How to make a fireplace in an apartment with your own hands?
In a city apartment there is no possibility to build a classic fireplace on solid fuel, as this open hearth needs a chimney. Decorative fireplace is a good alternative, because it does not need gas removal and consists of one portal. A set of materials for its construction is minimal, and the technology of works is available to an inexperienced person in the furnace art.
Accommodation in the room and the dimensions of the decorative hearth are chosen arbitrarily. This removes the limitations that exist in the construction of conventional fireplaces, in which the area of the portal is selected in accordance with the volume of the room. You can make a fireplace by yourself in the apartment of in a few days. Place under the decorative hearth is better to choose along the longest side of the room and away from the doors. In this case, it will look good and make the room cozier.
What do you need to build a fireplace?
The choice of materials for the construction of a decorative fireplace in an apartment is not as wide as the decor for its decoration. A proven and inexpensive option is a masonry made from aerated concrete blocks that are easy to process and well lined with artificial stone, decorative plaster or plaster moldings.
Materials and tools for masonry:
- blocks aerated;
- glue for tiles;
- hacksaw for aerated concrete;
- trowel;
- plumb line;
- grater for processing blocks.
Stages of constructing a fireplace with their own hands
Each master decides how to make a fireplace in the apartment of , but it is necessary to follow the rules that will help to avoid mistakes. The first of these is a drawing or diagram of such a fireplace. On it you need to specify the width and height of the portal, the depth of the hearth. Installation of blocks from aerated concrete should be conducted with obligatory dressing of seams and the control of verticality by means of a plumb. Having executed on the plan a clear linkage of all elements of a laying among themselves, having defined with overlapping of a fireplace and its appearance, it is possible to start work.
Aerated concrete blocks - the material is light, but they still need to prepare an even and solid foundation.
The plank floor in the place of installation of the hearth should be disassembled and leveled with the mortar of the floor panel. After this, the first row of foundation blocks is laid flat. The number of rows is determined depending on the height of the board floor.
Their laying should be calculated so that the blocks protrude above the floor surface for 10-15 cm and form an even platform not only under the fireplace, but also in front of the portal. If the room has been renovated and a laminate or linoleum is laid on the plywood or OSB plate instead of the boards, the foundation can be erected directly on the floor, gently carving out part of the laminate or linoleum.
Tips for laying the fireplace in the apartment and its decoration
To reduce the volume of cutting aerated concrete, it is better to immediately buy partition walls 10 or 15 cm thick, which are good for both the foundation and the walls. Lifting the masonry to the desired height( 1,0-1,3 m), the hearth should be closed.
For this you can use a plate made of natural stone, a board 5-6 cm thick, make a lock connection from aerocrete blocks or simply lean them on two metal corners laid over the portal. High thermal loads in the decorative fireplace does not happen, so you can not be afraid for fire safety and integrity of the masonry.
For inexpensive decoration of the hearth portal, the simplest version is plaster based on tile adhesive and color pigment. Its application does not require high qualification. Preparing the stucco mixture of the consistency of a soft dough, it is smeared with hands on the walls of the fireplace. In this case, the plaster is not applied evenly, but with the formation of shallow protrusions and indentations.
After easy hardening of the plaster, it is necessary to perform its scraping, which will give the surface the appearance of a masonry made of wild stone. Inside such a fireplace, it is possible to install any electric fireplace or infrared heater suitable for design and size.
