The Fireplace Installation

We actually got the fireplace delivered last Wednesday, and worked frantically for the next couple of nights to get the thing installed for our framing and mechanical inspection on Friday, which we passed. Yippee!

Here's the fireplace, right were kbot and I left it on Weds. afternoon.

And here's where we needed to put it.

The above photo was taken after our final framing push, with everything all nice and measured and pretty. We went to put the fireplace in and whoops, it wouldn't fit. This was expected, since we would have to tilt the unit and slide it under to get it past the fireplace header (the horizontal member in the photo). No worries there. We tilted it, pushed, tilted it, pushed, and uh-oh, it will wouldn't fit. After about 5 seconds of really being worried, we realized we could just take off some brackets. That worked like a charm, and in it slid.

Next came the pipe kit for the chimney. When we ordered the fireplace, the salesperson had said we were getting a 6-inch pipe, and so when we measured we didn't order an angle kit because we thought we had a straight shot to the roof. What we actually got was an 8-inch pipe, which after the double-walls and safety whatnots, ended up actually being a 12-inch pipe. Which was just barely not a straight shot. We ended up having to lean the pipe a little bit, which worried us. When we tested it, though, with a bit o' burning something, no smoke came through any of the seams and it seemed to be drawing fine. I guess we'll find out for sure when we light our first fire! Hmmm, maybe we should do that before we put up the drywall, just in case...

Anyway, we were a bit worried about how the fireplace would look because it was just so darn big. Once we got it in, though, we were very pleased. It's a little wider than our bookshelf, and it actually looks quite nice paired with it. We think it looks so nice, actually, that we installed an additional pair of can lights to shine on the fireplace and whatever artstuffs we put on the mantel and hang above the mantel.

Here it is finished.

We spent a lot of time angsting about our framing, if it was okay, was it okay to tilt the pipe, etc. When the inspector showed up on Friday, he spent a good bit of time looking at things, and then signed us off, no problems, no issues. Which made us VERY happy. We also got our insulation on Friday, so that made us happy, too.

I'll leave you with a shot of the piece of our roof that we cut out to fit the fireplace pipe through. We thought it was sort of pretty, with the moss and the red-brown of the shingles. I think maybe the house has finally driven us insane, that we're considering this sort of thing pleasant to look at.