Hi there. Welcome back to the Tile Experts YouTube channel. I’m Trevor, and I’m here interviewing Oscar Hungsburg. He’s one of the owners at The Tile Experts in Edmonton. And today, we’re going to be talking all about fireplaces. So, fireplace hearths and surrounds and the different things that you can do to enhance your fireplace no matter what the living space, whether it’s in a bedroom or a living room or den. All right, Oscar. So, let’s get started. Let’s talk about fireplaces. Where would you like to begin?
Well, one of the biggest things that we discuss with the clients in fireplaces is actually whether they want to have a mitered edge or a trimmed edge for where the fireplace wall bends into the return or in the hearth or in the ledge above the fireplace face.
Okay. So, what determines whether someone chooses a mitered edge or a flat edge?
Okay. So yeah, for example, one of the fireplaces we last did, the client chose a corrugated tile. So basically, this thing was very, like, textured and had a lot of different intrusions. So then, a mitered edge was what made logical sense just because if you put a trim edge, you’re going to see whether there’s a gap sticking out past the trim or under the trim. So, it just won’t look good. So for that scenario, just based on the tile selection, it’s like automatically, “Okay, we must do mitered edges.”
In other areas, like I brought some tile here, if they just chose, you know, just your basic flat profile—nothing really, just maybe some shine to it—we would then give them an option of either trim or miter because sometimes they want to use the trim to make it cohesive with the fireplace face, like the actual fireplace unit. So then, that’s where we jump into your trim edges.
We actually bring this book with us where, you know, you can have different color trims. Whether the fireplace is, you know, a stainless steel finish or your typical black fireplace, then we would wrap it on the inside of the fireplace with like a matte finish black. And then on the top ledge, we would do like a stainless steel finish. If the tile is like a light color and if the tile is like a black color, then we would just use black all around.
Yeah. So, let’s say a customer, you know, their home was built in the ’90s or early 2000s and they have the old style hearth with, you know, columns and pillars or it could be out of wood, right? What do you do in that case? Can you, like, remove those things and make a complete tile surround? Like, what are some options that you’ve done or you’ve seen in your experience?
Yeah. The first one that comes up in mind is one that we just did in Highlands. So, they have the mantle and it kind of ties together to like pillars on the sides. In those cases, they usually have a carpentry kind of a molding that you put right after we finish with our tiles. So, we can do from the fireplace face to the pillars and to the mantle. Sometimes we do like penny tile; we’ve done glass tile, some like natural marble small format, and then even like some herringbone tile as well.
But like, you know, the sky’s the limit, really. It’s just like, how did you want… do you want the fireplace to be like a centerpiece or do you want it to just kind of blend in the background with the rest of the tile? So then some people really—I mean, most times it’s like the centerpiece—so they go all out and they put like a herringbone or brick. Also, that’s a popular thing right now is doing the New York brick style. So, we do the rope caulking as well on the—sorry, the rope grouting—with that. So then, yeah. To answer the question, we do the tile and then we can get the molding put back together and then they dab it and paint it, and it looks really nice and clean.
Yeah. Nice. Now, what are some other considerations that customers might have when they’re wanting to, you know, give a new refresh or refreshed look to their fireplace?
Yeah, one of the things is the client could want something more modern. So, what we do in there is we do a full fireplace feature wall. So, from floor to ceiling—sometimes these places are like 25-foot ceilings. So, that even makes a bigger of a statement. And on those, we have done like 2 ft x 4 ft or even bigger than 2×4. But yeah, so we do that all the way to the ceiling and the returns. And then they would have the TV mount so that we could tile around it, and then the mantle would be already installed so we could wrap around it as well.
All right, Oscar. Now, when it comes to, let’s say somebody has a tile floor and they want to, you know, make a hearth on the around the base of the fireplace. What are some options for transitions in that case?
Yeah. The first one that comes to mind is we had one where it was actually suspended in the air. They had the hearth. They have an actual wood stove fireplace. So, it was also fire rated around before we can tile. But the hearth, we did it again with tile and trim. And then the fireplace face was all the way to the ceiling. Another one would be where the actual tile hearth is transitioned into a hardwood floor in their living room. So, we would cut out the hardwood, put in the hearth, and then considering that they do have extra material of hardwood, we could build a header and wrap around our tile and then it would be nicely finished and like everything would kind of flow. There’s no lippage or anything like that from the tile to the hardwood.
Yeah. I had a question about fireplaces because we had a rental once and they did the surround and they used like PL instead of mortar and grout and all of that. And yeah, once it got too hot, they started falling off. What things should you never do when you’re refacing a tile fireplace surround?
