Fireplace Safety Tips For The Holidays

The holiday season brings joy, laughter, and warmth, often accompanied by a cozy fire in the fireplace. However, it’s essential to follow safety guidelines to ensure the festivities aren’t ruined by an accident. Here are our top five fireplace safety tips for the holiday season:

Install a Mesh Cap Screen on the Top of Your Chimney

Chimney caps not only prevent critters and debris from blocking your chimney, but they also keep embers and sparks from escaping and landing on your roof. Make sure it’s secure and in good condition.

Keep the Hearth Clear of Decorations and Clutter

While it’s tempting to decorate the fireplace with stockings and ornaments, it’s important to maintain a safe distance. Only hang stockings on the mantel when the fireplace is not in use, and relocate them before you light a fire. Keep other flammable decorations well away from the hearth area.

Place Mesh Gates Around the Fireplace Opening

Mesh gates can prevent curious pets or young children from getting too close to the fire. Ensure the gate is sturdy and high enough that it can’t be easily toppled or climbed over.

Let Ashes Completely Cool

Before removing and disposing of ashes, ensure they’ve completely cooled. This can take several hours, or even up to a day. Store ashes in a metal container with a tight lid, far away from your house or any flammable materials.

Close Fireplace Doors While the Fire is Burning, If You Have Them

Glass or metal fireplace doors provide an extra layer of protection, preventing sparks from escaping into the room. Always remember to close them once your fire is established, and only open them when adding more wood.

By keeping these safety tips in mind, you can enjoy the crackling fire and holiday cheer with peace of mind. Happy holidays!

We’re Your Source for Fireplace Accessories

Whether you need chimney flues or other accessories, Grand River Natural Stone has you covered.

We’ve got the products and knowledge to make sure your fireplace looks good, works properly and gives you a beautiful fire every single time. If you’re a contractor or want to do-it-yourself, contact us anytime to get your fireplace ready for the holidays and beyond.

Contact Us

The post Fireplace Safety During the Holidays (With Infographic) appeared first on Grand River Natural Stone.

As winter is quickly approaching, you’ll want to spend more time indoors around the fireplace.

And while cozying up to the warmth coming from your fireplace is paramount, you also want to enjoy looking at it too.

That’s where thin stone veneer comes in.

Beautiful, durable and easy to install, thin stone veneer is the perfect way to quickly and affordably spruce up the appearance of your fireplace.

But that’s just the start. There are other terrific advantages of thin stone veneer you’re sure to love.

Natural or Synthetic: The Choice Is Yours

• Natural: Made by nature and incredibly gorgeous, an authentic stone veneer is heavier than artificial veneer. However, it’s cut thinly enough so that weight isn’t an issue.
• Synthetic: You’d never tell it was manmade. Synthetic stone veneer looks, feels, and acts like the real thing. This material is the preferred choice for a DIY project.

Versatile

Although it’s versatile for use throughout your home, thin stone veneer is perfect for fireplaces because it is:

• Lightweight: Full-sized natural stone is very heavy. In fact, it’s possible that you’d have to reinforce your floor when you consider the combined weight of the stone, hearth and mantel. On the other hand, stone veneer is lightweight and doesn’t need to be reinforced.
• Safe: Thin veneer stone is non-combustible and non-flammable. Whether you’re updating a wood or gas fireplace, thin veneer stone is a smart, safe choice.
• Easy installation: You don’t need to be a lifelong mason to work with thin veneer stone. With some simple preparation and application tips, you can quickly transform your fireplace.
• Low maintenance: Once it’s in place, thin stone veneer needs little care. It can handle any weather, (making it perfect for outdoor fireplaces), and doesn’t need repainting or sealing.
• Interior/exterior: Whether your fireplace is in the basement or the backyard, thin stone veneer will look good and last for years to come.

In addition to fireplaces, thin stone veneer can be used for projects like a kitchen backsplash, backyard patio, and even siding around your home.

Attractive

Whether it’s for an indoor or outdoor fireplace – or something else entirely – thin stone veneer is pleasing to look at.

Modern cutting techniques create the illusion that each individual stone is a lot bigger and fuller than it really is. This creates the impression that your fireplace was built entirely of stone.

There are also plenty of other considerations when it comes to finding the right stone for your project, including:

• Colour
• Texture
• Shape
• Cut

This thin stone veneer can be applied to a variety of surfaces, including wood, stone and even metal. There’s really no limit to how and where you can use it.

