Necessories Colonial Fireplace & woodboxes: I'm not handy but have a family friend who is overly skilled professional in carpentry, welding, concrete work, etc. Thankfully he was able to help with this project. The time lapse videos on assembly are deceiving.
Ordering – P&P are fantastic with their customer service & priced competitively. The original order was for the colonial fireplace and instead of the usual fireplace fireboxes that are compatible with it, we wanted the matching woodbox cabinet kit which supports more weight on top (it's free standing - standard fireboxes need the fireplace to support the lid of the firebox – see pic). They incorrectly sent the fireboxes. That would be fine if we hadn't already assembled the fireplace first (as instructed). You have to assemble a specific brick on each side of the fireplace to face out (see pic) if you're using the matching fireboxes. Wasted days finding a solution; used a hammer drill into the brick and placed a metal "pin" into the brick to support the top.
Prep – We didn't have room for it on our patio so we decided to pour a concrete pad ahead of delivery. Using our construction friend's help, we assumed a 4" deep pad and we gave it about 2" extra in perimeter to be safe but directions state 4” (see pic) so heads up.
Delivery - brutal. Scheduling was fine but driver (only one person) calls me about 20 min away - "is there anyone who's going to be able to help me unload this”? I guess that’s now me. Who sends one guy to unload 8K lbs of stone? He has a small moving truck with a liftgate. When he went to move the first pallet, the lift gate was smaller than the pallet. Now he's shoving the pallet jack (with stone on pallet) while I'm asked to steady the steering from the ground with 2K lbs of stone, 6' over my head, on to the liftgate till the end of the pallet jack slides off (my) edge (hanging off liftgate in the air); hoping he has enough clearance to lower the gate to the ground. It wasn’t, and it caused the pallet to bounce and drop onto the liftgate on the way down (about 2' drop each time). Several stones had chunks/imperfections and unless you plan on unwrapping and inspecting each stone while he waits (which is impossible) you have to sign and accept and see what damage has occurred later.
Unpacking - You have to scrub the dust off each stone before adding your adhesive to build it - I bought a wire brush that attached to my reciprocating saw to help speed this up. The color variation was minimal vs the way it looks in the pic (beachwood color); If you want pristine, colorful pavers, I wouldn't go with this.
Process - started with the fireplace per the instructions. Be sure to constantly check to see if you're level. They provide plastic shims which are fine for parts farther away from the fire. Once we reached the opening of the fireplace (where the fire sits), it wasn't level at all in the front/right above the opening - where the decorative gray middle "top" goes. I didn't realize the smooth/polished side of the hearth, middle "top" and tops of the fireboxes are supposed to be facing smooth end up. We put the rough side up as it seemed to match better. There is a large, heavy metal angle that comes in the shipment as it supports the top of the opening of the fireplace (where fire sits, across the opening); not rust resistant so time will tell if stains will drip on the stone and it's longevity. It’s unlevel again right above the fireplace opening and where the gray middle top sits. Plastic shims may melt so off to a box store (rhymes with moes) and buy a couple of flat steel pieces. Our friend has a special electric saw/blade that cuts metal. We made homemade metal shims to level out the middle part. The bricks are not perfectly smooth so you're going to have issues with leveling. We then completed the special firebrick interior - tricky part because you have about a 1" space that remains per instructions, in the back between the outside wall of the fireplace and the firebrick. We eventually finished and moved on to the fireboxes. The firebox tops sit against the fireplace wall (see pic). The tops are really heavy as it's one piece. It was a struggle for 2 people and definitely better with 3 people. There are natural gaps along the side of the top where it meets the fireplace wall; we are caulking it with outdoor caulk for brick to help prevent leakage on to wood.
Used it the other night with no issues but this was exhausting. If you are doing this for the first time as a novice consumer, you learn (the hard way) from it. You may not find anything cheaper for a decent paver fireplace. P&P are great to work with so this product is of no reflection of their customer service but just know it wasn't done in 2 hours like the time lapse implies (hilarious).
If you go with gas log (we didn't) per necessaries, you drill into the back of the brick once assembled for the gas line.
