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Yeah, the stonework looks beautiful, but I can't figure out what anything is.

Kate - the stone work is higher in one area where a wood burning stove will be mounted with a black stove pipe exhaust going up. The wood work you see over the stone work is from some old 4X8 beams I found behind a friend's garage that I restored and on each side of the stove will make a nice wide shelf for photos and some of Cristina's shell collection.

The stone structure that you call a hearth Legz is the beginning of a stone base for a very old (1928), unique, wood burning stove that will be mounted on top when completed, about a foot off the floor. Manuel and I did all the work together on this project so give me a minute to run out to the front gate here and see what they call this manicomio...

If it'd have been me doing that work, I'd still be in the beginning area trying to figure out which rock, which color, which texture, which shape, which size & which angle/position I wanted for the second rock! I refuse to believe that you & Manuel simple grabbed the closest rock at hand & slapped it in any old way!

I could tell the topper piece was 4 x's & thought what a great area to display special things. Glad to hear that base is still rising...I'd probably have framed in the full height/width/depth & filled it with cement & covered it with rock! You're going up a level at a time. Will the finished surface the stove sits on be rock or....??? Good thing you already have the stove so you can "play" with what to put where to get the base truly level for the stove to sit on!

Kudos to you & Manuel....you do nice work!!

"Slapping"it on is be a good technique. Nature is very random, very few, if any, straight lines. The eye can get "bored" with too much structure sometimes. Whatever technique he used..it looks nice.

The truth is that we brought in a huge pile of rock from outside and and each just grabbed the closest rock that fit the spot and offered a change in color and texture from those around it. I made a little hand held tool for each of us to help keep the rock face parallel and the same distance from the wall (3½").

The stove base will be all rock but I am removing the three remaining legs on it (one was broke). This is not your normal looking wood stove and requires air to be drawn into the the unit from underneath where the legs are (were). Because of that I will have to construct an air chamber below where the stove will sit and high enough for vents/registers to allow air flow into the unit. That is why the base has to be built in stages.

Today we sealed the rock with the first coat. Tomorrow it gets another coat but I think it already looks quite nice...

Originally Posted by BajaGringo

The truth is that we brought in a huge pile of rock from outside and and each just grabbed the closest rock that fit the spot and offered a change in color and texture from those around it. I made a little hand held tool for each of us to help keep the rock face parallel and the same distance from the wall (3½").

The stove base will be all rock but I am removing the three remaining legs on it (one was broke). This is not your normal looking wood stove and requires air to be drawn into the the unit from underneath where the legs are (were). Because of that I will have to construct an air chamber below where the stove will sit and high enough for vents/registers to allow air flow into the unit. That is why the base has to be built in stages.

Today we sealed the rock with the first coat. Tomorrow it gets another coat but I think it already looks quite nice...

It looks great!

Thanks for the nice comments. I would post a photo of the new dining area under construction but I figure that will probably really throw you all for a loop since you had so much problem figuring out my rock wall...

Coward!!!! In all honesty, you're probably getting sick & tired of all the backseat drivers second-guessing what you're doing! Come on, post away....I love a challenge!!

But I gotta tell ya, there better not be any rocky benches for guest seating!

Originally Posted by longlegsinlapaz

But I gotta tell ya, there better not be any rocky benches for guest seating!

Uh oh



Back to the drawing board...

That's a lot of rock, block and uninsulated wood. Beautiful to look at, but will the woodburner keep the house warm (esp. the bedrooms)?

Originally Posted by Nighttrain

That's a lot of rock, block and uninsulated wood. Beautiful to look at, but will the woodburner keep the house warm (esp. the bedrooms)?

I have total confidence that the casa will be warm and comfy this winter. A few facts...

The roof starts with 3/4" tongue and groove covered by 3/4" plywood hot mopped with roofing tar covered with 30# asphalt felt paper and finally covered with roofing shingles. Not insulated but at over 2" thick it is a lot of overkill for our mild weather - quite waterproof too!

The house was built using volcanic / cinder block in lieu of the standard cement block most use down here. The thermal properties of cinder block create a natural insulation layer against cold/heat and are a big improvement over cement block.

A wood burning stove actually puts out a lot of heat into the room - much more than a conventional fireplace and more than we will need.

The interior walls were not built all the way up to ceiling level to allow the fan that will be installed from the center beam to circulate heat up and out from the living room into the rest of the house.

In the attached photo you can see the open ceiling design and the wire coming through the center beam where the ceiling fan will be installed...

Hey BajaGringo-

You're going to need a qualified electrician to install that ceiling fan....of which I just happen to be one!

I'd be happy to do it for you!

What was that offer you made recently to help with a skylight??? something about first class airfare and 5 star accommodations?!?

That sounds good to me....I'd help you out for that same deal

Sounds great! We'll even get Legz to foot the bill...

Legz thinks yer :cigarette: something funny!

Awww, well.................... it was worth a shot! So does that mean I should unpack my bags?



and back to topic.........

this customized hearth sounds interesting. My assumption is that most Baja houses are not that air tight and don't need to worry about a direct fresh air intake.

At one brand new house I visited in El Centenario, the owners had to fight with the builder for a screen door and (weather-stripping) ..if that's what you call that stuff at the bottom of the door that keeps all the bugs OUT!

Looking good Ron!

This should give you an idea of what we are doing with the wood burning stove and base. Tomorrow we will finish the rock work...

WAY COOL old wood-burning stove!!!

I'm curious....all the homes that I've seen where there's air space between the top of individual room walls & the ceiling, the wall height has been the same throughout the house; from the pics of your sala, it appears you at least 3 different wall heights??? Or am I seeing things? The wall at the back of the stove is higher than the wall that intercepts it on the right & in the background, there appears to be a small area with even shorter airspace/taller wall. Or is that maybe an optical illusion because of the pitch of your roof-line? I KNOW that the sala walls heights aren't an optical illusion! So SPILL, por favor!

Ya know, it'd really help if you were to post a pic of your floor plan from a birds-eye-view for some of the more insatiably curious amongst us! Or is that a secret because it shows rooms clearly labeled with terms like: Gun Room, Ammo Arsenal, Drug Den, Whips & Chains Room? (san roof in the birds-eye-view, por favor!)

In the pic posted in post #214, it clearly shows I'm not crazy about varying wall heights!

Yes, the wall heights vary - I hate everything the same.

This is the floorplan (I posted it early on in this thread)

What a great floorplan. I wish I had some semblance of creativity. Could have saved a lot of $$ on architects