How To Build a Fireplace

LIST OF MATERIALS

1     Model OF-48-S Majestic Unit
39   Blocks 8″ x 8″ x 16″   (Header

or Double Corner type)

 14  Blocks 6″ x 8″ x 16″

2     Blocks 4″ x 8   x 16″

13   Blocks 2″ x8″ x 16″ (Note: It will be necessary for 3 of these to be split to 2″ x 6″ x 16″)

 4   Chimney Blocks 8″ x 12″ (16″ x 21 ” overall size)

Blocks should be fire-resistant blocks. (Plus necessary sad, gravel and concrete for foundation and mortar. “Ready-Mixed” packages and ideal and usually sized for your requirements. Ask your material supply dealer.)

Select a suitable spot for the fire­place, giving thought to the notes on “Location” given on page 53. Mark off the desired size with stakes and string. The base should be at least 62″ x 38″, and should be larger if extension be­yond the block walls is desired. Follow the directions for a float­ing slab foundation as listed on page 56.

Fireplace is becoming more and more popular as a way to improve the look and think of homes. There are many styles and types available that there is a fireplace design that can go with almost any decor.

There’s more peaceful and relaxing than sitting in the front room with the fire burning and embers popping. Also, there probably isn’t a single item that can be as influential to the room as a fireplace, so it’s well worth looking at the diversity of fireplace designs online in order to find the perfect fire place to suit your home and your own style.

Though there are pretty a few electric fireplaces design that is looking good, real fireplaces really stand out and make a great focal point for any room. The problem is that most of us don’t know which fireplace design will look best, or how to build an outdoor fireplace if that is what you are trying to achieve.

The fireplace has been an important component of family life beginning with sheer survival to distinguishing one’s self in terms of style and decor. You’ve more than likely been in someone’s house before where the fireplace really looks boring and rather cold in design, such as old style gas fireplaces. You’ve probably also been in a room where the fireplace sticks out like a sore thumb because the design doesn’t match to the decor of the rest of the room. That is why choosing the right fireplace design is more important than a lot of people feel.

The fireplace design should be influence by several different areas, for example the hearth, firebox and opening. The main part to effect how your fireplace design looks will be the hearth. What you see around the outside of the fireplace, for which there nonstop unique styles to choose from. The firebox is where the firewood burned, and the opening is the figure inside the hearth.

The hearth should be position flush to the floor, suspended above the floor, or sunk below, so you should consider different options. If you are on a low budget then you could go the way of not having a hearth, but just the firebox. Moreover to consider is the figure of the opening. Though the common fireplace design is rectangular, this is not the only option. Actually, if you don’t find a fireplace design idea that you like, why not have custom fireplace designs created to add a unique style to your room.

Fireplace design is influence by a number of materials. Include the stone fireplace designs, masonry, floor, brick and many other materials that can be used to create stand-out indoor and outdoor fireplace designs. All the time we are adding new fireplace design ideas, fireplace photos and designer content, so we hope you will come back regularly.

Here is a truly economical block fireplace for the “do-it-yourself fan one that you can put together in a few spare hours. Every­thing you need can be purchased easily, usually from one source such as a local building supply dealer. Some dealers even feature a “kit,” in which all necessary materials, including the Majestic unit, are delivered to your yard at one low price. For details on the Model OF-48 unit, see page58. Caution: Block sizes vary in some localities be sure the blocks you get are the same as those listed here.

Before construction, lay out the blocks loose for the first course. Assemble the metal unit and set it in place to determine the cor­rect width of mortar joints to use to provide proper space for the unit.

Some basic principles of outdoor fireplace construction

Until recent years, a major handicap in building an Outdoor Fireplace was the difficulty of locating essential metal parts, such as grilles, doors, grates, and the like. Now, metal fireplace units and a wide variety of parts are manufactured by The Majestic Company, Inc., of Huntington, Indiana. Your Lumber, Building Material, or Masonry Supply Dealer will be happy to assist you in your needs for Majestic Barbecue Equip­ment. Don’t take substitutes.

With these metal units, anyone can create an attractive fireplace by using a complete unit as a building form and setting up masonry around it. in any desired design.

First essential for a good fireplace is a strong, solid foundation. In warm climates, where frost is not a factor, your fireplace can be set on a firm bed of tamped ground, cinders, or gravel. In cold climates, where deep frost occurs, your Outdoor Fireplace should be built on either a floating slab of reinforced concrete, or on a solid foundation of concrete or of brick or stones set in mortar and extending 4" or 5" or more below the frost line. You can learn the details on building a floating slab on page 56 of this booklet. For a below-frost-line foundation, see a local authority such as your building supply dealer.

Be sure to provide proper allowances for the metal parts of your fire­place to expand and contract as the result of heating and cooling. When using a Majestic Fireplace unit, this can be done by placing sheets of corrugated paper between the sides of the unit and the masonry. When the first fire is built, this corrugated paper will burn away, leaving space for expansion.

A chimney is not always necessary. If you plan to burn only charcoal in the fireplace, the three masonry walls around the metal unit are all that is required. However, if either wood or coal is the fuel to be used, the fireplace should have a chimney. It is also wise to provide the chim­ney with a cap to keep out water and possibly a screen to check flying sparks from wood fires.

It is wise to provide a means of adjusting the depth of the firegrate beneath the grill, since a charcoal fire should be placed much closer to the grill than a wood fire. In the Majestic metal units, this adjustment for charcoal or wood is provided.

In searching for more striking and individual types of fireplaces for the modern home, designers have reached back to the most primitive eras for new ideas. From the old fire pit dug in the middle of a native hut has come the modern room-center fireplace, a circular or rectangular hearth which is hooded over but open to view on all sides. Other old European peoples, such as the Scandinavian, have contributed to the new designs in many different forms. Instead of having one open face, in what we might call the familiar, conventional fireplace, these modern units now have two, three, or four sides open in an amazing number of variations.

But with these new designs have come new problems in construction. The fact that two or more sides are open allows cross drafts to pass through the fireplace, a problem which can only be overcome by creating a stronger draft up the flue. Also, the increased area of the multi-open-ings requires an increase in the size of the throat and in the flue area.

To answer these and other problems of construction. Majestic has developed the universal Smoke Dome a combination building form, throat, and damper that assures construction free from operating com­plications. Where narrow or double dampers have proved unsatisfactory, these wide and deep units provide the proper throat area and a smooth, unobstructed dome that funnels the smoke to the flue under most adverse conditions.

The high sides of the dome, sloped to exactly engineered proportions, allow rapid laying of masonry in this important area and save hours of the mason’s time. The pivoted damper valve, operated by pull chains with "O" and "C" pendants, gives ample opening for full draft, holds at any degree of opening by means of a foolproof tension bar. and closes tightly against the flanged top when the fireplace is not in use.

In using a Majestic Smoke Dome, flue liner tiles are never placed directly above the damper opening but are offset in any of eight posi­tions, as described in the installation instructions. This provides for a smoke shelf of masonry that stops chimney downdrafts and shunts them into the updraft area.