Stone Fireplaces

A stone fireplace is one of the best investments you can make to your home. Installing a fireplace in your home will provide a warm gathering place for family and friends that is both energy efficient and will increase the value of your home.

Natural stone fireplaces are the most common type of fireplaces and are often made of marble, granite, limestone, travertine, slate or other types of natural stone like quartz. Some of the first fireplaces were made of fieldstone. Just as you guessed they built man made stone fireplaces out of whatever natural stones they had in the fields close by. Today we have the choice of natural stone or man made cultured stone for fireplaces.

Whether you are building your own fireplace from stone or you are having someone else build your fireplace you'll want to do a little planning. Depending on your home you'll want to think about the type of fireplace structure, the kind of fireplace stone, the stone fireplace surround and type of stone fireplace mantle.

You'll want to think about fireplace stone structural aspects then pick out what you'd like your fireplace to look like when it's done. Depending on where you are from you may be able to find stone for your fireplace that is locally mined. Take Chicago for instance, Chicago fireplace stone is mostly limestone and makes wonderful fireplace designs. Vermont is noted for marble and granite stone. If you are looking to save money on natural fireplace stone try searching in the state you live in and it may save you more money than paying the higher transportation cost of stone that is imported from other areas.

Natural Stone for Fireplaces

Natural stones include Slate, Marble, Granite, Quartz, and Limestone available in a variety of finishes. Natural Fireplace stone is processed to give it different finishes such as polished glossy, matted honed finish and flamed or tumbled finishes that provide a rough natural look. If you find the edges of your natural stone too rough you can have your fireplace stone tumbled for rounded corners. You'll also want to look at the hardness of the stone for durability and the ability for that stone to resist staining. Granite is the hardest of all natural stone with marble next in line. Other natural stone such as Limestone based stones like Travertine is porous and needs to be sealed because it stains easily. Natural stone comes in varied sizes and thickness so it takes a little more time and skill to place them. Typical costs to install natural stone fireplaces range from $20 to $40 a square foot.

Cultured fireplace Stone or Rock

Cultured fireplace stone or man-made stone is made using stone aggregates, cement and colored dyes and are designed to look like natural stone. Cultured stone is also available in veneers that are cut into standard shapes, which are lightweight and cost less than natural stone. For the fine print cultured stones tend to absorbs and retain more moisture than natural stone. There are different grades of faux stone, obviously cheaper cultured stone is more prone to be made from cheaper materials and when some cultured stone gets chipped it leaves a mark that shows what is under the surface of the veneer, which may be a different color. With that said, cultured stone is a great alternative to natural stone because it is about 25% less expensive for the material and labor. Cultured stone has no cure time so you can actually place all the cultured stone on a fireplace in one day when natural stone takes several days because of cure time. Cultured stone is lightweight and is easier to handle than natural stone and won't warp under high heat.

Natural Fieldstone Fireplace without the weight

You can have the still have a natural stone fireplace made with pieces of cut fieldstone. Many stone quarries will precut stone thin by cutting them with a grinder or wet saw to make them flat and trim off all the weight. Fieldstone rocks are about 50 lbs. a sq ft where the new precut stone is about 12 lbs per sq ft. You still get the natural stone look without using tons of stone.

Online Resources

There are a lot of great videos online but they change the links quite often so click on the links below and search for fireplace and you should find a list of fireplace designs, videos on how to install fireplace stone pictures and photos.

How to resurface a fireplace with stone at www.diynetwork.com

Putting in a new fireplace, trimming the chimney with fieldstone at www.bobvila.com

Owens Corning cultured stone fireplace photo gallery www.culturedstone.comthey also have a cultured stone installation video.

Buckley Rumford fireplaces www.rumford.com pictures of fireplaces and fireplace plans.