A facelift for your fireplace!

Tearing down a whole fireplace is costly and often times cost prohibitive.

 "A natural stone veneer is better than pulling down your old brick fireplace," said Saade Barbar of SEB Construction of Canton. "Updating is much easier today by using a veneer rather than the wider stone which is used to build a house. It's thinner and can be applied directly over brick."

"Cultured stone which is a fake stone can also be used. The cultured stone today makes it hard to tell that it is not real stone and it is less expensive to do," said Barber.

Some other options to use can be granite or marble. A slab of either can be placed right over the brick. A wooden mantle is another option and the least expensive.

The brick fireplace that Barber is working on with Al Pineda, one of his masons, is being covered in Liberty Hill Asher, a natural stone. The hearth that is put on last will be bluestone.

You can check out some other ideas from SEB Construction at 45 Mechanic St. in Canton where you can view many of the completed jobs.