Home Improvement

My upstairs hearth does that. It's very deep, like 3 feet, and runs the length of the room. It is done in stone instead of brick, though, and looks pretty good (to me).

We just use it as additional display space for things.

My upstairs hearth does that. It's very deep, like 3 feet, and runs the length of the room. It is done in stone instead of brick, though, and looks pretty good (to me).

We just use it as additional display space for things.

Before you do any cutting, get a roll of painter's plastic and seal that room off. Cover doorways, walls windows, in fact, cover everything with a layer of plastic. You're going to make a lot of very fine dust and you need to confine it. Get a respirator, too, not just one of those paper mask things.

Yes, especially if it has been used a bunch you will have fine carbons that will get on and stain everything.
It is hard to say if the brick is faced on the sides or actually runs 3 deep exterior to interior there without pictures. If the ledge at the wall is 3.5 inches or more deep, good chance it is only faced on plaster and the outcome will be easy( minus beating walls to death with a hammer for demo ) you could simply tear it out and drywall/panel it back.

That's a lot like how mine is built. We're just covering most of it with drywall except a portion around the firebox and the raised part of the hearth, which we're using a stacked stone veneer to cover up.

Removing the brick should be easy. Precisely cutting around the fireplace and keeping the brick requires the proper tools.

I would demo all the brick around it with a hammer, then cut the remainder brick with a rental saw. Then I would frame it in some nice mantel piece of wood. Shouldn't be big of a job as long as you can give the sledge hammer a good swing.

I would avoid saw inside if I could help it. 5 seconds in you will not be able to see and fine particles will cover everything.
If you score a brick with a chisel on the front, it will usually split there. I would do this to get as straight as a line as possible on the sides, tapcon a 2x4 to the side and cover it with 1x4 on the side facing away and a mull strip or casing in the front, thus avoiding the saw for the wall parts and it makes the fireplace look nice. Hell I've had homeowners ask me to do that even when the fireplace was already just a center piece in room to make it stand out more.

I don't have any real experience with stone/brick, but that sounds like a better way for sure. I didn't know you could really score and break the brick once it's mounted on a wall like that.

Yes but the one you split to match the full offset( on wall ) will not be a finished edge. That is why you just get it straight as you can then you can trim it out with minimal trim. For example this lady's house I did the past 2 days wanted a door in her brick house but didn't want to pay thousands to cut out the brick and rebrick it for a finished edge so this was my cost effective solution which she loved and only cost her $1000 materials and all( new door, trim, steps so forth ) and I was gone in 2 days, and yes my 2 year old phone is a bit fisheye'd. But I could have done just a 2 inch trim and still had same result she wanted the wide treated like the classic old door look.

Hammer/chisel door and trim and wala new door in a solid brick wall.

Expired deal edit

My basement is starting to come together really nicely. The electrician finished installing new lighting yesterday, and just that alone has made a huge difference. We've got a total of 8 recessed lights down there now, and he went ahead and put my new fans up so they both match. We've also got 8 outlets now, up from 3 usable ones previously. It's so bright down there that we're just now realizing how dingy some of the walls had gotten. I can't wait for it all to be painted.

The fireplace remodel is also coming along, and most of the brick has been covered up while the mantle has been framed in. We've got a nice stacked stone veneer that will be going over the brick hearth. More is being done on that today, and my guess is they'll be painting by the middle or end of the week. Flooring is scheduled to start on Saturday, and we'll be all done by next week.

Ok Mko I was at a house today I had worked on for about 15 years off and on and got pictures oh where I did the same thing ( and added 2 doors but that is another story ) years ago. This is what I was referring to on the side trim.

Next post down I'll answer anything above I missed.

Deathwing_sl said:

Couple minor repair questions:

Backdoor to porch has a puncture that looks like some idiot opened it into their knee. The previous owners didn't patch it up so whatever is filling the door is now rotted and squishy. I was going to patch the fracture(it's plastic) with silicone, just wondering if there's anything else I should do before that.

The aluminum siding panel where it meets the flashing at the porch is loose. You can see loose pieces of styrofoam and plant matter underneath the panel. Anything I can besides sealing it up with silicone? Worried about trapping plant matter in there, but I'm not sure how to clean it out with bending the siding a lot and removing whatever's left of the styrofoam.

Click to expand...

Confused by the door part. Nearly all wood doors that would rot have no plastic, unless around a window casement. All metals doors have plastic around the same casement but usually lack much wood to rot except at the sides for support/stability. Most used to use a cardboard corrugated core , now many use foam. Either way you can fill in that void some is you can access the inside of the door through a hole or whatever and use a NON EXPANDING foam. Do not use expanding foam. Use the kind meant specifically to fill voids without expansion pressure or you will buckle the door. Then seal up.

On a properly built house you will have at the sill plate( wood secured to foundation for framing of the house these layers. Studs/Sheeting which is ply, brick board or foam board, house wrap, additional insulation if siding ( much thinner than the first ) then finish cover which is board, siding,brick, rock.

The reason it is loose is all siding is nailed at the top. There SHOULD be a nailing strip the bottom of that panel snaps into it. Either they skimped on it, or it has fallen off or simply come undone. It will basically look like a 2-3 inch piece of metal at the same level as the bottom of the siding nailed into studs. The siding snaps onto it preventing it from being loose.

Now if it is just flashing and was never there, then that was some piss poor work done by the siding guys, but not all that uncommon, these days I've seen it all.
Vines and plants grow up underneath stuff like that all the time, simply cut and pull out what you can, what remains will eventually rot away if the growth is thick ( >1/4 inch thick ) you will want to remove it simply from crimping/damaging the siding. It is meant to be flat to the wall.

As far as securing it without a nailing strip, exterior adhesive may be your best bet, like liquid nail or along those lines and keep plant growth from reaching it again.

Mko, it is hard work. I find a 2 or 3 lb sledge works best( the short smaller version of the murder weapon ) unless you do like I did last week and miss the chisel and hit your hand, in which case I suggest explosives.

Buy a new door.