Hello, I’m new to this forum and I’m a moderately experienced DIY er, I’m looking for advice on a Fireplace project I’m starting. I’m completely renovating a house from the bare walls to floor joists and one of the biggest requests on my wifes wish list is a large limestone fireplace, the problem is the fireplace will be on the second floor and weigh appx 750 lbs., this is a new installation so there is no existing load path down to the foundation. What I’m planning on doing is opening up the subfloor, sistering the 2×10 joists and blocking the joists together out to 32″ and then installing 6×6 posts in the walls down to a concrete footing. The joists are 2×10,s span of 8 feet and the perimeter is made up of three 2×10’s sistered together. The other issue is the house is built on a steep hill and has pier foundations so I’ll have to chase the load down two floors and build a concrete foundation for the fireplace. My question is does this sound like a reasonable approach to this task? I would appreciate any input and advice that other members may have.
thanks
Replies
how wide and how deep will the fireplace be?
Kirk,
I would see if you could find an architect to come out to your house and give you advice on this in person. I actually did this for a job once and he charged me $125.00 for the visit. This seemed expensive at first but his advice proved successfull.
This was the project: I was opening up a ceiling to create a "vaulted" look and just wasn't sure how many braces were required to hold the walls together once the ceiling joists were to be removed, and I also needed to know how big to make the braces. Looking back on it all now, I'm happier knowing that I didn't guess how to go about handling all that.
It might take a few tries to find an architect willing to do this but it's worth it. Would you sleep at night thinking that maybe the fireplace is on a suitable foundation? Bring in someone with the skills to calculate exactly what you need for this. The money you spend will be well worth it.
Mike
A structural engineer rather than an architect would be the better call. Some architects know structure, some are artists who depend on the engineers to keep it from falling down.
-- J.S.
I'd need to know a lot more about the fireplace.
750# sounds light to me for a full limestone FP. Or are you just using a metal heatilator type box and facing it with limestone?
Then what about the chimney? Masonry or metal?
if this is a metal box, you appraoch sounds fine, but if all msonry, it sounds like a disaster, partly due to weight and partly because you would have to header off- well that depends whether it is a flush set in floor or a raised hearth - better description pleaase!
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thanks for the prompt replies, the fireplace is indeed going to be a metal fireplace box and a metal chimney with no masonary in order to keep the weight down, the limestone will just be the outside of the fireplace, appx. 6x5 with a raised earth further out to 2'. Thanks for the help and I think I will contact an architect or engineer for specs and the weight is one supplied by the manufacturer.
cheers.
If your not going with direct or transffered load, designed for masonry, you will have to go with cultured stone. Just my opinion.
Then that doesn't really sound like any kind of overload situationat all.
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I took another look here at the original info.
I don't think from what you say that you need to beef thing up at all, but it wouldn't hurt. Still, there is no need to dig into the subfloor, IMO or to place posts under it. The load you are talking about is no more than a bathtub of water and a good sized human.
But you can beef things up and spread the load just by building your platform above the existing subfloor since you want raised hearth anyway.
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