Excellent insulation

During this time of year, insulation, which is measured in R-Value – is incredibly important.

Stone veneer tends to have higher R-Values than other common materials like brick, wood, and fibreglass. Here’s how it compares to other materials:

Rounded per inch R-Values

With stone veneer, you can create the perfect level of insulation, comfort and style all throughout your home.

Here for all your thin stone veneer needs

Thin stone veneer is the perfect choice if you wish to create a rich appearance without breaking the bank.

Because stone veneer is easy to work with and provides excellent insulation, winter is an ideal time to undertake an installation project for your fireplace. Give us a shout today for a FREE quote on thin veneer products.

The post The Benefits of Thin Stone Veneer For Your Fireplace appeared first on Grand River Natural Stone.

A fireplace is a cozy way to spend fall evenings.

And installing thin stone veneer on your indoor or outdoor fireplace is full of great benefits, such as:

• Giving it a rustic and charming appearance
• Protecting it from the outdoor elements
• Extending your enjoyment of the fireplace for the season

The best part is that installing thin veneer stone on your fireplace is quite simple to do – even if it’s a brick fireplace.

Choose your stone veneer

There are two types of stone brick veneer for you to choose from:

• Authentic: It may come at a higher cost, but it’s a gorgeous, long-lasting choice for your backyard or family room fireplace. Usually it’s heavier than artificial veneer, but is cut thinly enough that weight is not an issue.

• Artificial: Sometimes known as faux stone. Manmade stone veneer now looks, feels and behaves like the natural version. If you’re planning to do it yourself, artificial stone veneer is lighter, tidier and overall easier to work with.

Preparing to install thin stone veneer

Whether you’re installing authentic or artificial stone veneer to your brick fireplace, the process more or less remains the same.

First, though, you’ll need to clean the surface where the stone will be affixed and remove any:

• Paint
• Dirt
• Dust
• Debris

If you’re planning to install thin stone veneer directly into a brick or concrete fireplace, you can apply it directly to the surface.

Then, apply a scratch coat (about ½” think) of mortar to the surface and let it cure for 24 hours.

1. Mix the right amount of mortar you’ll need

Usually the mixture is two parts of washed masonry sand to one part of cement.

Stir it up for a minimum of five minutes until the mixture is both think and creamy.

2. Lay the stones out in the pattern you want

If you need to trim the stones to fit your backyard fireplace, you can use a masonry hammer or masonry saw from Grand River Natural Stone.

3. Clean the stones before applying them

After you’ve cut the stones to fit, you’ll need to remove all dust, dirt and loose particles from them.

If necessary, you can even wash them with water.

However you’ll need to wait for them to dry before you install them.

Once dried, you can moisten their backsides with a masonry brush, which will help strengthen the bond between the stone and the mortar.

4. Apply mortar to the back of the stone

Then, press the stone to the fireplace wall.

While you’re pressing it, rotate the stone slightly in order to force some of the mortar to squeeze out around the edges of the stone.

Before the mortar has finally set, remove any extra from the surface of the thin veneer stone with a rag or brush.

5. Point the joints with grout

When all of the stone veneer elements are in place, grout any large gaps between the stones.

Post-installation maintenance

Once four weeks have passed, you may wish to apply a high-quality sealer to the stone veneer.

• For an indoor fireplace: Sealing is more of an aesthetic reference, as opposed providing a protective barrier (simply because it won’t be exposed to outdoor elements).

• For an outdoor fireplace: Even though it’s outside, your fireplace doesn’t need to be sealed. However, if you want to enhance, darken or bring its colour back to life (especially if it’s an older unit), then sealer is an appropriate option.

Applying stone sealer on a regular schedule is completely optional.

Remember: the sealer may change the colouring of your thin veneer stone, so make sure you test it out first in an area of the fireplace where it won’t be noticed.

And since stone veneer is easy to clean, just wash off the sealer with a hose if you aren’t happy with the results. Just make sure you do this within minutes.

We’re ready to start when you are

Now that you know how to install thin stone veneer to your backyard fireplace, it’s time to make it happen.

And Grand River Natural Stone can help. We’re your source for everything you need to get it done, including:

• Masonry tools
• Mortar
• Masonry sand
• Sealer

Just contact us for a FREE quote or to speak with any of our product or building experts.

We’ll answer all your questions and give you the guidance you need to get started.

The post How to Install Thin Stone Veneer on Your Indoor or Outdoor Fireplace appeared first on Grand River Natural Stone.