DIY Network

Blog Cabin: Fireplace, Hearth and Mantel When it's time to install the fireplace in DIY's Blog Cabin, Dean Marsico and Derek Stearns of DIY's Rock Solid offer some expertise on mortar-mixing, stone placement and the finer points of selecting a perfect keystone. From "Blog Cabin" episode DBLG-103

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	Huntington Gray and Clover Creek were the varieties of the natural stones selected for the stone fireplace.
	The corner stones are pre-shaped for easy fit.
	Amy places the keystone above the exact center of the fireplace. The keystone is carefully selected since it will serve as a visual focal point in the overall design of the stone fireplace.

Every Great Cabin Deserves a Great Fireplace

For our fireplace, with a traditional stone design selected by DIY's bloggers, the preliminary work had been completed, including drywall, tar paper, metal lath and scratch coat. Enter DIY's expert stone masons, Dean and Derek — and an ample supply of decorative stone.

The job from this point is selecting and arranging the stones, mixing the mortar, then mortaring and placing the stones. Derek and Dean also install a stone hearth. Finally the fireplace is topped off with a handcrafted wood mantel, carved with a unique oak leaf design, and made by local wood craftsman Bill Reynolds.

Tools:

trowel
shovel
wheelbarrow
mixing hoe
drop cloths
utility knife
clean buckets
safety glasses

Materials:

pre-cut real fireplace stones*
mortar
masonry cement
bonding agent
water
sand

*For the Blog Cabin fireplace project, Dean and Derek used Huntington Grey and Clover Creek pre-cut stone. Some of the stones actually had a real moss patina to lend an even more rustic look to the fireplace.

Rock Solid Tip #1: To encourage moss growth on porous stone surfaces, spread buttermilk or yogurt on the rock surface.

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Stoning a Fireplace Frame

• Lay out all stones, separating corners from flat pieces. This will also help you to separate them by size and begin to formulate design aspects to your fireplace.

  Important: If you're doing this indoors, you may want to protect your floors using drop cloths.

• The mortar mix is two parts sand to one part mortar. Mix the sand and mortar first, then add the bonding agent, and finally add water.

• Follow the manufacturer's directions when mixing your mortar, but add enough water to achieve the proper consistency so that the mix is not too dry or too soupy. Let the mix sit for five minutes before using it to ensure that it's properly coagulated.
  

  Figure A

• Rock Solid Tip #2: As Dean so emphatically informed our fearless contractors, Chris and Simon Hodshon, when mixing mortar (figure A), it's best to pull the bulk of the ingredients to one side in your wheel barrow or mixing container. This will save you some strokes, make mixing easier and lighten your workload.

• Since our scratch coat (figure B) was completed before the stone work began, it may be dry. First moisten the area you wish to apply stone to. (Don't moisten too much as the water may evaporate.) Then begin laying stone at the corners, and work your way inward (figure C).
  

• Apply about a half-inch thick layer of the mortar mix to the back of the stone. Spread it evenly and cut the edges back with your trowel to prevent the mortar from oozing. Apply the stone to the moistened scratch coat and hold it in place firmly for 20 to 30 seconds on the wall to allow the bonding agent to activate.

  Figure B

  Figure C

  
  

• Rock Solid Tip #3: If you're working with a partner, as Derek and Dean worked, it's a good idea switch sides at some point during the process of applying stones. Everyone sets stone in a different way. Switching off helps provide variation to the overall pattern, allowing you to blend the two styles together in an eye-pleasing manner. Conversely, if each of the two people works separately on only one half, the two styles may be discernible and visually distracting in the finished piece.
  

  	The stone work nears completion.
  	The stone hearth
  	Dean Marsico

• Once you've set all of your stone, go back and fill in the joints with mortar to prevent the lath from showing through. You can do this using a jointer. Finish the jointing by smoothing it with a paint brush.

• As a decorative thought, make sure to alternate stones with long and short faces to prevent continuous lines that could cut the fireplace in half. If the length of a stone matches one set near it, move it and get a longer corner stone. Keep color in mind for a well rounded look as well.

Setting the Hearth Stone

• After you've finished the fireplace wall, the hearthstone can is set in place using the same basic technique as the stones.

• Lay a coat of mortar and place the hearthstone on top, gently tapping into place with a mallet.

If our fireplace, that Derek and I built, isn't the first thing that people notice when the walk in...I'll feel like we failed. You know, we try to put our heart and soul into everything we do.
— Dean Marsico

The completed fireplace stone work, before the mantel is added.

Log cabin trivia

A: James Abram Garfield, the 20th president, was the last of the seven US presidents to be born in a log home. (He was also the first president, incidentally, ever to use a telephone.)

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