Fall 21 ORC Week Four: Fireplace Resurfacing
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It’s week four of the One Room Challenge, officially the half way point! This week has been a busy one with drywall framing going in on Tuesday, electrical rough-in being installed yesterday, and more drywall work happening today. Until now, I’ve done all of the work on my house myself, but electrical wiring is one job I don’t feel comfortable doing. I considered installing the drywall, but with the deadline of the challenge I decided it was best to hire contractors for both jobs.
One project I’m tackling myself this week is resurfacing the fireplace. As a reminder, here’s the before:
The first step in resurfacing the fireplace was removing the tiles using a 1” rotohammer I rented from Home Depot. They’re not cheap, but they speed up the tile removal process a lot, so I’m really happy I could rent one.
Having never resurfaced a fireplace before, I spent some time on YouTube learning how it was done. The video I found most helpful is by BYOT and uses a quick concrete called Ardex Feather Finish. It’s great for vertical surfaces, which can be more difficult to work with.
To mix it together I used two parts Ardex Feather Finish, one part water, and blended it using a steel spiral mixer attached to a drill.
The Ardex Feather Finish dries in about 15 minutes, so working quickly is key. I used a 6 inch taping knife to spread it on the wall and a 12 inch taping knife to smooth the surface.
As the Ardex Feather Finish dries, the color lightens. The darker areas in the photos below are from a fresh coat I applied to the edges and some areas I’d missed.
The surface is still pretty rough after one coat, but it’s already a huge improvement. I used one bag of Ardex Feather Finish for this initial layer and I’ll be adding one more layer on top to smooth out the surface. The upper part of the fireplace and the sides will be skim coated and then the entire fireplace will be painted one color to blend. I don’t want to give too much away, so be sure to check out the final reveal in a few weeks to see how it turns out!
If you haven’t already, follow me on Instagram for more updates on our family room makeover!
Thank you again to my partners who are helping me with the One Room Challenge!
Also make sure to check out all of the amazing projects going on this fall for the One Room Challenge!
