I have removed the old gas insert and will be putting a new one. Want to prep the area and tile the surround. I dont like the raised hearth! If I demolish the hearth, will that compromise the fireplace integrity? I am not even sure if its actually a hearth! I would like to tile flush with the hardwood floor. Can someone tell me if they have tackled this kind of job and was it easy to break away this ugly looking raised hearth? Also I was thinking of putting a backer board as the front stone/brick is pretty uneven , that will give me a smooth surface to lay my tile. Please give me some ideas and your opinion. provide some pictures if you can.
Help with gas fireplace Hearth
- Thread starter rodrigger
- Start date
HoosierBuddy
Well-known member
When faced with a similar hearth sticking up out of our hardwood floor, I was able to see the bottom of it from the basement. It was likely a foot thick. When the fireplace burned wood it served to keep a log from rolling out of the fireplace and onto the hardwood AND as a heat sink so that fireplace would remain warm and continue to heat the room after the fire died down.
There was no good way to just get rid of mine.
I tiled the whole thing with ceramic tile. It wasn't hard to do and looked good when I got done. Of course it does still stick out of the floor 4-inches.
Is yours built on a slab so you can't see the bottom of it, or is the a crawlspace or basement under it?
There was no good way to just get rid of mine.
I tiled the whole thing with ceramic tile. It wasn't hard to do and looked good when I got done. Of course it does still stick out of the floor 4-inches.
Is yours built on a slab so you can't see the bottom of it, or is the a crawlspace or basement under it?
engineer2
Well-known member
In theory you could cut the extended part out and make it flush to the fireplace mantle. Might be a challenge to get it perfectly flush unless you use a flush cut masonry saw. Might be messy. Also find out how that gas line it routed. As said, you need to determine what it's sitting on and what's holding the fireplace up.
basement under, and I think its sitting on subfloor . Thinking to order a custom granite or marble for the hearth top and tile the sides and front same as the surround
fire place is sitting on brick. cutting is not an option, too much dust and messy as hell. gas line is comming up from the basement where the gas furnace is located. I had a high eff trane furnace installed by professional gas fitters so the gas line is all to code.
yes that's what I think, but wanted to know if someone has faced a similar task and how did s/he go about it.
theoldwizard1
Well-known member
Concur, especially if it was NEVER designed to be used as a "natural" fireplace.
75gmck25
Well-known member
During my renovation I demolished a 1940 masonry fireplace, and except for the brick disposal it wasn't that hard.
The floor underneath was a concrete area and they had recessed it enough to allow the hearth bricks to be almost down to floor level (lower than yours). I demo'd the brick hearth with a chisel and large hammer and it all came out very easily. I think yours may be the same construction, but with a smooth skim coat on top of the hearth.
Once we got all the brick out, I used self leveling concrete to get a smooth surface underneath, at the level I wanted. I then had a piece of granite cut to fit the opening in the floor and it was dropped in and glued (or cemented? ) in place. I know I had two choices for granite thickness, depending on the slab I picked, but I don't recall the specs. We used the same granite as a fireplace surround.
This is what my hearth looked like before demo.
This is what it looked like under the black brick.
The floor underneath was a concrete area and they had recessed it enough to allow the hearth bricks to be almost down to floor level (lower than yours). I demo'd the brick hearth with a chisel and large hammer and it all came out very easily. I think yours may be the same construction, but with a smooth skim coat on top of the hearth.
Once we got all the brick out, I used self leveling concrete to get a smooth surface underneath, at the level I wanted. I then had a piece of granite cut to fit the opening in the floor and it was dropped in and glued (or cemented? ) in place. I know I had two choices for granite thickness, depending on the slab I picked, but I don't recall the specs. We used the same granite as a fireplace surround.
This is what my hearth looked like before demo.
This is what it looked like under the black brick.
Well...finally went with the messy renovation. Hearth broke off easy. Putting up the backerboard was a good idea, had to chip away pieces of uneven brick face to get get the boards to flush, used thin set and tapcon screws to secure the board . Waiting for mantel to arrive and doing some electrical for the direct vent fire place
