Not sure if this should be here or in the construction forum but...

We have a brick fireplace on our house that is spalling. The prior owner painted the brick with regular housepaint instead of masonry paint so the bricks could breathe.

There are some cracked fire bricks in the back of the firebox as well.

Here is my question(s):

My wife wants to tear down the fireplace and then rebuild it with a modern firebox.

Do I just frame a wall around the fireplace and new flue and then side it or put a cultured stone veneer on it or should I bite the bullet and rebuld a masonry flue.

OR

Should I have a new fireplace installed in the existing masonry fireplace and have the top rebuilt. My wife would still want to have the cultured stone veneer put on top of it.

Thanks, Dnan

Sounds like a can of worms Dan. You may want to install a new insert and metal flue liner. This is more efficient than a conventional fireplace. I helped a friend install a unit in his existing fireplace and it throws a ton of heat especially with the fan unit on.

As for the spalling brick, the stone veneer is nice stuff and easy to install. Its basically installing wire lathe to the brick, scratch coating, then using a thinset mortar to adhere the stones. After that use a grout bag to grout out between the stones.