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August 19, 2005

prepping a fireplace

We pulled the mantle off of the 3rd fireplace downstairs and gave everything a good cleaning.

This fireplace has been untouched for a while. We pulled the plaster off over a year ago when we got into the walls and then moved onto other rooms. Towards getting everything read to get drywall put up, this messy little job had to get done.

This is the only fireplace downstairs with a wooden mantle. The other two are made of an unknown and very heavy material. This one is also the only one downstairs with the iron semi-circle, though all 3 upstairs are similar.

The mantle came off fairly easily, though some of the smaller molding got a little ragged. Oops. The mantle had to come off, as it was put on after the plaster and had an inch of plaster behind the edges. The iron piece is well attached and cemented in, so we left it. We'll clean that in place and rebuild the mantle around it.

There were 12 or so extra bricks arranged orderly in the bottom of the fireplace, amidst much powdery black soot and 8 inches of compressed leaves. It was a dusty mess to clear out. Thankfully there weren't any signs of anything living in there, nor was there any movement.

We brushed the bricks and mortar with a wire-bristled brush, and then painted on a sealant to keep the dust down. The sealant is nice and flat, and really brings out the color and textures of the bricks.

Now we have to decide what to do with the mantel. We're going to try to strip the paint off, though there is a ton of paint here. The natural wood would look great against the brick...

Posted by john m at August 19, 2005 8:54 AM

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