Building a Fireplace, Need Advice

All I've seen here is 40 , and they are $ 3 , with a pour your size , it is cheaper in my area to get a delivery .

 

i guess a 55 gallon drum fire is too lowbrow? hahahah.

awesome project. this is on my wife's list.

 

Well, since its going to be about 2 weeks before the concrete sets up properly, here's a peek at another related project we made from scratch that we've been chipping away at.
Its an Amish style settee that will go out by the fireplace when they are both finally finished. As you can see, there's only a few slats to go, and then some final sanding and stain.

 

^^^ Awesome

 

Thanks...this one was a lot of fun, but took a LOT more hours to complete than expected. But I think it came out pretty good considering its the first one I've ever made.

 

Nice !

Did you purchase plans to work off of ?

 

+1- I've got enuf projects...but I'm always on the look out for ideas...

 

No, I just checked out a few around where I work, and did take a few quick measurements to get an idea of where to start. I didn't see any that were exactly what I wanted, so I pretty much improvised some of it, while following standard designs of ones I had seen on other parts.
One funny thing, if you look at the tip of the arm rests, the way we came up with that curve was we put a Febreze bottle there and traced around it.

 

Took off the plastic and removed the form today:


I dug a small hole big enough to get the drill into, removed the screws on this one corner, and it separated like cookies off a warm pan.


A view of the layers. It doesn't really look like it, but this is looking down into the trench along the edge.


And finally, not pretty with mud all over it, but the edges are all filled in and it is ready to be built upon. I had a bunch of old broken brick that I laid into the trenches first for extra support, then filled it in with soil and tamped it down as much as possible.

 

Meanwhile, got the bench finished and two coats of stain put on.


The Tacoma lurking in the background...

 

While picking up supplies at Home Depot today, some guy in a full size Dodge pickup parked by me as I was loading the Tacoma. He walked by and said "Nice truck!" , I said thanks...a minute later he walked back out of the store and said "Dam, I was so busy admiring your truck that I left my shopping list in my truck!"

 

A few pics taken this morning of some of the supplies. We managed to lay 8 blocks today before it started raining.
So no pics of the laid blocks yet, but probably tomorrow after we get some more down.
These were right before we started laying. We made some uprights to tie string guides to help keep the rows level and straight.

 

We almost have 2 courses done. 31 blocks laid so far. Not too bad for temps in the 90's, breaks and supply runs. Some of the blocks are still wet in the pics.

 

I took a few pics of the truck sagging under load to use as evidence when I go to get the TSB approved. This was only about 890 pounds of materials.

 

Back to the fireplace, it's starting to take shape now. Only 5 more blocks and we'll be half done.







Doggy approved! Oscar Meyer Wiener coming to check on my work.

 

Dang that is nice! Bench and fire place. My dog looks just like yours too I have a 7 month old and a 16 year old.

 

Awesome, I'm really jealous of your yard. Nice porperty!

 

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Very nice job on the fireplace and I am picking up some good ideas too ...

And I really like the "in progress photos" too ... just like the DIY videos on some of the "DIY web sites".
.

 

Moving forward again, the heat has been a real progress stopper, but only one more course to go for the bottom section.

 

Constructed the floor of the firebox this morning and also cut all of my lintels (angle iron to support the blocks over the opening).
These pics show a demonstration of how the lintels will work. They are not mortared in yet because I want to get the firebox done first...less head banging that way.