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Writer's pictureWill Lerson

Do It Yourself Already


It is getting harder and harder to come up with excuses not to take care of some of your home projects and repairs yourself. There is a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips now. Twenty years ago, you may be able to make a better argument. But not anymore. The Internet and all its resources have pretty much made it impossible not to find some blog or video showing you exactly how to fix or make whatever it is you are wondering about. You can even drill down to model numbers to ensure you are getting the exact direction you need.

My wife recently wanted to replace our perfectly functioning fireplace mantle, which she considered dated. Once we started looking at mantles, she realized she wanted to get rid of the decorative tile surrounding the hearth. We took one trip to a showroom, discovered the astronomical cost, and soon decided that I would be the one sourcing the materials and replacing the whole thing.

Have I ever done it before? Nope. Did I care after hearing how much they wanted to charge us? Not even a little. I was going to wing it and hope for the best. And the best is what we got. Sure, a professional could come in and point out all the flaws, but I don’t have any fireplace professionals in my circle of family or friends.

So, we got to researching and immediately found a stone dealer where we could purchase the rock at a fraction of the cost. We did some initial estimates of how much we would need and grabbed a little extra knowing we could return whatever was unused. We then went to the big city to take advantage of the “Reclaimed Barnwood” trend going on now. We found an old stable mounting post that was the perfect fit for around one hundred bucks. To buy something like that from the actual hearth and home store would have cost us at least four times that amount.

Last thing we needed was some supplies to attach the mantle and the rock and we were well on our way. Sure, I had to solicit the help of one of my brothers, but God knows he owes me after the thousands of projects I’ve assisted him with. So, asking him was no big deal.

Tearing out the old fireplace décor was actually rather easy. I feared it would take a couple of days, but instead only took about two hours of my time. It actually took longer to take go to the dump with all the old materials than it did to demo the dang thing.

Next step was mounting the mantle. This thing was heavy and knowing that our kids and all the nieces and nephews would be playing underneath it, and who knows... maybe even climbing on it, I had to make sure it was anchored well. Originally, I was going to go with the French Cleat approach, but soon realized that wouldn’t be enough to hold this thing. After a quick trip to the hardware store to grab some thick steel brackets, we had that thing hanging in a half hour. We both stood on it just to make sure she wasn’t going anywhere.

And just like that, we were onto the last step. Of course, it took the longest because it was like putting together a puzzle without the picture on the box to cheat from. But after a few days of chipping, cutting, trying, reshaping, we got that thing looking like it was professionally done. And saved a couple grand to boot.

Like I said... no excuses anymore.

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