How to Attach Walnut Mantle to Brick

[Bart Goldberg]

Evening SMC'ers,

I'm making a mantle out of walnut for my brother's brick fireplace. The mantle is essentially a large slab of walnut that will sit upon a brick shelf support.

What would be the best way to attach the walnut to the brick? I was thinking some type of construction adhesive. Note that the walnut slab will be relatively flat, whereas the brick area it will lay upon will not be perfectly flat, so it would be desirable to use some type of adhesive that would fill in the gaps between the two.

Thanks
Bart

[Charlie Plesums]

I can't help you with your approach, but the way that has worked well for me is to leave a slot in the back of the mantle. Then attach a board to the fireplace using mollies or whatever. Once the board is firmly attached, slip the mantle over the board and lock it with a couple screws down through the top/back of the mantle.

Is it too late to adapt a pocket like this for attachment?

[Ben Grunow]

I drill holes in the masonry (no more than 4" assuming its real brick) and set some short pieces of rebar in epoxy protuding about 3/4 of the thickness of the mantle log. THen drill matching holes in the log and fill with epoxy and slide it on. Drill these holes slightly larger so the mantle can be levelled and the epoxy will fill the difference. Place some shims, tape and/or sticks to level the whole thing and then point it with mortar to match the existing if there are gaps to be filled.

I didi this 3 times in 3 different houses I built and the last one I did (oak log sawn to 6" x 14" x 55") I actually saw the painter stand on one day! There were 4 pieces of 5/8 rebar in that one.

Good luck and post some pics. Ben

[donnie wood]

drill two holes on a 45% angle, then use masonary srews. on the bottom use a bead of silicone, and that should do the trick. sometimes they put 2x4's in the brick to scew to.