Christmas in July: A Fireplace Story

July gets extremely hot and humid where I live. So what could be better than revisiting a cool winter DIY project that I tackled shortly before Christmas? When I was looking for a home, a fireplace was on my must-have list. I grew up with a wood burning fireplace, and winter weekends were filled with cheery, crackling fires. (I can also clearly remember the house filling up with smoke frequently when someone didn't warm up the chimney properly before starting a fire!) On holidays, the fire would be kept burning brightly all day and well into the night. It's a memory that I cherish and wanted to pass on to my own children when I started a family.

Unfortunately, the fireplace in my home was deemed unsafe to use, and it would cost $4,000 to bring it back to life as a wood-burning fireplace and $5,000 to convert it into a gas fireplace. A friend brought a third option to my attention, which was to install an electric fireplace. While a wood-burner would be my first choice, and a gas would be great for resale, I ultimately decided on an electric insert since I had two young children running around and touching everything. I reasoned that I could easily do one of the other two options later down the road when the kids were older and able to show some self-restraint when it comes to touching hot surfaces.

My first job was to knock down all of the old tile. I had no idea what that process would entail or if I would have to smash each tile off individually. Fortunately, everything came down easily and fairly neatly, and all I used was a mini pry-bar and a hammer. I had all of the tile taken off in less than 15 minutes (and it was fun, too!)

The second step was to apply a skim coat of cement for the purpose of smoothing out the fireplace surround. Tiling requires a very level surface, and there were lots of little depressions, as well as a huge hole, that I had to fill in to make that happen. It took two coats to get it as smooth as I wanted it to be. I also had to patch a few places on the hearth with concrete to make a nice, even base.

Once the skim coat and concrete were set, I was able to go ahead and begin tiling. I chose a mini brick subway mosaic tile made of polished marble to continue the theme I started in the bathroom. (I also intend on doing the kitchen back splash in polished marble to tie all of the rooms together). For the hearth, I chose a larger polished marble subway tile. An important note about working with marble tiles--you really should seal them before you lay or grout them, as marble has a tendency to suck up colors from the mortar and grout. This causes unsightly stains on your beautiful marble tiles! All it takes is a swipe of a cloth dipped in sealer the night before, and you are ready to tile to your heart's content the following day.

After letting the tiles set for 24 hours, I was able to grout them the following day. Cleaning the grout off tiles can be a little tricky, and it's very common to have a grout haze left over the following day. Don't panic! I've found that a little warm water mixed with white vinegar is great at cleaning off the haze. And, here's an even crazier trick: I noticed that I had missed a few tiles and there was still some haze hanging around. I was way too lazy and didn't want to mix up any more vinegar and water solution. I did, however, have baby wipes right on the living room coffee table. I was curious...would they work to solve my problem and allow me to continue to be lazy? Yep, they sure did! A little buffering with a baby wipe, and that grout haze skedaddled on out of there! Who knew? I'm sure baby wipes are at the top of all tiling contractors' lists of necessary supplies. If not, they should be! After all, this project was completed during a series of nap times, so it's only fitting that baby wipes were the finishing touch.

I hired an electrician to install an outlet inside of the fireplace. I had to have a custom metal surround made for my fireplace since the opening was so much larger than the insert itself. I was nervous that I hadn't measured correctly, but everything fit perfectly into place. I even got my stockings hung (by the chimney with care) just in time for Christmas! I still long for the look, feel, and warmth of a real, crackling fire, but my two-year-old loves turning the fireplace on (even in July!), staring at the flames, and warming his hands by the fire...err...the heating element. Oh, well...someday, we will have the real thing!