My wife and I are removing an old zero clearance fireplace that was in the corner of our family room and will be installing a brand new wood burning stove in its place. But during our search for the stove and discussing the fireplace removal, my wife became concerned about the loss of the mantel above the fireplace. My first thought was that she could have even more mantel/shelf space because you now have two walls, one on each side of the stove back into the corner. If the clearances are addressed during the install can this be done? If so, can you tell me about some of your experiences either building these types of mantels/shelfs or what you may have seen in homes you’ve been in, some pics would be nice. If not, I then need help on how to explain the loss of the mantel to my wife, she has had one for almost thirty years and is very attached to some of the items on her mantel!
If its not above a fireplace, is it still called a mantel?
Thanks,
Andy
Replies
I'm in the processing of building and installing a mantel over my gas burning stove. I researched the clearance and I'm OK with a few inches of clearance as the flue doesn't really get hot. I have a thread somewhere on this subject. You should be OK as long as you stay within clearance restrictions from the flue.
Building was quite simple. Take a look at the premade mantels in the stores. That's how I determined the construction of mine. My mantel is also just the mantel with some decorative corbels. I made the corbels from some simple corbels found at Lowes and enhanced with some routed pine boards and some store bought scrollwork. I'll see if I can take some pics for your reference. I did the corbels this way because 1) the precast ones were way over my budget and 2) none of them really fit the colonial style of the room.
If you have crown moulding in the room, using the same crown on the mantel is a great way to tie it all together.