Installing a fireplace insert can greatly improve the ... The project often involves altering the brick or stone inside the chimney and working with electrical and gas lines.

Dear James: It’s a mess carrying firewood indoors, so I want to modernize my old brick fireplace ... compound over it with a trowel. Let it dry before you proceed with installing the new surround.

“Put stone over brick to create a big impact,” Gosselin ... a double mantel Want to draw more attention to your fireplace? Consider installing an double mantel, as per Gosselin’s suggestion.

Q: I'd like to remove my fireplace ... affix the new stone, tile or marble. For larger, flat pieces of tile or marble, you can either plaster a mortar bed over the existing brick to create a ...

I want to remove the brick surround and the threshold, freeing the fireplace of some of its weight and then refinish the facade with either tile or stone squares ... bed to install the tile ...

Darren McCoon from High West Residential Renovation Specialists helped install the stone fireplace. For additional questions, visit www.highwestsiding.com.