Every one knows that one of the things that says Log Cabin Style Home more than just about anything else is a nice stone fireplace with some logs crackling on the fire, a comfy chair to kick back in and read while sipping a nice warm hot chocolate on a snowy winter day! Right?
If you are starting from scratch in your Log Cabin Style Home building project, It is pretty easy to incorporate just such a fireplace into your design and building project. However here are some things that you should be aware of as you go about that process. These same points that represent obstacles that can be dealt with on a new construction project, become problems that make it almost impossible, if not extremely cost prohibitive to include a full blown conventional wood burning stone fireplace into your remodel project. After discussing these challenges, we will pass along some solutions that we have learned over the years to save both time and money.
Problems Unique To A Wood Burning Stone Fireplace
The stonework required to safely install a fireplace is extremely heavy. It literally weighs several tons depending upon the size and massiveness of your fireplace design. Therefore it requires it's own dedicated section of footing and foundation to be incorporated into the rest of your home's foundation from square one. Also this foundation and support structure must be extended up through however many levels it takes to get to where the fireplace will be built upon it. If the main fireplace was going to be on the second floor for instance, the concrete support structure would have to extend from the foundation through the crawl space or basement, up through the main floor to the base of the actual fireplace on the second level. While that is maybe a little bit of overkill, it was done to illustrate the point. There is a lot of weight that has to be accounted for.
Laying stone for a fireplace and getting it to look nice and function properly is not a job for an amateur Do-It-Your-Selfer. It is a job for a skilled professional stone mason. While it could be and has been done by the DYI'er before, there's a fairly good chance that you won't be 100% satisfied with the result you get.
You need to realistically ask yourself if, over the long haul, you are going to be happy with the hard work and the mess involved in the process of gathering firewood to burn in your beloved fireplace? But you say, I can afford to have someone else bring in pre-cut and split wood for me to burn. I won't need to gather it myself. All well and good, but there is still the mess to deal with when you haul the wood inside from where ever you have it stored. This alone is one of the reasons that the gas fireplace industry thrives. A huge percentage of these beautiful stone masterpieces get converted to gas inserts after several years of use and maybe even disuse once the owner discovers how difficult they are to keep up with.
That brings us to our next favorite part of owning a real fireplace, the cleanup! Yep, when you burn wood, you create two kinds of by-products, one annoying and the other potentially dangerous. These are the ash left over from your burnt fuel source and the, invisible to the unwary eye, creosote residue that builds up inside of the chimney over time and becomes a fire hazard of serious proportions. The ash requires simple removal every so often, depending on how much you actually use the fireplace. The creosote buildup needs to be removed on a regular basis by a professional chimney sweep. This should be done yearly for fireplaces that get used consistently.
You have to be careful to protect your flooring, furniture and yourself from the little sparks and live coals that occasionally pop out the front of your fireplace from the little explosions that happen when little pockets of sap heat up and pop rather than burn slowly. When one pops, it literally creates a small explosion that ejects anything near it in every direction including out the front onto your nice carpet or furniture, creating nice little unattractive, if not dangerous burn spots. While this can be prevented by a spark arrestor screen or a glass enclosed fireplace, these options both begin to take away some of the ambiance that we are looking for in our wood fire in the first place. Also this really suggests, and in some building codes requires, that you install a non-flammable flooring surface such as tile or stone for a certain distance in front of the fireplace.
Lastly, wood burning fireplaces are notoriously inefficient and drafty. In almost all wood burning, stone fireplace installations, the reality is that a huge percentage of the heat produced by the fire actually goes right up the chimney and out to warm the great outdoors instead of your living room! Also when not in use, even with the flue closed, the chimney makes a perfectly uninsulated escape path for whatever heat is produced by your main heating source to escape to the out of doors.
However!
Now with all of that being said, are we against wood burning stone fireplaces? No, absolutely not! You just need to be aware of the downsides of the ownership and operation of one and ask yourself if you are willing to pay that price? Many times the answer is still a resounding yes.
Our real purpose in discussing these points is to point out why trying to install such a fireplace into an existing home that doesn't already have one, can be extremely cost prohibitive and ultimately not such a great idea, especially in light of some of the excellent options that exist.
What Is The Purpose Of Your Log Cabin Style Fireplace
In order to make the correct decision on exactly which option you need to choose for the solution to the fireplace problem, here are some things you need to consider.
Why do I want a fireplace in my Log Cabin Style Home?
For the ambiance. If the main purpose for having a fireplace is for the look and feel that it gives you, then there are many viable options besides the conventional stone fireplace.
As an auxiliary heat source. A fireplace can serve as an excellent backup heat source for those times when the power is out or it is exceptionally cold and your normal heat source just isn't quite keeping up. This purpose also leaves open several options.
Because we want to use wood as a renewable alternative for the main heat source in our cabin. (maybe in a more rustic or off-grid setting) When this is the case, your options begin to narrow down significantly.
Besides just for heating, we want to be able to do our cooking with the fireplace too. Again, this will narrow your choices down to only one or two options.
