Brick Wall Fireplace Questions
 

My wife and I are in the middle of redoing a 1968 house that was basically all original, so I may have a lot of questions in the coming days. In the house, we have a lovely 1960s wall to wall brick fireplace at the end of the living room and I am curious if this is a possibility:

What I would like to do is put up a stud wall, possibly some insulation, make a new fireplace surround with mantle that is normal size and then drywall the rest of the wall.

Additionally, I would then hang a flatscreen above the fireplace / mantle.

I am curious if this is feasible, because in my estimation I will need to bring the fireplace opening out 2 to 4 inches depending on the stud wall. Would I lay new bricks to extend the opening? Is there another option?

Thank you.

(I want to do the stud wall so that I have something to hang the flat screen from, and also a convenient way to hide multimedia and electrical lines.)

You would be better off just to remove the brick facing that is on the wall now and you will have a stud wall already there. Then build a new smaller brick or stone face for your fireplace. You can run your wiring for the TV behind the old sheet rock if there is any, if not sheet rock the old stud wall.

I can do the work, it's just a question of how I'm doing the work. The master plan and figuring it out is what I'm trying to do. Such as, is extending the fireplace opening outward 4 more inches just as simple as laying some extra brick? Should the brick tie back in to the existing brick? Is there a better or easier way? Am I missing anything?

There is no brick facing, it is all brick. The exterior of the house is brick. There is a basement under the entire house except for this room and the attached garage, which are both on the same slab. The fireplace / wall in question sits at the end of the living room on the outside wall. The wall is solid brick with fireplace / chimney in the middle.

Which is my dilemma, I would like to cover the brick but still keep the fireplace.

mjoe, the brick you are seeing is most probably brick veneer and not structural. If you have a light switch or plug on that wall, pull the cover and see if you can see where the receptacle box is attached to a wall stud. I doubt that the brick is a true masonry structural wall, ...but you never know.

extending the brick would be no problem at all. It should be tied to the old. You can do it mechanically, however at the opening it will be more pleasing to the eye if you key it into the old.

mjoe, I just quoted a similar project, it was an enclosed back porch on the back of a brick house. The brick was painted white.

The client spent summers in South Africa where everything is build with concrete and wanted to convert this area, walls, floors, and shower to look like troweled concrete.

Solution, apply stucco wire mesh over painted brick, ceilings, drywall and Hardy backer in the showers, trowel colored grout or stucco mix as smooth as possible, sand if needed, apply 2 or 3 applications of integrally colored micro topping (or stain with concrete stain), sanding if needed between applications, and seal.

U can get micro topping as smooth as drywall or apply textures.

A lot more durable than drywall and U never have to paint again.

Resaurfacer

It sounds very possible. I would just extend the opening with bricks to match the existing ones and with the same bricks create an outside frame. The rest can be easily accomplished by using antico stone panels which come also in fire-rated and can be directly installed on your stud framing. It looks very real and it has lots of benefits. Everyone loves the products.