I recently purchased a home built in 1973 that has a fireplace with natural stone tile.
There is however, exposed wood framing right outside the firebox which is part of the tile work that was installed. To make this as safe as possible, does putting some cement board and flashing make the most sense to mitigate any safety concerns? Is there a better approach/material to put between the exposed wood and the firebox? We will only use the natural gas logs so the heat will be in a very controlled range.
Best Answer
So the main issue is that the area isn't flat and to make it flat you do not want to chisel out the thinset over the board because the bottom row could loosen.
I would add some primer to the wood, thinset it to as flat as I can then install some metal flashing over that. If the area is deeper than the picture you could just install some tiles that would go with your setup but I would want them generally out of view.
Also there is building code on combustables near fireplace. You have to be further than 2" - which this isn't. I don't think any inspector near me would OK this so you might as well fix it, as you would probably have to when selling house. Did your home inspector not catch this?