Cabin Chronicles Part 10

Chinking the inside of the cabin and building the fireplace hearth.   In between the logs there is actually some insulation. It is encased between metal lathe and the chinking compound on both sides. Inside and outside.   I do not have pics of us working on the chinking inside, but you can see how we did it on the outside HERE. It was the same process inside, except we stuffed insulation in between the logs before we nailed the metal lathe up.  

 

(here's a pic of the completed fireplace and chinking)

  The cabin is super efficient and pretty much regulates a constant comfortable temperature unless the weather is extremely hot or freezing. This is super good for our power bills!   We use two window air conditioners in the heat of the summer and two electric baseboard heaters in the cold of winter. We also start a fire almost everyday when it's cold. The fireplace is super cozy and takes only minutes to heat the entire cabin.   (I open the window on my side of the bed at night because it gets too warm upstairs for me when we have a fire, but don't tell my husband)     This is the beginning of the fireplace  

  We framed out the area that we wanted covered in stone with plywood  

  We had to install hardie/cement board around the opening to comply with safety regulations. Then we had a licensed fireplace company install a Lenox glass front, wood burning fireplace insert.  They also installed the chimney flue and cap.     We covered the remaining exposed plywood with tar paper  

 

 

 

Next we covered the tar paper with metal lathe.

Then I began rough fitting the stones and laying them in a pattern on the floor

 before we actually set them in place with cement.

(3 years of work and this is the only pic of me working???)

 

 

Next came a thin layer of cement over the lathe

 

 

 We "scored" /cut lines into the cement while it was wet to give it a rougher finish,

which should help the stones adhere to it easier.

 

 

One by one, each stone was given a scoop of cement of the back and fit into place

 

 

 We were completely finished installing all of the stones in place except one last red stone that my husband had held aside for the top center. He installed that last red stone and we took a step back to admire our work. We were quite pleased with the results.

 

Then...

 

....it happened, that last red stone fell. It broke quite a few stones on the bottom hearth and destroyed my perfect pattern.

 

 

After I quit crying, we removed the broken stones and began to try to fill in the spaces with other stones. We finished it, but it will never be quite right, in my opinion.

 

 

The joints between the stones were filled in with cement,

the excess cement was gently brushed off of the stones and this project was left to dry.

 

 

We thoroughly enjoy the fireplace, despite the stone mishap.

 

We'll be cuddling up by it tonight, probably watching a Christmas movie!

 

Is it too soon for Christmas movies?

Shhh, I had Christmas music on last night while cooking.

 

 

'til next time,

  PS. If you would like to start from the beginning of the construction click HERE.  Part 11       Linking to: A Night Owl Blog