Exterior Fireplaces: Stone Moves Out

February 7, 2007

   More homeowners, especially in temperate climates, are expanding their living spaces outside. To help extend the outdoor season and provide a focal point for their new outdoor rooms, many homeowners are opting to include fireplaces – or less-expensive fire pits – in their designs.
   While some may feature a masonry or stucco veneer, depending on the location, more fireplaces are getting the natural-stone treatment. It often provides a look that’s then carried over into other areas, whether it’s a wall that doubles as seating, a built-in grill or a pool surround.
   Designers who use natural stone for these outdoor rooms say clients like it because it’s natural, versatile and could well outlast the home it’s complementing.

UPGRADED SPACE
   As more people spend more of their waking hours in workspaces with artificial light and air, or end up commuting for hours, there’s been a real push to get back to nature once they get home. They just don’t want to do it without some of the same amenities that make those homes a refuge from the rest of the world.
   A nationwide survey by the propane industry showed that 35 percent of those asked had recently completed some sort of outdoor-space renovation to their homes. Another 34 percent were planning to do an outdoor upgrade within the next 24 months.
   Marco Perrella, owner of Novato, Calif.-based Marcodesigns, says it’s something he’s been urging his clients to consider for almost a decade. Now, with the popularity of cable-television shows focusing on renovations, more of them are thinking they need to upgrade their outdoor living and entertainment spaces.
   “They’ve been to a friend’s house or attended a sports party where they’ve seen this,” he says. “They come back to me and say, ‘Wow, I like that space; I’d like to do something like it.’ The idea of Friday evening at home suddenly becomes great.”
   “We like our outdoor rooms,” agrees Lauren Shiner of Tampa, Fla.-based Tampa Landscape Design. “Actually, what’s happening with my design business is that people don’t want just one outdoor room; they want several. They want an outdoor living room, an outdoor dining room, a courtyard and a secret garden.”
   Because some of her projects can run as much as $150,000, Shiner adds that many of her clients phase their renovations.
   However, even with smaller homes and smaller lots, Ellen Bildsten, a partner in the Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Bildsten + Sherwin Design Studio Inc., says people are moving outdoors.
   “We’re finding a lot of people are looking to design either a home remodel or an addition with their landscape in mind,” she says. “We really specialize in that. We think about both simultaneously and having outdoor living spaces adjacent to indoor living spaces to optimize the use of both.
   “We often find we can build less indoor space, because we’ve created some nice outdoor space that gives people a feeling of bigness.”
   Jeffrey K. Christy, owner of Tampa, Fla.-based Custom Stone Fireplace Designs, agrees.
   “For a lot of people, it really becomes an extension of their home,” he says. “Instead of expanding in the house, it’s more-affordable to make the outside another room or rooms, and because of the weather here, you can get away with doing that.”