Options And Solutions
Let's start with numbers 3&4 first since they the ones with the fewest options. When you are concerned with heating and or cooking with a natural heat source, you can rule out most of the other options that we will be discussing.
At this point you will probably choose to go with either a conventional stone fireplace or as a second, more efficient and more functional option, a wood burning stove. Be aware that there are several different styles within both categories. We won't go into any detail here, so please do your research before making a final decision. Honestly, in order to meet the goals of a wood fired heating and cooking source, the best option is a good quality wood burning stove with a cook top. The only thing you give up is the ambiance of an open fire on the hearth. Even that can sometimes be approached with a glass fronted stove.
Now for the first two categories. If you are after an auxiliary heat source and the ambiance, but want to avoid the mess and the hassle of owning a true wood burning fireplace, the best choice out there is a gas fireplace insert, either added to your existing fireplace or put into a fireplace surround built especially for it. These surrounds can be as simple or as elaborate as you choose. With the materials and techniques available today, you can build an exact replica of a conventional stone fireplace without all of the weight and other drawbacks that we discussed earlier. The look is so authentic that it will never cross your mind that it's not the real thing. Plus all of your fire starting and clean up hassles get covered with the simple flip of a switch! (or maybe just let the thermostat do the work!)
The next choice up the simplicity ladder would be some of the simple plug-in electric fireplaces on the market. Some of these are designed to just provide ambiance and others can provide a little extra heat to go along with the look of a flickering fire. A word of advice here. Make sure that you get to see the actual device in operation before purchasing. Some of them are less-than-convincing in the appearance of their "flame" patterns. Also if you choose one as an auxiliary heat source, be aware that it could possibly require a 220v wiring connection.
Now, don't necessarily downplay this option for the right setting. If you are renting and living in an apartment or condo or some other setting and just want to add some Log Cabin Style Feel to your surroundings, one of these electric units might be just the ticket for you. Just plug it in and enjoy! Another setting where it might be an appropriate choice would be in a bedroom, office or some other smaller setting.
Lastly, just for kicks and giggles, there is one more new hi-tech option available too. If you have one of the new smart tv's or even just on your computer screen, you can download a "fireplace app"! Imagine a screen saver of a comfortable, cozy fire in a fireplace that could play 24/7 on your giant big screen tv in your living room. (or anywhere for that matter)
Just a thought! And no, I'm not kidding! It is a real thing!
Our Choice For A Perfect Log Cabin Style Fireplace Setup
In our experience of building many vacation cabins to sell to the public, here is the solution that we arrived at. It works quite well in real life and 99% of our clients were very happy with it.
We built these Log Cabin Style Homes so that they first of all had a conventional heat source. We could have gone with a gas forced air central heat system which would have worked well and probably been the most efficient. But since these were "vacation" cabins and most would not be their owner's primary homes, we chose to heat them with an individual electric wall heater in each room. This allowed the owner to turn the heat way down or even off in the rooms where they didn't have to worry about pipes freezing, such as bedrooms. It also had the benefit of allowing each room to be separately adjusted to the comfort level of its occupants.
Then we would install a high efficiency gas fireplace insert, usually set up to run on propane, that had a high enough heat rating that it could heat the entire house (1200-1500 sq ft) in case the power went out and we lost our primary heat source. An added benefit of this choice is that while these fireplace inserts have a built in electric fan to circulate the heat, they will operate as a heat source even when the power is out and the fan is inoperable.
By using these gas inserts, we were then able to design the fireplace surround literally any way we wanted. There were no weight constraints because we were able to use some of the very convincing artificial stone choices that are available. We were also able to use tile, wood or metal either separately or in some very interesting combinations.
This setup of combining a conventional heat source with a gas fireplace insert gave us a very usable and effective heating setup for year round comfort. It encompassed all of the benefits of a conventional fireplace except the actual open fire minus the mess, maintenance, etc. We found that most of the time when our clients wanted an open fire, they would prefer to have it outside in a fire pit instead anyway.
Lastly, The Fireplace Surround For Your Log Cabin Style Fireplace
All right! This is where we get down to the fun part of creating a real Log Cabin Style feel to your home, especially on a remodel project. For all intents and purposes, we are going to focus on adding a gas burning fireplace insert into your home as you either remodel or build new. The process works the same way and you have basically the same choices. Some of these same ideas could be applied to installing an electric unit too.
If you are going to go the conventional stone fireplace route, your contractor can direct you through the design process. If you are going with a wood burning stove, consult with the experts at the stove store. Make sure you follow all of the recommendations and safety precautions to the letter so that you don't end up with a fire hazard.
That brings us to the first set of considerations for your gas burning fireplace installation, safety. These units produce a significant amount of heat, enough to ignite any combustibles, including wood, draperies, furniture, or flooring if they are too close to the unit. Each unit has its own set of safety requirements for installation clearances from combustible materials. Be careful to follow these closely and to err on the side of caution.
