Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Fireplace Surround


PROJECT: FIREPLACE SURROUND

This project involves the construction of an oak surround for a vent-less gas fireplace unit.

The first step is to create a measured drawing that accommodates the size and tolerances of the fireplace unit. These dimensions are usually include in the installation manual. Below is the drawing that was created. In this drawing I have excluded the trim components to show the dimensions of the cabinet only.

After gathering all the different materials needed I created a cut list for all the parts of the cabinet. In addition to the dimensioned drawing above I like to create a 3D model which helps me visualize the finished piece. This isn’t absolutely necessary but can be quite helpful to actually build it on the computer first in order to envision how it actually is assembled and even catch any mistakes that might have been overlooked (or cannot be seen) in the 2D drawing. The following illustrations show the full model and the cabinet exploded and how it should go together.


These illustrate using biscuits and pocket holes. In this way we don’t have any exposed fasteners thru the face of the cabinet. You might have noticed that the side panel on the near side has a panel cut in the side. This is to create an access to the interior in order to hook up the gas and access the shut off valve. This panel will be be held in place with a magnetic catch at the top, a cleat at the bottom and trim molding. (See Below)

The cleat is beveled slightly where it catches the edge of the cut out so it can be tilted out to remove it.

Next time we will attach the pre-fabricated pilasters and trim pieces on the upper and lower sections.



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