Stone Fireplace, Stone Staircase, Limestone Fireplaces

There’s little doubt that log-burning is the way to go if you have an open fire or a wood stove in your stone fireplace. It’s eco friendly in as much as it’s carbon neutral, and with a bit of hard work, you can collect quite a bit of ‘free’ fuel from fallen trees on the roadside or from any fields you may have near you with the landowner’s permission.

There’s something lovely about a wood fire burning in stone fireplaces, and different woods have different benefits. Oak and ash are without doubt the best, as they burn slow and hot, and therefore give you lots of heat per log. Other woods can smell wonderful too. Apple and Cherry logs (wild cherry trees are remarkably common, and very fast growing) both smell lovely, and they actually give a hint of  the fruit in their smell.

Whatever you burn though, make sure it’s well seasoned. Burning wet wood in your stone fireplace just wastes the fuel, as all the energy is used up in evaporating the moisture, and not in radiating heat. Logs should be seasoned (dried) for at least 12 months prior to burning, and longer for bigger logs or harder woods.

If you can’t store a year’s supply, and that does take up a lot of space, see if you can buy your logs from a supplier who seasons his own supply before selling. It makes a bit difference.

We don’t really get much summer in this country it seems, and no sooner has summer come, than we get to June 22nd and the nights start drawing in and we’re back to dull grey winter! It’s not all doom and gloom though, because one of the best things about England is a lovely Roast sunday lunch, and an afternoon in front of a roaring fire in a lovely stone fireplace! It doesn’t matter what the weather’s doing outside, when you’re well fed and warm does it?

There’s no substitute for the real thing: The real joint of roast meat, or the real roaring fire! It’s what England’s all about, and when you go abroad they’re the things you start to miss first!

So have a look in your house: Have you got room for stone fireplaces, can you cook a proper old fashioned Sunday roast and have a few friends round to enjoy it all with you? Well, it’s October next week, and we’ll soon be into dreary old English weather, but let’s just concentrate on the good things that go with it.

Stone fireplaces can be any shape size or design. We make a range of sizes and designs that cover most customers’ requirements, but of course there are many instances when the location needs something special, or unique. This does not only apply to stone fireplaces of course. Stone mullions; stone doors surrounds, and of course a stone staircase, which in every case is a unique fitment because of variations in space available.

Do not be put off if our standard designs don’t include what you would like, and don’t be afraid to send us your ideas whether in sketch form, or pictures of something you have seen a liked. Our skilled masons can make anything, and in fact love the challenge and variety of making something different. Nothing is too complicated or challenging. If it’s possible to make it in stone, then we’ll make it for you, and we’re very reasonable too, as we operate a very efficient business and keep our overheads down, so that we can give our customers a good deal.

Installation, can be as daunting as manufacture for some of our customers, but it need not be. Nine times out of ten, installation is very simple. But if there is some complication that needs specialist help, then we can handle that too. Just send us some pictures and we’ll help.

In short, there’s nothing we cannot do. So you can order your stone fireplace; stone staircase; or anything in stone, with complete confidence.

So what are you going to burn in your new stone fireplace?  Assuming you have a dog grate or other variation of open fire, then you can burn anything really: Logs; coal; peat; your furniture!  If you have stove you are a bit more limited but not much. Obviously you can only burn what you can get throught he stove doors, so really large logs ( or large pieces of furniture!) are out. Coal’s no problem, assuming you have a multi-fuel grate in your stove, but these days everyone wants cheap heating, so wood burning is preferred as it is eco friendly (carbon neutral) and it is sustainable (I think) and it’s also good fun, and gets you some exercise!

Logs are best dried for a minimum of 12 months, but 2 years is even better. This means that you have to have space to store a year’s supply of logs, and this may not be possible?  Wherever you store your wood, it needs protecting from the rain. A perfect location is to stack the logs against a south facing wall (so the sun dries them out) put something over the top to keep the rain off, and stack them on pallets or something similar to keep them off the damp ground and aid air circulation and assist drying.

Stone fireplaces

They’re heavy these stone fireplaces! And we’ve had to delivery them to some very awkward locations: Across gardens that are knee deep in mud for example, and invariably into houses that are littered with the obstacles that building works often involve….. scaffolding, cables, trestles, buckets of plaster, you name it, and we’ve climbed over it. Even our small stone fireplace is very heavy: The main mantle of a small one alone weighs around 300lb!  That’s bad enough just lifting it out of the delivery van, but if then you have to walk with it through litter strewn corridors, and even upstairs, then it soon feels more like 3 tons!

