How do I Build a True Swedish Fireplace?

Choose the proposed location of your new fireplace depending on the location of the existing chimney breast. Consider a wall-mounted fire for slimline appeal or an orb-shaped design that can take a central position in larger rooms.

Make or buy curved ceramic tiles. Make your own tiles if you have the expertise and can fire them in a firing oven or kiln to the correct temperature. The absorption rate after firing should be 3 percent or less, or water will get into the clay and cause cracking (See Reference 2). Create approximately 100 tiles so that you have enough to make the fireplace and a few left over to replace any broken or misfired tiles.

Put on a dust mask. Mix powdered cement in a large, clean tub, using water, fine sand and course gravel in a 1-to-2-to-6 ratio (See Reference 3). Pour out the mixture to make a concrete hearth that projects at least 6 inches at the back and sides of the fireplace and 12 inches in front of its proposed location. The hearth should be at least a half-inch thick. Smooth using a trowel, then allow to dry for at least 24 hours.

Buy a steel tube that is at least 2 feet in diameter, larger if possible. Put it on one end. Wear protective gloves and goggles. Use an angle grinder to cut a window out of the steel tubing that is about 1 square foot in size and at least 10 inches up from the base. Ask for assistance from a professional metal worker if you are not confident using an angle grinder, as it can be dangerous if you are not familiar with the tool (see Warnings). Make sure the window is big enough to accept the largest piece of wood you plan to burn in the combustion chamber.

Fix the steel tube to the concrete base using concrete. Ensure the opening that you cut earlier is put at the base and to the front. Aim for the entire fireplace to resemble an oblong that has been stood upright on one end. Make a door from curved steel to fit the opening. Use the piece you cut out earlier if possible. Sand the edges to make them smooth, using sandpaper for metal (wet/dry sandpaper) and an orbital sander.

Build the traditional casing of the fireplace from your ceramic tiles by fitting them to the inner steel tube. Lay as many curved tiles as you need to complete a full circumference. Use about 12 curved tiles in a circle for each layer. Fix them to the steel with refractory concrete, a fire-resistant variant of ordinary building concrete. Tile around the opening at the base as neatly as possible. Cut tiles into usable shapes using a tile cutter. Tile the door. Add a steel or iron hinge and a heatproof handle.

Contact a stone mason and order a stone flue system, which is cut by professionals using their equipment. (This process is extremely difficult for amateurs). Choose between the traditional five-channel system, which is the most efficient compared to other wood burners but can be expensive, or opt for a single-channel system. For a five-channel system, create an upward path from the combustion chamber. Divide the first channel into two. Send the smoke up two rear channels. Turn the smoke back and send it down the full length of the fireplace in two secondary stone channels. Ensure it passes back to the top again in a third set of channels and forms one continuous stream of smoke linking into the existing chimney breast. Your stone mason can help you create this setup. For the single-channel option, contact a stone mason and ask for a single stone path to be created from bottom to top that will carry the combustion gases into the chimney. This will be less efficient but also less expensive than the five-channel option.

Install the stone channels. Connect the top of the fireplace to the existing chimney breast using a flue connector of equal size to your upper stone flue channel. Create the seals between the two using fire-resistant stove putty. Allow to dry for at least 48 hours before use.