Stone Fireplace, Stone Staircase, Limestone Fireplaces

Just back from my stone fireplace ‘researching’ trip in the French alps. Hard work, but found some nice plain rustic examples. That’s what we specialize in…. stone fireplaces that are just plain and simple, and although the French probably make/have made some of the most elaborate and decorative stone fireplaces ever, they are also probably the best at producing very plain and unadorded designs too.

We looked mainly at rural and farmhouses, and there were some very beautiful places. It was very nice weather, and no need for fires to be lit, but every alpine house had a lovely pile of split logs ready for the impending winter, and it won’t be long till those stone fireplaces are again ablaze with log fires!

Alpine houses are very beautiful: It’s all natural materials: weathered wood and stone, sitting there in wild flower meadows, cows with gently ringing  bells… all very idyllic!

Although there are a few stone staircases in evidence, they are more a stack of stone blocks forming an external stone stairs, than a ‘proper’ stone staircase. They normally go up externally, as the living quarters are normally on the first floor, and the cattle live in the ground floor. It’s a sort of organic underfloor heating, though I’m not sure if you get underfloor odours as well? I suspect so.

Anyway, we have a few more ideas for new designs, and we’ll get photos on the site as soon as we can

Well not exactly in Spain, but we’re certainly getting some rain today!  Everyone has had to drag the stone fireplaces under cover, as it is too wet even for our hardy stone masons!  Mind you, there’s no need to wet the stone now as every stone fireplace we’re working on is well and truly soaked.

One stone fireplace that we worked on last month has been generating a lot of orders. It was made for the showhouse for a very up-market development of houses in Herefordshire. It’s sort of like a mini Poundbury, (the development done by Prince Charles) and has a wide variety of house styles set in beautifully laid out surroungings.

We made  very plain and simple stone fireplaces for the show house, and have had a lot of enquiries from people who have been for a look round the site. (it seems they were looking for ideas more than house purchases)

We are possibly going to be making a stone staircase for the showhouse on the next phase, and we’ve already done the drawings and it is very much like this stone staircase that we did for a house in Yorkshire. It seems in these uncertain times in the housing market, people are taking the opportunity to upgrade and add character to the homes that they’re currently in.

I’m off to France next week to explore a few more old French manor houses and find some more inspirational designs to add to our stone fireplace portfolio.. Ihope the weather improves as I was hoping not to have to take my brolly!

Cycling is a real growth activity at the moment in the uk. Several of our masons have become very keen cyclists, and on their tea breaks from cutting your stone fireplaces, they can invariably be found reading ‘Moutain bike magazine’ or something similar. Mountain (or more likely ‘footpath’) biking has probably been the biggest growth area. They are more comfortable to ride than the servious road racer type bicycle, and if they have suspension, then a ride along a bumpy bridle way needn’t be in the least bit uncomfortable.

We have one stone fireplace carver, who lives about 5 miles from the stone yard. He cycles to work every day along the old Midland railway track…. that is now a cycle route. I envy his location and that opportunity. I live too far away from the yard for it to be practical, and have to carry round so much stuff, that I’d need a trailer behind my bike.

Autumn is definately with us i feel: A bit of dew in the mornings, and a slight chill in the air. We’re still carving the stone fireplaces out in the yard, and will do until the rain and cold really sets in, but you can tell that the summer is passing can’t you.

Stone being a natural material, it weathers and ages in a gradual and attractive way. Our stone fireplace customers fall into two categories: Those that want their stone fireplaces to looked aged from day one, and those that want their stone fireplaces to retain that ‘just carved’ clean and pristine look. The latter can be achieved by several methods, (mostly tips supplied to us by our happy customers) Firstly you need to seal the stone, so that liquids cannot penetrate ( as all stones are porous) You can do this with a clear silicone liquid, such as Thomson’s Water seal, or, as one customer pointed out to us some time ago, you can give your stone fireplace one coat of matt polyeurethane varnish. This soaks into the stone, and you cannot tell that the stone fireplace has been given a protective coat. Of course if your stone fireplace is housing a traditional open coal or wood fire, then even when protected with either of the above suggestions, it is still likely that the stone will get a bit of soot or ash on it from time to time, and this is best removed using a stiff brush and a vacuum.

For those that want their stone fireplace to look aged, the generally, just leaving it as it is, and letting the events of daily household life have their way, is normally enough. If however you want things to happen quicker with your stone fireplace, then there are various options, the best of which (as devised by another of our customers) is to rub used tea bags into the corners and mouldings of your stone fireplace, and this gives a good imitation of the years of grime and dirt that an old stone fireplace might reasonably be expected to absorb.

Have you ever wondered how good your local Council is at recycling?  I wondered where all the stuff went that we put in our green bins. In our area they’re the ones you put garden waste etc, in and they go for composting. Well, I went past our local coucil recycling depot the other day, and they literally had ‘mountains’ of compost. They put the raw ingredients in a big sort of grinder thing, several times, and it gradually decomposes (as compost does) until it’s a lovely black soil-like substance.  It’s not much use to us in the stone fireplace business, but loads of local farmers go and collect it, and spread it on their fields as it is excellent ‘green’ and natural fertiliser.