Typically a gas fired insert is installed inside of a framework of wooden or metal studs, much like a typical wall and then covered with your choice of decorative materials. The beauty of this is that it gives you almost unlimited options on how to design your project.
What we have found with the dozens that we have built, is that you need to first build your wooden framework around the safety parameters and then flesh it out to form a base for the ultimate design that you have in mind.
At this point, you need to remember that a gas fired insert can be installed so that it vents either out through the ceiling and roof like a conventional fireplace, or it can be vented horizontally through a wall. This allows you many more options on where it can be placed in a room. Personally, our first choice is horizontally through the wall if possible. Why? Because it is one less potential leak problem if you don't go through the roof, especially in snow country, where a large buildup of snow can slide off of a roof and rip the entire chimney assembly off with it.
Secondly, a horizontal exit point usually requires significantly less chimney pipe and other accessories that drive up the cost.
In all cases, check with your gas fired insert installers for an expert opinion before making a final decision on a location and chimney strategy.
Your installers will need room inside of the fireplace framing to house all of their components as well as room to work around the unit in the installation process.
After your framing is built and the contractor has installed your fireplace unit, it is time to install 1/2 inch cement board as a base and backing for the decorative part of your fireplace surround. We do this for two reasons. First cement board is the perfect substrate for installing either tile or artificial stone over and second, because it is basically fireproof and eliminates heat transfer into the surrounding materials.
Now you have the foundation and basic shape of your fireplace surround established. It's time to choose what type of finished look you will give it.
Safety First!
Your first design parameter that must be met, no matter what your other choices may be, is the non-combustible safety zone directly around the insert itself. On almost all of your options, the installation manual will call out the dimensions for clearance on the top, bottom and sides of the unit from anything combustible. As an example, you may need 6 inches on the sides, 18 inches on the top and 12 inches on the bottom. If you are using stone or tile, these materials are non-combustible, so they can be installed right next to the insert with no problems. However, if you choose to go with a wooden surround, you will need to use tile, metal or some other non-combustible material in these areas.
Another important consideration is what do you intend to do for a mantle? Many of us like the look and functionality of a mantle with our fireplaces. If that is part of your design criteria, be aware that there are also specifications included in the installation manual for the height above the insert to the bottom of a combustible mantle as well as how far it protrudes forward. Please read your manual carefully!
Now once you have included these critical dimensions in your design, the sky is the limit on where you go from there.
Five Materials Options For Your Log Cabin Style Fireplace
Artificial stone. You could actually use real stone, if you wanted, but again, you would need to do more work to compensate for the sheer weight of the material. This is why artificial stone is a much better option. Most styles are very difficult to distinguish from the real thing. They are considerably lighter in weight and have an interesting component to their installation. Where real stone is installed it is stacked on the floor or supporting structure with mortar in between the pieces, so that all of the weight of the material is supported by the base or floor on which it sits. With artificial stone, it is"glued" to the cement board "wall" just like tile, then grout is used to fill the spaces in between to look like mortar. Now all of the weight (which is considerably less) is supported by the wall structure instead of the floor. Also artificial stone is a much more DIY-friendly material to work with than real stone if that is a factor for you.
Ceramic, porcelain or cut stone tile. While we definitely use these frequently as the non-combustible barrier around the insert itself, we have found that they offer another very viable option for the entire surround. If you choose your colors and styles carefully, you can still achieve a very rustic Log Cabin Style Feel with tile. In fact, one of the things that we have often used in our cabin fireplace surrounds is a combination of 12x12 and 6x6 slate tiles. This gives us a surround that is built out of a natural stone material that is much easier to work with and much less expensive than artificial stone. If you take your time and are picky, you can usually find a wide variation in the colors of each individual tile in a box.They can then be combined to give you a very natural looking cut stone fireplace look. Don't be afraid to buy lots of extra and then return the ones you don't use.
Wood. Either standard milled lumber, some combination of natural logs, or a much more formal looking surround of wood, trimmed with milled trim pieces such as crown molding and other different profiles.These are very pretty and can be very formal or by choosing woods with a high level of rustic grain patterns and knots, etc, can look much more like the natural feel of a log cabin.
Metal. Rarely have we seen an all metal surround. But with today's new technologies such as the latest CNC guided plasma cutting setups that produce all of the really neat metal "pictures" that we are seeing a lot of, you could produce some really striking effects for your Log Cabin Style Fireplace.
Lastly would be a combination of the above materials such as in the picture above. Typically this would be something like a stone or tile main body with a natural log mantle and cutout metal "picture" as and accent. Or any other interesting combination that you might come up with!
Be Creative With Your Design
In the end, this is a place that allows you to make a very personal statement in your Log Cabin Style Home. Your creativity here is usually only limited by your budget and your available space constraints. Invest some time looking at many photos of different fireplaces, tour some existing homes etc, and come up with something totally unique to you. Dare to be creative! There are very few constraints in your design parameters outside of the safety factors. Literally if you can build the framework to support your creation, you can do almost anything you want!