mranum

In an effort to both increase our home's value and to help soften the annual gas bill I am going back to my wood burning roots and putting in a high effeciency wood fireplace. We are going with a more country/rustic look with a faux stone front but what I am torn on is the mantle shelf above the fireplace itself. I don't want a surround, just a shelf above.

Any ideas?

Evil Scotsman

The fireplace sounds like an excellent idea to me! My uncle had his house built in the Pocono Mountains of Pa around 30 years ago. He had a shell built (structure, plumbing, wiring) and then him and my father finished it. He put in a river rock fireplace with a big chunky/bulky mantle. One thing he did add that I hadn't seen before was a river rock wood box built into the side of the fireplace. IT STILL looks great!

Good Luck and Enjoy!

Scott MacLean

I love a nice fireplace. As far as hanging a mantle (shelf style) I prefer a French Cleat. Just me

Scott

frankp

I was actually going to post a question about a new mantle, myself. Since you beat me to it, I'll chime in here and hope others can answer my question too. The mantle I am putting up is a 3"x 10"x 6.5' chunk of Paduak that matches our fireplace brick and the colors of the walls I redid in the family room. I was thinking of something with a natural edge, but we decided on a "standard" shelf shape instead because we didn't find a natural edge we wanted.

My question is the best way to hang this beast. The shelf weighs some 50-60 pounds, best guess, possibly a little more. The previous mantle was significantly lighter and was nailed to the brick of the fireplace with one masonry nail and then to two different wall studs with standard nails. I'd rather not pound nails through this beautiful piece of wood, especially once I finish it, so I'm looking for other anchor suggestions.

__________________
"I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!"

--Theodore Roosevelt

mranum

Ok now for the obvious question...
( for me anyway )

Whats a French Cleat? Probably used it before but don't know the name.

mranum

I've seen some fireplaces with the built in wood boxes in the stone and they are awesome that way. I wish I had the room for one like that.

frankp

mranum, a french cleat is a sort of angled board on the wall with a reverse angle on the piece you're trying to hang. a google image search turns up a bunch of good results for what they look like.

__________________
"I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!"

--Theodore Roosevelt

woodworks

I've used this before. Thank you for telling me what I've been using. I knew I was coming to this place for a reason. I'm learning all the time what I'm doing. It's about time I learned something.

Thanks

Gerry KIERNAN

To frankp

With regard to "hanging the beast": Could you use large dowels drilled into the mantle and inserted into the studs?

Gerry

Scott MacLean

I found this on you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uIIrVpfVDw you will probably want to modify to suit your design. I hope this is helpful. Post some pics - I love to see pics of the beginning and the end. Oh and that is not me in the video

Scott