Planning & Preparation
Please note: Installation instructions (PDF) are furnished upon delivery or by request.
We can give you the estimated weight of your mantel by request. Check with your contractor or an engineer or truss company. The latter will normally do load calculations for free, since they're in the business of selling beams & ancillary services.
In most cases, normal home construction loads are adequate, but the weight may require some cross-bracing or other additional floor support to distribute the load.
Dancing Stone is not responsible for installation and precautionary or necessary load measures.
Individual components of our mantles, columns or fountains can weigh as much as several hundred pounds and it is highly recommended that at least two persons be present for any installations. Our popular Provence fireplace mantle requires four strong people to install, due to its size and weight.
Fireplace mantels and columns are one of the last things to go into a room. Ideally, the floors should be installed and finished and the walls ready for paint or painted. Inlays or mosaics are installed when the flooring would go down, but relieves, fountains and columns are often also installed last.
Installations need to be done by a professional, such as a contractor or tradesman (mason, marble/granite installer).
Your installation is easiest and your mantle cheapest, when the face of your fireplace is in the same plane as your finished wall. This is often the case in new construction and can easily be planned this way.
If the mantle protrudes into the room, the stone mantle needs to not only face and surround the front of the firebox, but also wrap around the sides (and sometimes top). Our mantles are free standing and self supporting. Contrary to stone veneer and certain cast "stone" imitation products, they do not require a framed, wooden or masonry “box” to attach to.
To the contrary, a box surrounding an existing fireplace is best removed completely, except for perhaps a few inches of facing immediately surrounding the gas or electric fireplace insert (for attaching the stone blinds, if used).
The same is true of any raised hearth that is built in front. Our floor and raised hearths sit directly on your hardwood floor (or sub-floor in case of carpeting) and do not need any support.
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