Spring Valley Fireplace

It is not very often that you find a customer interested using rounded river rock on a house on Daniel Island.  But it is exciting when a the builder and architect have a vision and it all comes together in the end.  I have included some photos of fireplace on an exterior porch on Daniel Island.  The homeowner chose one of our natural stone river rock products we call Spring Valley.  The Spring Valley flats and corners were applied as an adhered veneer.  Also referred to as a sawn-back thin veneer product this product is light weight and applies directly to the scratch coat on the wall and does not require structural support on this raised porch.  

The stone mason on the project was Benjamin Mora Construction.  They first installed the L-shaped corners on both returns of the fireplace so that it would be easier to fit the interior pieces into place.  

The wood beam in the picture was cut out of an old barn beam and was installed first so the masons could get a tight fit around the mantel piece. 

The builder J D Smith Custom Homes waited till the very end to measure for the stone hearth and check that everything was square before ordering the marble hearth top.  

One of the most impressive things that most people will not see in this fireplace is the attentions to detail.  Most importantly the mason broke up his head joints by staggering the stones across the front of the fireplace.  This is extremely difficult to do when working with a river rock type veneer stone.  Because all the stones are similar in size and shape it is hard not to create vertical lines up the fireplace giving the appearance of one stone stacked on top of the next.  

Here is a closer look at the stone hearth. 

Take a closer look at the L-shaped corner pieces used in the installation.  Using these corner stones give the fireplace the appearance that all the stones were full size when installed each stone appears to be at least 4-6" in bed depth.

This is illustrates the head joint issue more clearly.  It is very difficult to follow any of the mortar joints from top to bottom without it being broken by another piece of stone.  

Take a look at the wood mantel again.  Rarely do you see a mason arrive on a jobsite with all materials accurately laid out so that they can install the material tight to a tv box or mantel stone.  If the mantel has not been fabricated yet the builder could have blocked this area with some wood to get a tight fit when the mantel comes in at a later date.

I really enjoy the color combinations used in this fireplace and to me I really appreciate the choice of using a river rock on this particular home.