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DIY Addition of Electric Fireplace with Slat Wall
Jill and I had a fireplace in our last house and really loved it. When we built our new home we knew we wanted to have a fireplace again. Our last house had a gas fireplace but, in order to save time and money, we decided to go with an electric fireplace this time. We checked around and to have this project built by a contractor was going to be between $10K – $15K. We decided to give it a shot as a DIY fireplace wall build. This build came in well under $5K and we are very happy with it.
Selecting a design for your fireplace wall bump out. When going with an electric fireplace you can select some that will fit in a 2″X4″ wall and some that require 10″ to 12″ mounting depth. This means that you could actually mount this in a wall without building a bump out as well. Once you have selected the perfect fireplace for your taste that will help guide you as to how to build the wall. Personally, I feel that a bump out of 12″ to 18″ gives the best impact to a room. Next, you will need to decide for the width of the fireplace wall. Depending on the size of the room / space for the project, 5′ to 6′ is typical for a fireplace bump out wall. As seen in the picture above, the space between two windows in our living room helped guide us in decision of how wide to go. We decided to go with a 5′ bump out wall. To keep the spacing good we decided to with a 50″ fireplace.
Selecting the best electric fireplace for your DIY project. When choosing an electric fireplace, a few factors come into play. First is the shape. The two main options are the linear / modern design or the square / traditional design. Second is the projection type or how the electric fireplace simulates real fire. As you may know, many electric fireplaces look really cheesy. Some use water / steam, some are just like televisions, others use LED lighting and mirrors. Lastly is the heater. Some have more BTUs and some have less. This was not real important for us as pretty much all electric fireplaces include a heater that is basically just like an electric space heater. When we struck out on our search for an electric fireplace our criteria was to get a linear model that had a realistic flame simulation. We looked at many models and narrowed our selection down to two choices. First, and the one we selected, the Dimplex 50″ Ignite XL. This fireplace check all of the boxes for us. It has a modern look, realistic flame, and built in heater. It is super easy for a DIY installation and comes with great instructions. It comes with an electrical plug so it does not require an electrician. For the money, we found the Dimplex IgniteXL to be the best choice for an electric fireplace. Our second choice was the Dimplex Opti-Mist. We liked the flame on the Opti Mist a little more that the Ignite but not enough to justify the price difference. We felt that the Opti-Mist by Dimplex is the most realistic flame, thanks to the use of the water vapor, on the market. In addition to the extra cost, this model requires more maintenance than the Ignite. With the water vapor models you must clean the water components and regularly. If you are willing to pay the higher price and do the maintenance this is the option for you.
The next thing that you need to determine what finish you will have on your fireplace wall. Some of the options that we considered were shiplap, tile, stacked stone, and slat wall. All of these are great choices and fairly straight-forward to install. We settled in on the slatwall to give our fireplace the mid-century modern look. We considered using pre maid slat wall panels but ended up using poplar wood slats and nailed them up ourselves. Our ceilings are 9′ which really limits the wall panels available to use without having seams. If you are in the market to use premade panels, CLICK HERE, to view the ones we considered. They get great reviews and are a great option.
Building the fireplace bump out wall (surround). PLEASE NOTE… I AM NOT A CONTRACTOR!!! I AM A DIYer. I AM SIMPLY SHOWING YOU HOW I COMPLETED MY DIY PROJECT. IF YOU ARE NOT 100% CONFIDENT IN YOUR ABILITIES, GET A CONTRACTOR!!! Make sure to carefully follow manufacturer’s instructions. Once you have determined the size of your fireplace wall, the fireplace you will use and how you will cover the fireplace, it is time to get started on the building of your own fireplace. We built our fireplace bump out wall 5″ wide and it bumps out 12″ from the existing wall. We built our wall out of 2X4s like you would construct a normal wall. If you plan to install a TV above your electric fireplace, take a moment to determine where you will hand your TV bracket. This is the best time to add additional 2X4s to mount your bracket to. We screwed all of the framing together with 3.5″ wood screws. Below is a basic schematic of the framing for our Dimplex IgniteXL 50″ electric fireplace.
The next thing that we did was mounted our TV wall mount to the studs. This makes it super easy as there is no guessing where the studs are. Simply mount your bracket to the studs like shown in the picture below. CLICK HERE to view the wall mount that we like to use.
The next step is to sheet over the framing. This can be done with plywood or just thin paneling. This is just to give you something to nail the slats or the slat wall panels to. We used a thin paneling, painted it black and nailed it to the studs. If you don’t have a battery operated air nailer, get one. CLICK HERE for the one we recommend for your average DIYer. It is a Ryobi and works great for finish work and trim.
The picture above does a really good job of showing the steps of the build all in one picture. Here part of the build is still in framing, some is wrapped in the black painted paneling, and some already has the slats nailed to the paneling. Attaching the slats is a breeze using the finish nailer. We used 1/4″ spacer between each slat to give us the spacing we desired. It is a good idea to cut a bunch of short slats just to see how your spacing is going to work out. You can may a few gaps larger or smaller if necessary to make sure you do not have to rip a slat length wise.
On a side note…
If you are looking to buy or sell your home, please reach out to me. I specialize in pairing you up with the best real estate professional for YOUR EXACT situation. The best person to assist really depends on your needs. Don’t go into this decision blindly, let me put my knowledge of the industry to work for you. I would love to assist you with this real estate professional selection process.
Jason Hood
Real Estate Referral Agent
352.247.1886 / jasonh34601@gmail.com
Home-Land Real Estate