Building A Frame Around A Fireplace

This is the companion video to our recent article on building a rumford style fireplace.

Building a frame around a fireplace.

To attach the wood to the brick you need to first drill a hole in the brick with a concrete drill bit. You build one wall wall 1 and attach it to the existing wall. If you are building on a pre existing concrete pad or one much larger than your fireplace footprint be sure to form or cut expansion joints around the fireplace. Expansion joints will ensure that the weight of your structure does not crack your concrete pad.

Are you actually looking for a much more challenging and hands on project because you do like we said before have experience with more intense renovations and you fully believe that you can build your own full fireplace from scratch. It really isn t too bad. Adding these bookcase carcasses really made a difference in my diy built in cabinets around my fireplace. Go to the fireplace store and select your firebox or fireplace insert before the framing starts.

Then drill through the wood as well. How to build a full fireplace from scratch. The floor can be framed out of two 2x4 knee walls with 3 4 osb covering the floor. Make a copy of the drawings and give them to your framer so he will have them when it s time for the fireplace framing.

And then build a second wall wall 2 attach it 8 inches from the wall 1. Wall 2 needs to be framed out like you would a window. Get the rough in drawings with dimensions from the fireplace manufacturer s literature or brochure for the firebox you select. Face frame to build the face frame for the bookshelves i used 1x3s made from poplar and pine pine because they kept running out of poplar at the store.

Traditionally a rumford fireplace is characterized by a tall shallow firebox designed to reflect heat out into a room instead of letting it all go up the c. The most important part is getting the frame for the fireplace insert correct. After the basic frame box is built for the fireplace build a floor and ceiling inside the walls where the unit sits. The ceiling is done the same way.

You will want a minimum 4 thick up to 8 thick reinforced concrete pad.