Definitely not use PL. We use premium mortar for that and make sure that you know you get full coverage. Whether it’s a fireplace that is wood burning or electric, follow those so that, you know, we would put concrete board when it’s a wood stove or a wood-burning fireplace. And then the electric ones, there’s some that have requirements for that. But yeah, after that, we would use mortar to lay the tile on the face of the fireplace.
What are some considerations for a wood-burning fireplace? Okay. Because you know, there’s soot and smoke that comes out sometimes when you’re burning, right? Yeah. What are some considerations for the type of material you should use around a wood-burning fireplace?
Yeah. We find like a rustic type or like a rough surface, textured surface is what they usually choose for the hearth. However, like for the face, whether it’s wood burning or electric, we’ve done like travertine, we’ve done the ledgestone. Ledgestone is very… it just gives you that fireplace feeling and it’s cozy. And then you can have different finishes like a sparkle white kind of finish stone or into the taupe and the gray area. Yeah. And then, you know, you also have like just a new built house where they have just your full feature wall and it’s like a glossy porcelain finished tile and it’s the biggest size you can have. Yeah. Mhm.
So, not really like a recommended based on purpose, but the biggest thing that we do see is the hearth material being more like a textured finish. Okay. More like natural stone. Yeah. Idea. Yeah.
And then is there anything in particular you can do to either seal or protect from the buildup of soot and other materials from the burning of the wood in a fireplace?
So, there is sealer that we can apply on the natural stone and in the grout. What we do protect more against rather than that is wine spills because people tend to hang out by the fireplace drinking a cup of wine and, you know, now coming up with the Christmas parties here in Edmonton. So then, you’d want to apply a grout sealer and a natural stone enhancer or sealer so that you can protect your investment long term. Yeah. So you don’t have wine stains all over your hearth.
Let’s talk about the planning process. Let’s say somebody has an old insert and they want to redo the whole thing, okay? Or they have an old wood-burning fireplace and they want to transition to a natural gas. What are the steps they should take? Who should they call regarding that?
We do have a company that we refer to for the swap, like whether they’re going one way, the other, or just update their current. So, we collaborate with them on that. And so when we come in and we hear that, first we suggest that and also we think about, “Okay, you’re updating this specific space only, and if not, like what else are you changing so that you could take that into consideration with the tile that you’re going to select?” Yeah.
Do you work with any other companies regarding the surrounding stuff for the fireplace? Right. So, you know, like we discussed earlier with the mantels and the pillars, do you have any recommendations for that or who do you work with on that front?
Yeah, there’s a mantle company that we have worked with. I don’t know from the top of my head… they’re here in Edmonton and they can custom-make any mantle that we would like them to. And yeah, they work really well. We can do the right timing so that when we pull their place apart, it’s not like it’s pulled apart today and they wait a few months to get it all finished. So, we can plan it all accordingly and have their fireplace turn around quickly.
We’ve talked about mantels, we talked about hearths, we talked about transitions and all of that. Now, let’s get down to the material selection, the trim selection, and grout. So during your design consultation, you know, what are some of the tools that you bring in and use so that people can make a better decision when you’re in their space?
Great question. So I come always ready with our grout sample and our metal sampler so that when we arrive—typically the client is like, “We’ve selected the tile, we’re ready to go,” and we’re like, “Okay, that’s awesome. One step at least is done.” So, you know, when we get there, they either have a sample piece or they have bought the whole thing. So, you know, I come prepared with this grout sampler so that we can show them the specific different colors.
So, you know, if they have a white tile, we can pull this right off, put it in between the two, and they could really visualize how it would look. So, that’s great, and everybody loves it because, well, it’s a very visual job. So then this way, it’s another variable ticked off. And then yeah, when we’re looking at grout color, we always look at trim color because, you know, whether they’re going white tile, white grout, and maybe white trim, then they can also see what that white trim would look like so that, you know, they could really have a final visual look of the whole thing in their head before we get it all sorted out, ordered, and get it ready to go.
Yeah. So, it eliminates some “oh” at the end when they see everything live and they’re like, “Oh man, I don’t like that color at all,” or, “It doesn’t work with the room or the rug I just bought,” or something like that, right?
Exactly. Yeah. Good. So, it really helps them see the whole thing. Yeah. Nice. Okay. Well, Oscar, thanks so much for sharing with us today and informing us all about fireplace upgrades, especially when it comes to tile and tile surrounds. We really appreciate that, man. Is there anything that you’d like to share with everybody when it comes to tile fireplaces?
No. The biggest thing is, it is winter; fireplace is usually on. So if you want to update your cozy warm space in the fireplace, call us at The Tile Experts and we’ll get you sorted out.
All right. Thank you so much. Okay. We’ll see you guys on the next video. Thank you.
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