MORE THAN WARMTH
   It may be less-expensive than actually building on the house, but that doesn’t mean people are skimping on amenities with these outdoor projects. One of the most-popular, according to the propane-industry survey, is the outdoor fireplace or fire pit.
   “What it does is it extends the amount of time you can enjoy being outdoors in the late fall and early spring,” according to Jeff Hensley of Easley, S.C.-based The Great Outdoors. “You can built a fire and enjoy the outdoors when it wouldn’t be comfortable if you didn’t have it.”
   “We use a particular fireplace design called a Rumford (with a shallow box and narrow throat) that’s all about heat,” says Perrella. “There are other options, but once we start having a discussion and selling people on getting more time outdoors when the temperatures cool off, warmth becomes a major thing.”
   “I’ve had a few people ask about the outdoor fireplaces, especially for a screened porch,” says Larry Boen, a partner in the Grand Marais, Minn.-based Ostën Boen Designs. “It gets a little cool here even in the summer, and you can throw on a fire and you’ve got something to sit by and you’re still outdoors.”
   However, he says the interest among his customers isn’t nearly as great as with people in warmer climates.
   Nor are these fireplaces always just about warmth. Hensley says his designs often include a way for their owners to do some cooking or grilling on them, and Christy says it’s often a matter of individual taste.
   “Sometimes – like a job I just finished – they like it so they can do some grilling on it,” Christy says. “I will install something inside the box so they can put a custom-cut grill piece in there. Mainly, though, they’re installed for the aesthetics.”
   There’s certainly that part of the equation, too. Bildsten + Sherwin’s Bildsten sees them as being an important design element.
   “When budget allows, almost every time my clients will go for an outdoor fireplace,” she says. “Mostly it’s for the atmosphere, but it also provides a nice focal point outside the house.”
   Especially because a fireplace is going to have a chimney – as opposed to a fire pit – she adds that a fireplace helps to mark a spot on the landscape itself. Often, a fireplace can also provide aesthetic balance for a water feature, such as a fountain or pool.
   “It really works to being those two elements together in one setting,” Bildsten says.
   That’s not to say some clients don’t opt for fire pits, rather than fireplaces, for their outdoor rooms. However, it depends on the market, the client’s budget, and even the lot size.
   Ostën Boen’s Boen says his northern Minnesota clients generally prefer fire pits, perhaps because they don’t have a long-enough outdoor season to justify the greater cost associated with fireplaces.
   “We do quite a few fire pits,” he says. “I’ve got a big project right now; it’s about a $1.5 million cabin, and it has a fire pit outside it, rather than a fireplace. It’s cheaper, but it provides an added touch.”
   The Great Outdoors’ Hensley agrees that they’re cheaper. He says he often puts in a fire pit where the client has an existing grilling area, or is in the process of building one.
   “It’s the idea of people being able to grill out and sit and enjoy a little fire,” he says.
   Custom Stone Fireplace Designs’ Christy says price seems to drive a lot of his fire-pit installations, but it also is often the preferred alternative for people with larger lots.
   “If people don’t have a lot of land, they’ll go with something structured, like a fireplace,” he says. “If they have a big backyard with things going on all over the place, they’ll put in a fire pit.”
   Marcodesigns’ Perrella says the other thing that sometimes needs to be considered is building and zoning codes.
   “There may be issues with having an exposed fire in some locations,” he says.

FITTING IN
   While the look of stone indoors often aims for opulence, outdoors – whether it’s a fireplace or fire pit – the choice of stone often complements the surrounding area.
   “We have a kind of cobblestone that’s native to the area from Lake Superior,” says Boen.
    “We have quite a few craftsmen in the area, so we have no problem finding masons that deal with the native stone. A lot of people like the cut and quarried stone, too, and we’re into some local granites.”
   In the southeastern United States, the look is different because different stones are indigenous.
   “Typically we use a crab orchard or a field stone that’s 1 1/2”- 2” thick,” says Hensley. “That’s set on a concrete bed. We’re also close to Georgia, and we also have access to a lot of granite scraps and pieces.”
   Hensley prefers utilizing full-sized stones, especially for his rock walls and fireplaces, for durability.
   “That’s why I say it’s going to last forever,” he says. “It’s natural material and solid all the way through.”
   That isn’t always the case, though. Thin veneers are also popular in this market, either to finish out a steel firebox that’s been framed in, or on horizontal surfaces surrounding the fireplace.
   “I use thin veneers, such as flagstone,” says Tampa Landscape’s Shiner. “I don’t like the manmade products; I’ll only use them if we have an existing landscape we’re transforming. You don’t want to tear up a concrete sidewalk if you can veneer over it. It saves everybody money and it looks wonderful.”
   Out on the West Coast, it’s a little-more-common to create these fireplaces from brick, or even frame them in and stucco the exterior. Even then, Bildsten + Sherwin’s Bildsten says she makes an effort to bring in local natural stone.
   “Here, the construction of the fireplace is almost always from metal components because of seismic issues,” she says. “However, the fireplace will have accents and caps that are done in the sandstone that’s indigenous to the Santa Barbara area.”
   With stucco being the finish on nine out of 10 homes in her area, utilizing that for the fireplace, then bringing in the sandstone – especially if it’s present in other design elements in the landscape – creates a finished look.
   “It helps tie it all in,” says Bildsten.
   The versatility of stone – its ability to fit with just about any look – is, along with its durability, its greatest virtue, according to Hensley.
   “Some people like the natural look, while some like a manicured look,” he says. “You can do all that with stone. You can have crisp, clean lines with stone or it can be more natural with the chunkier material. You can vary the appearance and the style depending on the material you use and how you put it together.”
   And, says Custom Stone Fireplace Designs’ Christy, it’s definitely a market that looks like it’s here to stay.
   “The outdoor market is becoming its own entity,” he says. “There’s a whole business sector that revolves around it. There are outdoor-grill companies and outdoor-furniture companies, and outdoor entertainment companies are sprouting up. The development of the outdoor living space has become a trend. It’s amazing.”