Installing The Stone Fireplace
Real Stone Vs. Faux Stone

Part 15 Of Our Real Life Remodeling Journey

Click here to see part 1 and read what this series of articles is all about.

We always knew we would have a stone fireplace in the addition. A warm fire is not only good for the soul but it does a good job treating the goose bumps during those long Minnesota winters.

When my wife and I originally conceived the idea of the new family room the concept of exactly what kind of fireplace we'd have was still percolating. Some of those questions were quickly taken care of but others, particularly regarding the stone, went right down to the wire.

Giving It The Gas

A few years ago we "fixed" our basement fireplace (which we never used because it was always to cold and drafty) by installing a gas fireplace insert. The unit came complete with a thermostat and remote control. That's when I became a convert. My lazy-man instincts took over and reveled in the fact that I could just simply press a button and "voila!" -- instant fire and heat.

So that was the easy decision -- the new fireplace would be gas. It was made easier by the existence of newer gas fireplace models that showcase a much larger and realistic flame, not to mention better heating efficiency than older models and traditional masonry fireplaces.

Checking Out Faux Stone

The other main design question beyond which specific brand and model of fireplace to choose was what kind of stone to use for the surround. Our thought was that it would be a faux stone and that's ultimately what our contract specified. However the type, brand or color of manufactured stone we wanted was still to be determined.

If you're not familiar with it, faux stone is a product that looks like stone but it's made from concrete that's been poured into molds made from real stone. The faux stone is colored to resemble the various types of stone that occur in nature.

There's a variety of manufactured stone makers but I've always had an inclination toward the Owens Corning brand called Cultured Stone. You'll hear the term "cultured stone" used for just about any type of manufactured stone but it's name really belongs to Owens Corning.

There really are differences in the visual appearance among the various brands of manufactured stone. In my opinion, some just do it better than others. Some faux stone looks better from a distance, for example, on the side of a house or building but doesn't stand up to close scrutiny (meaning it looks like fake stone).

As we got toward the tail end of our remodeling project we reached the...