Stone, Stone, and
more
STONE!!!
Had we known what a monumental job this fireplace was, we may have reconsidered....  not really.   To recap, we
had to frame the chase and sheet it with OSB, then we water proofed it and installed wire mesh and a scratch
coat of mortar.  Finally we installed the stone.  This stone is called mountain ledge (Dakota Brown) and is a
product of Coronado Stone.  Each stone is a separate piece and had to be buttered with mortar on the back and
put in place.  The pattern is called dry stack which means there is no space or mortar between the stones.  This
basically requires the installation of more stone than a conventional spacing pattern would.  It was a lot of work
(two months) but it was worth the effort.

The mantle was a piece of scrap lumber that a friend had sitting in his shop for over 9 years.  When I mentioned
that I had to find a "chunk-o-wood" to make a mantle he said, "Take this."  It took two days to clean it up, sand
it down, and fit it in place but we think it came out just fine.  Just to give you an idea of the size it is 7 1/2 feet
long, 11 3/4" deep and 4" thick.  
Because this fireplace is basically free standing it required stone all the way around and all the way up.  That's
21 feet to the top, or two 7 foot sections of scaffolding and a 6 foot step ladder to get the final stones set at the
top.  We are EXTREEMLY glad to have that job complete.  
This shot shows the "stepped" design of this particular fireplace design.  The flat sections above the beams will
hold "American Indian" pots when we have a chance to actually do some interior decorating.
With the fireplace completed it was time to move on to the final electrical fixture installations.  We had two spot
lights and this fan that really couldn't be installed until the stone was finished.  That fan is suspended from a 7
foot pole at the top of the dormer which is 4 feet from the top of the ceiling.  This wasn't a huge job but with the
installation complete we were able to call for our final inspection.  
Our inspector signed the Certificate of Occupancy only after a complete inspection of all the mechanical
systems.  She had already done all the preliminary inspections but for the final all the electrical outlets,
switches, plumbing fixtures, heater and AC unit all had to be checked for proper installation and operation.  
As far as the building department is concerned we are now finished.   Although we do have more finish work to
do we are very proud to have kept our record of never failing an inspection intact.   
With the fireplace done and the final inspection out of the way it was back to work.  The "Boss" continued her
work coating the rest of the trim on the first floor with polyurethane.  This is no small task considering that for all
intense and purposes there is no sheet rock in this house.  Literally everything is wood and must be protected
with polyurethane.  She now has the entire first floor done with the exception of the pantry and she'll start on the
second floor next week.
With the "Boss" doing her polyurethane thing inside I moved outside and began staining the soffit and fascia.  
We're not really ready to stain the outside just yet but our "Gutter Guys" will be here in a couple days to install
rain gutters and down spouts all around the house.  It was a lot easier to stain the soffit and fascia now than to try
and do it around and behind the new gutters later.  It's difficult to tell in this picture but the stain is a WoodGuard
product and the color is light red maple.  WoodGuard is clear and the color is mixed in at the job site.  The nice
thing about this procedure is you can mix as much or as little of the color to get the exact shade you want. That
way you don't have to settle for a "stock" color.  
 This shot of the fascia gives a little bit better idea of the color when you compare it to the logs below.  After the
interior trim is complete in about a month we'll move back outside and complete the exterior trim on the ground
floor doors and windows.  The second floor windows have already had the exterior trim installed.  After that we'll
finish staining the exterior of the house.  
That's it for now.  We never thought it would take two months to
complete the fireplace but we wanted to do it right so we took our time
and made sure we did everything as per the installation instructions from
the manufacturer.  In the next update we'll be doing the finish trim work
upstairs which will include building "built-in" storage compartments in
the home office.  
Check back Soon