On Feb 20, 4:38*pm, Sam Takoy wrote:
On 2/20/2011 3:58 PM, RicodJour wrote:



On Feb 20, 12:54 pm, Sam *wrote:
Hi,

The bottom of my fireplace (that houses a wood burning insert) was lined
with very ugly tile which I decided to replace with a slab of granite
(probably in two pieces). But removing the tile damaged the wet bed as
you can see he

http://freeboundaries.com/fireplacefloor.jpg

Where do I go from here? Should I just pour self leveling concrete on it
(5/8") and put the slab of granite on top or do I remove the wet bed and
start all over?

You're really asking aesthetic questions and how much work do you want
to spend doing it questions.

What you do with the setting bed is dependent on how thick the granite
will be, and whether you want to leave the flooring alone or add wood
reducing molding around the perimeter of the stone to protect the
exposed corners and edges.

Generally speaking, when you aren't facing a critical height
restriction, the procedure is to remove as much of the old setting bed
as you can without going nuts (cold chisel and 3 pound hammer), then
fill it level when you place the setting bed mortar and set the
granite.

If the stone is thicker than the old tile (it will be), then you
either cut down the existing bed or add three pieces of oak trim.
Some people leave the stone sitting proud of the wood, but that's not
a great idea. *The exposed edges will get abused and the chips will
make all that hard work look aged quickly. *Then again, maybe an aged
look is what you want.

As far as the two pieces of stone, I'm imaging that you mean one
inside the fireplace, and one for the hearth. *There's really no
choice in that matter as one piece would almost assuredly crack. * If
you meant too pieces for the hearth because of the weight of the stone
and you're setting by yourself or something like that, I'd encourage
getting a local to help you for half an hour.

Should look pretty stellar when you're done. *Have fun with it.


Thank you for all the enlightening responses!

Please note that I was planning to go with 1.25" granite and that I
would like for it to be sitting above the hardwood and show a rough
edge. So I need to build the wet bed up to the level of the floor.

You can flame the granite to roughen up the sawed-edge surface.

How come nobody liked my self leveling compound idea?

Because it's more trouble than it's worth.

R