That is why we always emaphasise that you should have strong helpers on hand when we delivery. there is no substitute for muscle, and the more the merrier to share the load! We once arrived to install a massive fireplace in the wilds of Scotland, and found the entrance alley to the grand dining room (in which we were installing) was only about 2 feet wide. It was only just possible to squeeze through the stone fireplace sections, and no room for a ‘man on each corner’ There were also steps to negotiate, so we couldn’t use a trolley to ease the load.

After carefull planning, and plenty of spinach, we managed to get the fireplace into the room, but even now, our fitters remind me to ask questions about access before I send them into the back of beyond with a very heavy fireplace!

So your stone fireplace now has a hearth that suits its intended use, and given that intended use, what ‘appliance’ or grate are you going to use? Wood stoves are brilliant! They burn very efficiently provided that you use dry wood, and unlike an open fire, most of the heat is retained within the room. There is no denying that stoves don’t have quite the same cosy feel as a full-on proper open fire, but when it comes to heating the room they are streets ahead. With an open dog grate, about 80% of the heat goes straight up the chimney!

However, if your room is well insulated, then stone fireplaces housing tradional open fire dog baskets are arguably the most appealing type of fire possible: The warm glow of the fire, the flickering flames, all go to give an intense feeling of warmth, in fact although most of that heat is going up the chimney, it doesn’t feel like it is….. as long as you stand quite close.

In many of the old country houses we visited when designing our firplaces, there would be a massive stone fireplace, with an incredibly heavy pair of fire dogs on which logs of about 4 feet long were burned. The ash just lay on the hearth (hence the need for a tough material) and was allowed to build up into a mound, but this is deliberate rather than lazy, as logs burn best when lying on a bed of hot ash. It’s only when burning coal that you need a grate to allow draught in from underneath.

Roll on winter!

So if you’re having a real fire, then you need something tough. Having said that, ‘tough’ doesn’t need to mean unattractive! Old flagstones look lovely when contrasted against a stone fireplace, and red clay quarry tiles, when treated with a coat of linseed oil, look fantastic!

However, if you’re not going the real fire route in your stone fireplaces, then you have a few more options. If you’re just having a gas-log or gas-coal effect fire, then the heat considerations are nowhere near as high, and of course you do not have to deal with logs ash, and coal buckets. You can therefore choose almost any material for your hearth. There is of course still the chance that your dinner guests will stand with their elbow on your mantle and their shoe on your hearth, so whatever happens you don’t need anything too delicate or anything that marks too easily!

Stone fireplaces look best when the material used is a: a natural product (clay, stone etc.) and b: is in a contrasting colour or material to the stone fireplace itself. The 60s and 70s fashion of having the hearth, fireplace and even slips of stone inside the fire recess, results in a very bland look, and certainly not at all like the original ancient examples on which our fireplaces are modelled.

The same advice actually applies to the lining of your fire recess. In most cases you’ll probably already have the original brick built interior to your chimney, and that is the best, time-proven material. But if you’re building from new, then you should still use the same method: Build it in reclaimed red bricks. It always looks best!

So you’ve decided on the style and size of your stone fireplace. Now you need to decide on what material you’re going to use for the hearth. This choice is subject to many factors, not least of which is what sort of fire you’re going to have. For stone fireplaces that are going to be used as tradional open fires, you need a good solid hard-wearing hearth. Something that can with stand the rigours that an open fire involves: Clunking coal buckets, soot, ash, hot coals, and all the rest. Traditionally hearths would be made from solid, baked clay tiles (quarry tiles for example) or flagstones, and sometimes brick. Some open fires were literally burnt straight on the hearth, which is the best way if the fire consists of solely wood, as wood burns most efficiently when lying on its own smouldering ash. If burning coal, then this should be done in a grate or a dog basket, as coal burns best when the ash can fall away, and air can reach the fire from beneath. Even though the fire in the latter case is not directly on the hearth, it still transmits a great deal of heat downwards onto the hearth, and the material therefore has to be tough. Clay quarry tiles and flags can both stand the rigours of this sort of fire. Slate is also used sometimes, but this can be dangerous, as it can sometimes explode if the layers expand too quickly in the heat, and is therefore probably best avoided!

All our stone fireplaces are made by hand, and the stone mason uses the same basic skill as they always have. Simple tools are used to carve and cut the stone: Chisels and mallets, and various scrapers and sharp tools for adding more detail. If of course large blocks are being worked, then a lot of the stone can be cut away using modern electric grinders and stone cutters, saving a lot of preparation time, but the final finishing is still done the the time-old way, by hand.

Although the mason may be working from a detailed drawing, and he will have marked pencil ‘guide’ lines on the stone blocks, he still needs a very good eye. It is easy to cut away too much stone, or cut too deep and only years of experience can avoid such mistakes

Our masons are very experienced. They will turn large blocks of seemingly unattractive stone into a stunning stone fireplace for you.