Fireplace

Remember this? The fireplace surround?

I had initially put regular old drywall up there, but the more I thought about it, the more I decided that I'd really prefer real backerboard instead. Take down drywall, put up Hardibacker. I really like Hardibacker. If I were building a house and cost were no object, I'd probably use that instead of drywall. Or maybe plywood. Plywood is easier to cut.

But there was a problem. A kwality problem. The fireplace was centered on the wall. The fake wooden mantle was also centered on the wall. Not the fireplace, the wall. It was a half-inch off center from the fireplace. Not much, but it meant that the tile on one side would be a full inch wider than the tile on the other side.

So I'm ranting and growling about this. "Rar! Grr! Couldn't they have spent 30 seconds actually measuring the thing and then moving it over half an inch? Rar! Grr!" ARB: "Would it make you happier to just remove the thing?" "I don't care about it either way, would it make YOU happier?" "I'm asking if it would make YOU happier..."

There was really only one way to resolve it. I was hoping to get the mantle off in one piece, but it wound up being a few dozen pieces instead. Try as I might, I really can't get all that broken up about it. Get it? Broken up? Har har. Yuk Yuk.

This is where better planning would have come in handy. I tiled around the fake wood mantle, you see, so I had to pop up a few tiles. On the bright side, this let me inspect my tiling work afterward. I'm happy to report that I did a fine job.

When the mantle came down, it revealed the markings they used to center it. The lower mark is my actual centerline on the fireplace. The upper mark is what they centered the mantle on. Half a stinking inch.

I actually used pencil and paper and sketched up a couple of ways to tile around the fireplace. Setting the tiles diagonally made them cover up all the mess left by the mantle removal and the drywall repairs. One arrangement fit really well. See how the diagonal edges on the two half-tiles come within a couple of inches of the top of the fireplace? When stuff like that happens, it usually means that that's the way to go. Note the magnets holding up the piece of wood that is in turn holding up the tile until the mortar sets.

It probably would have been too much to ask for the tiles to line up perfectly lengthwise. I knew the pattern I was going to use, but I also knew that I'd have to get the rest of the tile up first so that I could measure and cut it right. Here's the dry fit, held up with masking tape.

And the final product, all grouted and caulked. Yes, I remembered to grout that last bit in the closet, too. And with this, I am finished with this project.

We'll need to paint the wall over the fireplace, but we'll have to do the whole wall, because it won't match otherwise. Or maybe I'll put up a shelf. Or both.

But that's a project for later.