Fireplace Remodel Ideas

[hominamad]

Hi everyone - came to this site looking for some ideas on how to remodel my fireplace and stumbled upon these forums. What a great resource.

I was hoping some of you could give me some ideas or tips for a fireplace refacing I want to do. I posted a photo of the fireplace as it is below. My first inclination was try to strip that white paint off the bricks but after researching around, this just doesn't seem like a viable option. Besides, once I started seeing some other fireplace projects, I started getting some other ideas.

The way I look at it - I could go two different ways with this: a) Complete redesign - take down and replace the mantle, retile the whole thing with a new mantle, doors, etc. Or.. b) leave most of it as-is and just tile over the bricks and possibly the mantle.

I am leaning more towards option (b) because I'm a new home-owner and this would be my first real DIY home improvement project and also for $$$ reasons. I don't want to take on more than I can handle.

I'm not sure what kind of material this mantle is. It is completely solid and feels to me like stone underneath. I would like to replace it if that were feasible as it's kind of a boring rectangle shape. It seems incredibly heavy and attached to the wall though. Is it possible to just tile over this as well?

I was thinking of doing some neutral-color, larger tiles on top of the bricks, and then some small colorful mosaic type tiles to cover the mantle.

Also as far as the floor (hearth?) - it is some kind of red floor tile now which I don't hate. But if I wanted to try to raise it with some kind of stone on top, would I have to raise the fireplace floor as well? This seems like it might be "out of my league" as well.

Thanks everyone for your help!

H

(Excuse the bad quality photo - I took it quickly on my way to work)

 

[joecaption]

You should not tile directly over that brick, for #1 It been painted and most likly would not stick, #2 it will be two rough and uneven. You could however cover it with tile board with a layer of thin set under it to bed it and fill in some of the low spots then Tap Con screw it to the brick. For that small a fire place I would not use large tiles. Buy some and hold them up and you can see what I'm talking about.
If that mantel is also painted it may or may not stick. You can try a few and let them sit a few days and see if they just pull off, if not tile over it with no tile board. It's simple enought to remove them if it does not stick.
Do not buy premixed thin set, buy it in a bag and mix it yourself. Buy some spacers to keep them even.
The pictures to dark and there's to much stuff in front of the Hearth to see it.

 

[Big_Bill]

Had this in my email a few weeks ago, from Ron Hazelton's site: How to Make a Fireplace Mantel and Tile Surround • Ron Hazelton Online
Might try something similar myself... was thinking of 12"x12" granite tile.

 

[hannah_p]

Hi all -

I am also looking to redo the front of my gas fireplace. Currently, it is covered with (very ugly!) 12" tiles. I would like to rip them off, and replace them with a faux rock product I found here in town. The manufacturer says it is heat safe, and I've used it on a feature wall with great success - screws right into the drywall and looks fantastic!

My question is: is it safe to drill straight into the firebox (which I assume is drywall), or could there be something behind it that I should be aware of? Mostly I ask this question, because one of the tiles near the top appears to have a 'lump' in it, which tends to get pretty warm when the fireplace is on, and I have no idea why! If people think it *is* okay, then how do I best remove the tiles?

Alternately, is there a way to drill the product into the tiles without removing them (my husband says no and I'm guessing he's right, but thought I'd throw it out to the experts.

Thanks for any suggestions you can offer!

 

[nealtw]

Knock the tile off!