putting up stone veneer around a fireplace

July 26, 2020 12:45 PM

We're getting ready to put up some stone veneer around our gas fireplace and looking for advice on how it should sit relative to the carpet.

We bought some boxes of Litestone veneer/tiles from Lowe's to put up around our new gas fire place shown here (covered by newspaper temporarily while we were sanding to keep dust out). It's a little hard to tell from the picture but it does stick out from the wall.

We're planning on having new carpeting put in later but my question is, do we build the stone from the ground up so that the lowest line of stone is sitting directly on the bare floor (like here) and the carpet when it's installed will go flat against it? Or does the stone need to be sort of sitting up on something, like maybe a thin piece of wood running along the bottom, so that the carpet can kind of tuck under it a little? I'm having a hard time explaining it (and honestly we may wind up hiring someone to do the stone instead because we're so nervous about screwing it up). My concern with putting the stone flat on the floor is that because each piece is slightly bumpy rather than being totally smooth that it would might be hard to cut the carpet in a way that wouldn't allow pieces of the flooring to show through here and there.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

posted by skycrashesdown to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

I think what you might want is a "reglet". The reglet is a piece of bent metal that you'd attach to the wall first, then mortar over and install stone over that. It's basically a little shelf that you'd install maybe 1/2" above the floor (or however tight you want it to be so that it has the look you want) so you can kind of squeeze the carpet under it. I'm kind of suspicious of the install photos on the Lowe's site (the one with the covered patio fireplace has the stone installed at a slant), but the exterior photo by the entry/garage has some of what I'm talking about - if you look closely, the stone doesn't actually go all the way down to the paving at the stairs and driveway.
posted by LionIndex at 1:27 PM on July 26, 2020

If the carpet goes flat against it, the chances are the edge will fray. I would leave about the same amount of space at the bottom as you would below a skirting/baseboard. It'll look neater.

This sort of tiling can be tricky because you have to get the tiles exactly butting up to each other with no gaps. Grouted tiles are easier because you can tweak the gaps a tiny bit to correct any cutting mistakes.
posted by pipeski at 1:31 PM on July 26, 2020

You definitely want some kind of wood or metal trim/baseboard between the carpet and the stone, if for no other reason that it will make vacuuming easier. If it were me I’d put some sort of small surround on the floor of similar color and/or material to make it more of a formal hearth (like this). Not functionally necessary since this is a gas fireplace but just a lot better aesthetically, IMHO.
posted by lovableiago at 1:34 PM on July 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

I would place the stone just like baseboard, starting 3/8" to 1/2" above the floor so that the carpet can be tucked under the stone. This will give you a nice finished edge rather than trying to fit carpet up to the uneven stone.

You also want to think about where your top stone is going to be, both under the fireplace and over the fireplace and how you are going to finish off those edges.
posted by JackFlash at 3:01 PM on July 26, 2020