Fireplaces                  
               

           
               
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Sometimes new tiles can be installed on top of existing tiles if the old ones are still well secured to the floor.
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This mantle to the right was a prototype built for a client. She didn't want to go the traditional way of marble, regular tile or wood. A potter I knew made these out of cookie molds and the effect as you can see is amazing.
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Two Fireplaces built in Bavaria

These two fireplaces were built outside on back porches. The one to the left hase slate blocks on the hearth face and rough granite inside. The bench and dome are brick covered with stucco made from scratch and applied by hand.

The fireplace on the right has a rough pink granite hearth capped with a copper dome.

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Kachelofen (Custom built woodstoves)

        This Ceramic woodstove is like one I have in storage. I haven't yet decided if I want to keep it or sell it.
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Below-That's me on the job in northern Italy, Bavaria and Austria. During my apprenticeship, we worked all over central Europe. I think I was 18 at the time.

  The 3 bronze doors open so a pot of food can be kept very warm.   Two of the master mason's I was lucky enough to have apprenticed with. The one on the right retired shorty after I completed my last year. The last two ceramic tile woodstoves or "Kachelofen" to the left were an interesting project. They were sold and dismantled from a house in Munich, and then rebuilt in the new owner's home in Regensburg, Germany. They're about 250 years old. Once the new firebrick lining was installed it worked like new.  
 
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This one I built into my parents rec-room. Above the firebox in the 4th picture, is a baking oven lined with fire brick. Two vents lead through a internal ceiling at the second tile level that lead to floor vents in several rooms above.  
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You can find a brief mention of me in the Harrowsmith Magazine-isuue Feb/March, 1984 on page 74
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For Sale
Here are a few samples of some portable Kachelofen (woodstoves) that I'm selling right now. They are hand built in Germany by a company called Koppe, which you can look up online. My family used to import them about twenty years ago and we have few left which i would like to sell. Just e-mail for additional information.
                                     
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The existing hearth has slate on the top and is surrounded by stone slabs which have been knocked loose throught the installation od the hardwood. Before the new marble can be set on the hearth, the loose stones have to be cleaned, old cement removed and re-cemented. The the outer edges of the marble are customed rounded for a softer look.          
                             
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                White marble on the fireplace hearth and mantle