Here's a few things to consider. In most jurisdictions you need at least 12" of non-combustible material on either side of the firebox opening, so that would be the narrowest you could make it (firebox plus 12" on either side). You can get rid of the raised hearth, but remember that code requires at least 18" of non combusitble material in front of the opening (requirements could be more depending on the jurisdiction and size of the firebox oepning) so you will have to put in a new hearth at floor level. You should check your local building code which is avaialble at your building department offices for the exact requirements. It's hard to tell what's involved in removing some of the Bluestone and what has to be done to restore the subsurface. Most likely it's not that big of a deal unless you get into structural issues. the only way to know is to get someone out to give you an estimate.

We are demo'ing a very large wall fireplace, abt 10', with a 12" step hearth so yes your fireplace can be demo'd and then remodeled to suit your taste.

Our fireplace is just too large for our dining room and the 12" step makes it appear even larger. The chimney is in terrible shape and obviously crooked so this too is going to be totally rebuilt. I am hoping to be able to use a vintage fireplace mantle and soapstone as the hearth and surround.

We redid ours. Whole wall of rock with the ledge running the entire width. It wasn't that expensive, just a bunch of labor which we provided some of.

We sledge hammered off the rock. The ledge was slate over cement and had rebar coming out from the walls which needed cutting off. A few hundred for complete demo and rock removal.

That left us with the original fire box and we had a fireplace/chimney guy come and do the cement wall board and making sure everything was up to code. $600 and one morning of time.

Our tile guy put 12" tiles on the floor in front and then gave me brick around the firebox. He also built me a traditional mantel with electrical wiring in it so I could plug in lamps. $900 and 3 days.

Looks very nice and we use it constantly. It gave me room for furniture on that wall and it think those huge rock coverings are just plain ugly. Kind of like many of the 60-70 styles.

I live in a very high labor cost area, so your mileage may vary on costs. I thought it was one of the best $$ we spent for improved looks and use of a house feature.

Gloria

Hi,

We just removed our freestand woodstove and all of the brickwork surrounding and above it (chimney all the way up through the roof). It took 1 day of using a sledge hammer and cleanup. We replaced it with a gas fireplace and are building mantle now. It freed up a lot of space in our living room....I love it!