I am redoing my basement and want to add a gas fireplace. I may use dricore sub flooring in the area where the fireplace will go. If so, do you think it will be better to put the fireplace on top of the dricore or put it on the concrete basement floor and dricore around it? Also, I plan on putting a flat screen on the wall above the fireplace. Will the heat of a gas fire place effect the TV that is above fireplace? Any tip or ideas will help! Thanks!!!!!!!!!!
i don't know what type of fire place your using. but around here the installers usually put the inserts on 4 conerete blocks. this lifts the fp up so that you can install a hearth if you are so inclined. as for the screen above the fire place,i would not. but i think you should ask the manufacture of both the f.p and the tv. cover your bases. i have another option for you my mom had me put her tv in the fireplace. she dosent use the fire place any more. and to tell you the truth. it looks good we put the glass doors on the fp and you can cover up the tv. and it makes the focal point of the room, the fire place instead of a funky tv
Posts: 1268 | Location: i i live in southern mississippi | Registered: Jun 01, 2008
The gas fireplace is already hooked up with everything it needs. I bought it so all I have to do it put it against a wall and run a gas line to it. It has the mantle and wood casing already. Thanks!
Hey - I worked in the man-made stone business for over a decade and there are a couple of things you'll need to look into first.
Local building codes have certain requirements regarding the distance between the top of the firebox and the bottom of the mantle above it, could be 18" or more depends on codes, check with your building official or online. Codes also have requirements for the distance from the frplc to the ceiling height check that too. Also a flat screen TV might be sensitive to the heat coming from the frplc especially the internal components. Again check your codes and you may get around this by attaching a ventilation fan to the frplc to direct hot air into the room and depending on your skill and ingenuity you could incorporate vents behind at the base of the TV to blow cooler fresh air onto the TV vents to keep cool the components. This will depend on whether your frplc is vented or vent free.
I put in my own frplc in my basement in a corner and covered around nine feet of the wall floor to ceiling with manufactured stone it looks great. If you're doing it yourself there are lots of things you can incorporate to make a fine project. I designed and created an alcove right above the fireplace the same size as the firebox below it and lined it with a man made coral stone. It really makes a sharp contrast that gets a lot of oohs and ahs.
Oh I forgot to mention the dricore. I still have to finish the floor and will be using dricore as a substrate should work great in case my sump pump fails. I would caution placing this under the frplc, it all depends on the weight of your unit, the dricore should be able to handle it but I like to build in redundancy for fail safes. If you have the ceiling height see if you can't build a base to raise the frplc above the floor. You can use your imagination here and factor in whether or not you get water or might get water into your space. For mine I put it above the concrete floor such that it's 13.5" to the top of the hearthstone from the floor. I used pressure treated lumber as a baseplate between the concrete and the base structure. Then for the substrate on the hearth I used dura-crete so if water does get in there's no drywall to soak mold & mildew. I also installed a GFI outlet for added safety. If you are not going to put the weight of stone around the frplc you may be ok with drycore underneath, I'd go to the drycore site and determine what the PSI support for it is before going forward.
