repair on the mortar between them and hopefully keep things together.








Second step: slide in the insert (easy!). Luckily for me the insert was exactly 1mm shorter than the lintel, and it just barely fit in!









Third step: bolt on the surround. I had to drill two holes in the tiles for notches at the base of the surround to fit into. Then I used my favourite 'multi-montis' to bolt the top of the surround to the brick, just beneath the mantel.







Fourth step: mixed up the concrete and vermiculite in the prescribed ratio and packed it in behind the insert in the space between the blocks I put in earlier. Vermiculite is recommended because it is light, fireproof, won't harm the fireplace and has the right consistency.

Unfortunately I rand out of vermiculite before I completed the job. I always underestimate the amount needed. This time 5 bags weren't enough. Its almost up to the top of the fireback but I need to make a nice ramp afterwards above that level to create a flue. So that's for tomorrow, along with the re-plastering job.


So cleaned up and called it a day. When I came back, found the inspector checking the work carefully...