Placing the Concrete Fireplace Surround

It has been a very productive weekend so far. We are getting ready to go for a run so I figured a post just for yesterday's big project was appropriate. We got the concrete fireplace surround placed yesterday. I have spent the last couple weeks after work tweaking a concrete fireplace mixture based off of quikcrete.

The before picture with the reinforcement set aside and cardboard down to protect everything.








Now this is a setup. Due to the small size of the mixer, or the large size of the fireplace, I had to do two separate mixtures which makes the logistics interesting. The concrete is based off of quikcrete but I made it stronger and lower shrinkage using various chemical admixtures. It is handy to know the right people. The concrete is black so I had to buy some pigment. The smallest amount of pigment I could buy was for 1 cubic yard of concrete. Since the fireplace is 3 cubic feet, I have lots left. If you need any black concrete objects let me know and I will make you a deal.

Look at those rippling bi-ceps. Our neighbor Mark knows where I can get a 5 cubic foot (this one can only mix about 1.5 cf) gas powered mixer for cheap. Hopefully for the rest of the summer projects we will have more mixing capacity. I can't wait to be placing concrete outside or into more normal shapes.

The black pigment is carbon-based and sucks up the water reducer. By the second half of each load things were getting a little stiff. Normally a vibrator takes care of this but it made too much of a mess to continue using inside.

The forms stayed put and everything finished nice. I hard troweled the top so it should be smooth. Now we have to wait and see how well I got the concrete consolidated down the sides of the form. There wasn't a whole lot of clearance and I might have to fill some honeycombing. Good thing I have lots of leftover materials. Here it is covered with plastic to lock in the freshness.

Wet towels to keep the moisture in. Like the sink this was towards the more difficult end of home concrete projects. Although I didn't make too much of a mess. Really other than my hands stained black for the next week, things look pretty good.

I'm Exhausted, Time to Go Back to Work

We picked up this morning where we left it last night. I finished sanding drywall and then Sam started priming and painting. We no longer have any exposed drywall!

This was supposed to be an accent wall, but it turned out much darker and greener than we hoped. It just keep drying darker and darker.

Sam ran to Home Depot and got another lighter paint. The other walls will be a dusty blue. This wall will be partially covered with the head board and Sam is going to paint a graphic behind.While Sam was painting I decided to get working on the fireplace surround. Here is another location with the same beige tile with pink grout. Since we will be getting new carpet in the living room too, it is a good time to rip this out.

My hands were only bleeding a little bit from the tile shards.
Not pretty but all gone.

Originally the fireplace surrounds were brick. Ours had been covered with cement board and then the beige tile glued on with construction adhesive. At least the rough surface will give the concrete something to bond to.

While we were on a roll I managed to pretty much finish the concrete mold.

The new fireplace surround will be charcoal colored concrete. I made the mold a little wider and taller than the original to better balance the big fireplace opening.