A fireplace refacing project is one of the best investments you can make in your home. Updating brick or plain tile to stone or custom tile can give you a huge bang for your buck. Not only that, but most fireplaces are located in open areas of the home that a lot of people see. By replacing your fireplace hearth and surround, you are changing an area that will get a lot of attention, as the fireplace is also often the focal point of the room.
With the upheaval and uncertainty in the home mortgage lending business, more and more homeowners are deciding to stay put for awhile. No one wants to sell their house at a loss, and many homeowners prefer to wait out the housing crunch rather than to lose money and sell now. Spending all that time at home makes homeowners look at their residences with a new eye. Suddenly, worn surfaces seem shabby, and outdated looks need to be updated. The more time a homeowner spends at home, looking at their house, the more they will want to remodel or redecorate. And a fireplace hearth renovation can add considerable charm and value to your home.
Any time you are dealing with a fireplace hearth and surround, you will need to check your local building code to see what the regulations are for fireboxes in your local area. Obviously, the purpose of a fireplace hearth is to protect your flooring and home from live sparks and embers. Therefore, it must be constructed of fireproof material, and it must be a minimum size which will be dictated by your local building code.
Other than these two requirements – fireproof material, and minimum size – your imagination is the limit when it comes to planning a new fireplace hearth.
Matching the fireplace hearth to the fireplace surround is not always a good idea. Marble, for example, is a fragile, brittle stone that is perfectly suited for light duty vertical surfaces, like a fireplace surround. However, marble stone may be too fragile for a horizontal hearth that will have to bear foot traffic, hold firewood and fireplace tools and accessories, and so forth.
