| An Overview of Designing and Building a Natural Stone Fireplace. Brought to you by Cole Farms, Inc. |
The purpose of this series of articles is to assist you in planning, designing and building your fireplace surround out of natural granite, travertine or marble stone slabs and tile. I will be using a fireplace mantle, hearth and surround that we had done recently as an example. The series of articles will include plenty of pictures to show you the basic steps in the process. These articles are applicable whether you have the stonework done by a professional like we did or whether you tackle the job yourself. If the job is fairly simple and you are not a perfectionist then you can probably do it yourself. For intricate jobs I would strongly recommend using a professional. We used Robert Kouzman of Pensacola, Florida to do ours and were very pleased with the results. He was very reasonable and one of only a handful of people in the south east that could handle such a complicated project.
The series of articles will begin with the planning stage and progress through the process of finding a qualified stone craftsman, choosing your stone and tile, designing your project, and finally building the fireplace surround. In the case of our fireplace, we did some preliminary designs, chose our stone and then consulted with Mr. Kouzman. At that point we made some changes to the design and sketched everything out so there was no room for any misunderstandings as to what the fireplace was to look like upon completion. A good stone craftsman will let you know what you can and can't do with stone. Because of the nature of the material and the weight there are certain limitations but none that cannot be overcome with a little creativity and skill.
You will find below an index of the articles that I have put together on this subject. I have tried to cover building a granite, travertine or marble fireplace hearth, surround and mantle using a step by step approach.
Step by Step Articles on Building a Travertine, Marble or Granite Fireplace Surround.
Intro - An Overview of Designing your Stone Fireplace Surround, Mantel and Hearth - Overview of our articles on Building a Natural Stone Fireplace.
Article 1 - Sketching and Designing your Stone Fireplace Surround - Measuring, planning and sketching out your Natural Stone Fireplace.
Article 2 - Finding an Stone Installer - Choosing a craftsman to build your travertine, marble or granite for your natural stone fireplace.
Article 3 - Finding your Materials - Choosing your travertine, marble or granite for your natural stone fireplace.
Article 4 - Finding your Materials 2 - Finding Marble, Travertine, Granite, Concrete or Cement Columns for your Fireplace
Article 5 - Installing the Fireplace Hearth - Installing your Marble, Travertine, Granite, or Limestore Fireplace Hearth
Article 6 - Installing the Fireplace Surround - Installing a Marble, Travertine, Granite Tile or Slab Fireplace Surround
Article 7 - Installing the Fireplace Mantel - Installing a Marble, Travertine, Granite Tile or Slab Fireplace Mantel
Article 8 - Installing the Fireplace Surround - Installing Wall Tile on a Marble, Travertine, Granite Tile or Slab Fireplace
Article 9 - Grouting the Fireplace Surround - Grouting Wall Tile on a Marble, Travertine, Granite Tile or Slab Fireplace
Article 10 - Enhancing and Sealing your Fireplace Surround - Applying Enhancer/Sealer to your Travertine or Natural Stone Fireplace Surround.
Picture Page 1 - Photos, Pictures, Images of Installing a Marble, Granite, Travertine or Limestone Fireplace Hearth, Mantel and Surround.
Picture Page 2 - Photos, Pictures, Images of Installing a Marble, Granite, Travertine or Limestone Fireplace Hearth, Mantel and Surround.
