There are few things more pastoral to me than a fireplace. Pastoral in the idyllic sense like the English countryside on an ever-so-slightly foggy morning, not the fire and brimstone sense. Growing up in the South, there hasn’t always been a lot of reason to have a woodburning fireplace but I pretty much always have. And as soon as the temps dip below 50, you better believe I’m looking to get a fire going. The cozy aesthetics of stacks of firewood on the hearth. The crackle of the fire. The 87 minutes it takes to get the fire going properly. The sizzle of synthetic fibers against your back when you sit near the fire for too long. I love it. All of it.
Unfortunately, when I bought our house almost 8 years ago the inspector found that the chimney was not safe for fires. I’ve looked into having the chimney fixed or installing a woodstove over the years but have always decided that the cost of it could be better applied to something else around the house. Which makes sense since this is the coldest city I have ever lived in in the South…
So what smarter decision could I make than fill the “not safe for fire” firebox with flammable objects? In my opinion, none. To me it is the perfect combination of cozy mountain house and modern Scandinavian styles. And maybe stupidity.
Lucky for me, we had a few trees that needed to be trimmed earlier this summer and I found myself with (what seemed like) a plethora of wood. Rather than create a nest for snakes (we have enough of those already), I decided this was my chance to create the fireplace insert I had been dreaming of.
After assessing how much wood we actually had piled up, I quickly decided that it would make more sense to not use full length logs to fill the fireplace but instead would use a piece of plywood with smaller pieces of logs attached to it. While it might require less wood, I’ll warn you, it took a good bit longer than I expected. Like started it a couple months ago and chipped away at it when I could. Luckily, I had all of the needed materials already in our basement so I had no excuse to get started right away.
You know what’s fun about doing projects in old houses? Measuring. So much measuring. Because nothing is square or level. I hung a picture so it was level one time and my husband argued with me that it was off. After proving to him it was level he begged me to change it because all it did was accentuate how unlevel our house is. So needless to say, cutting that plywood “square” insert took a few attempts. And when you’re lugging leftover 4’x4’ ¾” ply up and down 16 stairs, every millimeter those corners are off results in another Tylenol. And seeing as I kinda like my liver, I had to face the facts that I was not cutting a square. So after approximately 7 trips back and forth, I finally had the plywood fitting appropriately.
Once the plywood fit properly, I painted the wood in a matte black so that you couldn’t tell that the pieces of wood were shorter than the full length of the firebox. Pro tip #1: if your house is old like mine, make sure you mark on the back which side is up so that you don’t have to worry about spinning the ply around a million times to get it to fit right. Ok, only a few times but when it’s all said and done, any extra effort will be unwelcome.
Next came the cutting of the logs. Due to the large number of cuts that were to be made, I used the trusty table chop saw and set a gate at about 5”. I cut all of the pieces to similar yet slightly different lengths so that it looked more natural. I also decided to use pieces that were not perfectly round. Some pieces were split in half, some are large and some are quite small, and some have knots and crotches (yes I said crotches). Also, in case you are wondering, you’re going to need more wood than you thought.
The next step was time consuming and well, somewhat futile. I arranged the wood so that it fit snugly across the bottom of the board so that when inserted it looked like the logs were wedged along the bottom of the firebox. Is it an important step? Yes. Could I have done it in a more efficient way? Without a doubt. Instead of doing what I did and covering the entire board in wood to achieve the perfect layout which would without a doubt get rearranged, I would work row by row. The way I did it ensured that I had enough wood to cover the whole insert but was far more labor intensive than it should have been. Although I have to say there is something therapeutic about piecing it all together. Kind of like a jigsaw puzzle or one of those little sand boxes with tiny rakes that people used to have on their desks in an effort to look zen and enlightened. Not that I have done that – I’m far too restless for that stuff. But I imagine it would be nice.
The next step is fairly crucial and not the most fun. I used 80 grit sand paper to sand both ends of each log to ensure that the side that would be attached to the ply was flat enough to be stable and the side that would be seen so that it didn’t look TOO rustic.
I had toyed with the thought of using a nail gun to affix the logs to the ply but chose to use Liquid Nails to reduce the risk of splitting the wood. Our fire box is approximately 30” x 30” and I used less than 1 tube. Pro Tip #2: squirt some on 1 piece and use the next piece to help spread it in a substantial yet not too gloppy layer on each piece. If you get too much on the plywood end, it will squeeze out from under the log and will be visible. I'm sure they make a clear version but I used what we had...which was not clear.
After attaching all of the logs to the ply and allowing the Liquid Nails to dry, I gave the ends of the logs a light sanding and then used the shop-vac to remove all of the dust and, let’s be honest, cobwebs and tiny critters that had accumulated throughout the process. Might I remind you, I chipped away at this for quite some time.
Once the surfaces were sufficiently dust and critter-free, I used a clear matte spray paint to seal the wood in an effort to reduce any attraction for termites, bark beetles, etc. I would plan on giving the whole thing a few solid coats of this. Pro Tip #3: don’t forget to spray all surfaces, including in-between the logs. This also means that you should follow Pro Tip #4: wear a mask. That stuff stinks.
Finally, recruit some unlucky soul to help you carry this heavy beast up all of those stairs from the backyard up to your main floor fireplace. Insert in the firebox (which should be easy to orient since you marked it on the back earlier). Enjoy!
I have to say, this has been one thing that I have done recently that I really, really love! It turned our old, blah fireplace into a focal point. The next day we went out of town for 2 weeks and when I walked in our front door upon our return it was the most exciting moment of “oh I forgot I had done that! I love it!” to have after having been up for over 24 hours and leaving paradise behind for the real world.
So, there you go. A cheap and easy, albeit tedious, DIY project that anyone can do and will give your old, useless fireplace a bit of style!
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