Fireplace Makeover: Build Your Own Mantel!

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Kim asked me to help her mount a new fireplace mantel. Armed with my toolkit, I headed out anticipating a relatively easy project ahead. It seemed to get even easier when after I arrived to discover that the mantel we were going to hang had already been built by Kim herself! She had 4 pieces of wood cut at the local home improvement store - 2 side pieces, a top, and a front piece, then assembled the mantel "box," and stained it a deep ebony color that complemented her living room nicely (see picture).

To get this mantel installed, we first had to mount a piece of wood that was to be screwed to the wall and act as a shelf upon which the mantel would sit. We drilled a couple of pilot holes along a 2" x 2" strip of wood and eyeballed where it should go over the fireplace. As you can see from the pictures, Kim's fireplace is pretty low to the ground, so we mounted the mantel low as well, but made sure to give it enough space between the firebox and the base. We thought about putting it where it normally goes, at chest-height, but then realized it would have created a sizeable gap of unused space between the mantel and the fireplace. Unless we wanted to build around and up from the fireplace with stone or tile to fill in the space, we were going to have to keep the mantel low to keep in sync with the overall modern profile of everything else in the room.

We used a level to ensure the placement of the 2" x 2" strip and then I poked a pencil through the holes we had drilled in the wood and marked where the screws were going to go.

Now, this is where my illusion of a quick and easy project came to an abrupt end. After some trial and error, we saw that the wall wasn't drywall - it was a façade of plaster with concrete underneath! This made it almost impossible to drill through without a concrete masonry bit, which, thankfully Kim had thought to buy ahead of time.

But even with the special bit the drilling was slow going. As we penetrated the concrete wall, the outer plaster crumbled away, making the hole huge on the outside plaster and small on the inside concrete! To remedy this, we got a little creative. We took plastic anchors and cut the tips off so that they would just fit within the first 2 inches of plaster, but not the inner concrete (we couldn't get the hole big enough in the concrete no matter how hard we tried!) We had long enough screws to go through the 2" x 2" wood, through the plaster (and the anchors) then into the concrete. We finally got the 2" x 2" mounted using the screws, anchors and a powerful construction adhesive.

Next came the mantel. As you can see from the pictures, Kim first applied more construction adhesive to the top of our 2" x 2" wood bracket, then secured the mantel from the top down by screwing directly into the mantel and through the 2" X 2" below while I held it in place.

To hide the unsightly holes around the screws, we sealed them with a paint-friendly, like-color wood filler. We didn't have any gloves on hand, so we improvised by using Ziploc bags instead. Hey, don't knock it, they worked great! Later, Kim went back and painted the top of the mantel again, concealing the wood filler completely.

After the mantel was up, we hung a circular mirror over the fireplace. We measured the distance between the ceiling and the fireplace to find where it would look best. Then it was back to drilling through that unyielding plaster and concrete! Luckily, this time we knew what to expect.

A notealmost no walls are absolutely flat, and Kim's was no exception! There were gaps between the wood and the wall, despite the fact that it was securely attached. If you are planning on doing something similar to this, know that the wood will never be completely flush against the wall! If this is really bothersome, simply seal the gaps with caulk.

All in all, this project cost about $40 and took a couple of hours to complete. With some decoration, the mantel ended up looking fantastic. (And I'm not just saying that because I helped put it up!)

The last time I talked to Kim, she'd gotten a new toolkit. So, the next time I need a helping hand, I'll be calling her!