I screwed up my courage this morning and got ready to lay the Eldorado Stone for the fireplace. A close up of the stone is shown on Day 862 (March 3, 2011). As you can see, the rock has been ready of 2 months, but I wasn't. Doing the stone on the shed last week got my head in the right spot, so here goes nothing. The fireplace wall is about 13' long and 9' high, with an outside corner on the left and a flush wall on the right. When you lay out this sort of dimensional stone, you should start at the corners, do the short wall (12") next, then work to the flush wall. Also, my previous rock mason (Frank Ward) suggested starting at the top and working down so that any spilled mortar goes on the floor (cardboard and carpet) not the stone. Good idea as long as you can make the blocks stick to the wall. This scheme is just the opposite from bricks, where you build up so the previous layer can carry the weight of the new course.
The first step was to physically lay out the blocks with an eye to alternating patterns of height (4"-12") and length, both on the front and around the corner. Then I numbered them (tape and marker) and marked those at the top that needed cutting. These blocks are concrete products so they cut easily with a tile saw. Started at the top with a 12" x 2" piece (cut from a wider corner), then had a more complex piece that was like above but extended back farther where it cleared the beam over the door (see photos). From there down, it was a piece of cake and with a little added space in the joints so the bottom piece came out flush with the floor. After the entire corner was laid, I went back to fill the short wall to the door with a variety of pieces cut from bigger flats.
These blocks are made to have some relief and irregularity, so minor misalignments look like the norm. All in all, it took about 6 hours to lay the corner and short wall (15 sq. ft), so I think the flat work on the long fireplace wall (100 sq. ft) will go pretty quickly. When I get half way down the wall, I'll need to have the mantle piece all built so I can lay the rock right up to the edges of it. So it looks like a couple days of rock work, then a couple more days of finish carpentry, and a couple final days to rock the lower half of the wall. I'd say it will be at least a full week of work, which in my world equates to about 3-4 calendar weeks. I'd like to have it done before we go to Montana later in the month. I'll keep you posted as I make progress.
I screwed up my courage this morning and got ready to lay the Eldorado Stone for the fireplace. A close up of the stone is shown on Day 862 (March 3, 2011). As you can see, the rock has been ready of 2 months, but I wasn't. Doing the stone on the shed last week got my head in the right spot, so here goes nothing. The fireplace wall is about 13' long and 9' high, with an outside corner on the left and a flush wall on the right. When you lay out this sort of dimensional stone, you should start at the corners, do the short wall (12") next, then work to the flush wall. Also, my previous rock mason (Frank Ward) suggested starting at the top and working down so that any spilled mortar goes on the floor (cardboard and carpet) not the stone. Good idea as long as you can make the blocks stick to the wall. This scheme is just the opposite from bricks, where you build up so the previous layer can carry the weight of the new course.
The first step was to physically lay out the blocks with an eye to alternating patterns of height (4"-12") and length, both on the front and around the corner. Then I numbered them (tape and marker) and marked those at the top that needed cutting. These blocks are concrete products so they cut easily with a tile saw. Started at the top with a 12" x 2" piece (cut from a wider corner), then had a more complex piece that was like above but extended back farther where it cleared the beam over the door (see photos). From there down, it was a piece of cake and with a little added space in the joints so the bottom piece came out flush with the floor. After the entire corner was laid, I went back to fill the short wall to the door with a variety of pieces cut from bigger flats.
These blocks are made to have some relief and irregularity, so minor misalignments look like the norm. All in all, it took about 6 hours to lay the corner and short wall (15 sq. ft), so I think the flat work on the long fireplace wall (100 sq. ft) will go pretty quickly. When I get half way down the wall, I'll need to have the mantle piece all built so I can lay the rock right up to the edges of it. So it looks like a couple days of rock work, then a couple more days of finish carpentry, and a couple final days to rock the lower half of the wall. I'd say it will be at least a full week of work, which in my world equates to about 3-4 calendar weeks. I'd like to have it done before we go to Montana later in the month. I'll keep you posted as I make progress.
