Slate Surround

[wobs]

We've just acquired two slate surrounds. Got them from London in the back of the car, which was fun, but one of the sides has suffered in the transportation, as the outer side section is coming off. What is used to adhere the two pieces of slate (the face and the side sections). It looks like some kind of cement or plaster.

Also, how would it be attached to the wall? (I won't be doing it, as I'm already going to physio)

 

[plasticpigeon]

Plaster of paris was originally used. You could use board ahesive if you like, it sets slower so gives mor etime to work with. It is attached to the wall by fixing a metal loop in the wall, something like a wall tie for example, that protudes out of the wall by just less than the recess inside of the jamb. I drilled a hole in the wall and set a tie in plaster. Then put a good splodge of plaster on the inside of the jamb of the surround and set it against the wall with the loop of the tie embedded in the plaster. I put in two ties per jamb, one at the bottom and one at the top. Everything else rests on the jambs (legs) and is stuck together with plasater.

 

[wobs]

You could use board ahesive if you like, it sets slower so gives mor etime to work with.

Is this the dri-wall adhesive?

 

[plasticpigeon]

Yes, the stuff for sticking plasterboards to solid walls. Obviously it is not traditional, but it is white like plaster of paris (as opposed to pink like most modern plaster products), and has a much longer working time so it is easier to position everything correctly. If you want the really traditional route then you can use plaster of paris and work really quickly!!! This is probably a gratuitous picture of the fireplace I put in, but I'm sure nobody will mind! My other half won't allow me to keep the vases on the mantelpiece so it looks a bit bare in real life.

 

[plasticpigeon]

sorry dupilicate post

 

[plasticpigeon]

In addition, if you are having a builder put it in, if you have made a new opening, then probably it will look similar to the first picture below with a huge structural arch. Modern builders seem to want to knock bricks out of this structural opening to put in a lintel, but really the traditional and far more sensible way is to build a smaller opening within the larger one. I used a concrete lintel to span the new bick piers, but originally it would have been a metal strap to span the small opening. However the point is that the structural opening need not and should not be messed with. It is also good to add masonry inside the opening as it means there needs to be less backfill behind the insert. I used a dryish vermiculite cement mix. Of course if you are puting in a stove then all this is irrelevant.