We do a bit of recycling with our stone. None of it is ever thrown away: Pieces not big enough for sections of a stone fireplace, we may use to make copings, or quoins, and even the smallest bits, stone left after  stone fireplaces are carved, we crush up and use for our jointing stone powder, and have even crushed some up and used it as stone for our garden paths, so nothing is wasted.

Stone fireplaces actually i suppose are quite eco friendly? They are mainly cut by manual labour, are long lasting, and generally aimed for users who heat homes with logs rather than oil…. but maybe that’s pushing their virtues a little too far!

We’ve had no telephone for a day and a half, and no internet too. The farm next door is doing some digger work, and within ten minutes they had ripped through the duct that carries our phone and internet lines! That’s a panic straight away, as it means we cannot take enquiries and orders for our stone fireplaces. BT were very efficient though, and diverted the main Manorhouse line to my mobile, so I could deal with all the enquiries via that.  It’s now 2 o’clock though and we’re back on line, but it makes you realise how much we rely on telecomms, even a little stone fireplace company!

We’ve just delivered a very nice stone staircase to a customer in Wales. He’s restored an old village meeting hall, and he’d seen some of our stone stairs in a similar restoration project in Scotland (it was featured in a magazine) Anyway, he did us a lovely sketch of the stone staircase that he wanted, and we’ve just delivered it and installed it, and he is delighted.

Have you ever done one?  I did one years ago, and have again accumulated so much surplus ‘junk’ at home, that I thought I’d do another. Not selling stone fireplaces of course, but instead, all that surplus furniture, and pots and pictures and the other things that seemed so appealing or essential at time of purchase, but never got used or hung up or fitted.

Of course it would perhaps be possible to sell a heavy stone fireplace at a car boot. The ‘booter’ next to us, (in a van) was selling washing machines, fridge freezers, and a very heavy old motorbike, and he sold the lot! I imagine he was going to deliver the washing machines after the sale, but the guy fetched a trailer to collect the motorbike.

We could always offer to deliver the fireplace!

Of course the downside is that customers at car boot sales want stuff VERY cheap. I was amazed how you could have a little pot or nice print with a £2 on it, but the ‘punter’ would still ask ” how much can you do it for?”

Anyway, we sold about half the stuff we took, and got a nice pile of money to show for it. It’s also satisfying to know that stuff you would have stuck in the skip or burnt has now found a new appreciative home, and a new life!  It’s good recycling and very ‘green’

May do another before the summer’s over, but having considered the weight, I think I’ll leave the stone fireplaces for my day job!

Isn’t the internet fantastic?  I was with a friend last night (and he hates computers) and we were talking about hiring motorcycles in Australia. He said he knew of a shop that hired them but couldn’t remember the name, just the town it was in. I found it for him on google in about 10 seconds, and he was amazed! I don’t know how anyone manages without this incredible resource.

We used it extensively in our stone fireplace business. We obviously have a website, but we also use email for instant quotations for our customers, and we also send them drawings of the stone fireplace that we have designed for them.

There is rarely a question that the Internet cannot yield an answer to. Just try it: think of something you’d like to know, and type that question into Google. You’ll most likely get an accurate answer.

I was looking for some shippers to send a couple of special stone fireplaces to the US. Google soon gave me several names one of which did exactly what we want and who is collecting the stone fireplaces tomorrow. Before the Internet, it would have taken ages to do that.

Recycling and conversation. It’s all the rage isn’t it. I use it at home to water the vegetables (often) and wash my car (not very often) We’ve just installed a collecting tank here at the stone yard, so now when we cut our stone fireplaces, we can wet them with collected rain water rather than expensive tap water.  Of course we use a lot of water to wet a stone fireplace, and we haven’t been having much rain recently here in Leicestershire, so we may have to wait till the autumn until we can be fully ‘enviromental’ with the wetting of the stone fireplaces.

We also realise that we will have to filter the water after all. If you get a long dry period, then the gutters do seem to fill up with little ‘presents’ that the birds leave there, so when you then get a shower (like today) the first flush of water into our collection bowser, contains rather a lot of contamination!  It’s all fairly easy to wash off the stone, but not very pleasant for the mason working on that particular stone fireplace!

The idea is to make a ‘first flush’ collector. This can be a home-made system, and effectively you collect the first 2 or three gallons in a separate reservoir, which has a slow drain, so that this then fills with the grubby water, and once full the later, cleaner flow, goes into the collector, and thus gives us a cleaner supply for the stone fireplaces.

You don’t need to have a historic or period home to have one of our stone fireplaces. Although they are very traditional designs, it is that classic look that makes them suitable for all sorts of properties. In fact we have a lot of customers come to us, and explain that they hate the standard fire surrounds that are installed in their new houses, and they’ve realised that a simple stone fireplace can really transform their living rooms. We make our stone fireplaces in any size you like, as they’re all made to order by our skilled stone masons. So you can get rid of that painted mdf surround, or cheesy faux plaster trim, and install a ‘proper’ substantial stone fireplace, and make your living room look something special!

It’s not just stone fireplaces that are suitable for any era of housing: A stone staircase looks fantastic in whatever building it is installed in, as do stone mullion windows, or stone door surrounds. You will often see new houses with token stone cills or heads on some of their windows, but invariably they are poorly designed and don’t look authentic.

So if you’re sitting there wondering how you can make your new home stand out, and how to give it some individuality, then incorporate some real stone, and see what a dramatic difference it makes.