remove the hearth.

parge over the brick and paint it.

masonry paints available at any home improvement store.

What is “parging”?

You can simply paint the brick white yourself, it’s easy. Use masonry primer and paint and a thick nap roller.

Parging is plastering over the brick.

Before taking off that raised hearth I would make sure that there is enough thickness of masonry and that there is actually hearth material at the floor level rather than just wood framing, you can't have just a 1'1/2" slab of stone on top of the wood framing, the hearth has to be a certain thickness. It may be raised to achieve that thickness.

You do not need a hearth with a gas fireplace because there are no sparks flying or embers falling down. It looks like the present flooring was installed around the hearth so the underlay may not be perfect for the new floor, but it is an easy fix.

While you are removing that brick, take off the brick around the firebox and start anew.

https://www.sfgate.com/homeandgarden/sweatequity/article/removing-fireplace-s-brick-facade-not-so-hard-2568262.php

This article will interest you. The author also chose to switch from wood burning to gas. If photos don't show on your monitor just click on "source". There are some beauty plaster fireplaces.

Paint is pretty easy to do over brick. I guess it depends on the overall style you want for the room.

Whether or not a gas fireplace requires a hearth depends upon the type and manufacturer of the gas fireplace.

If this is a natural vent fireplace, it will likely still require a hearth, while if it is a direct vent, or ventless fireplace, it will often not need one. If it is specified as zero clearance it will not need one.

This looks like a natural vent fireplace with a chimney (?) and a gas valve right next to the hearth in the lower right hand corner, so I would not assume that no hearth is necessary without checking with your local jurisdiction and the manufacturer or whatever gas insert you have or will have.

Its not just about sparks or embers, but radiated heat and adjacent wood framing even with gas fireplaces. Since this firebox is elevated it may not be an issue. But I wouldn't make any assumptions.

I do like the look of those white brick fireplaces and they actually look good with the hearth. I’m not opposed to keeping it. It just takes up more floor space. We have a chimney and it used to be a wood burning fireplace. Does that mean its a natural vent fireplace?

Technically, this is a masonry wood burning fireplace with a gas log installed. Because it is capable of burning wood, it must meet the safety codes for a masonry wood burning fireplace regardless of the gas logs. So a hearth is required.

@palimpsest is correct about the minimum thickness of the hearth if it is on a wood surface. If the hearth is built on concrete, you can remove it and replace it with a non-combustible material such as ceramic tile, slate or marble.

If you do remove the hearth, you are going to have a hole-in-the-wall fireplace, which will be a much more modern look. You will want to consider what type of fireplace screen you want in that case since it will limit your choices to something attached to the fireplace,. A screen sitting on the hearth at floor level may look odd with the fireplace raised in the wall.

I can help with the fireplace screen as that is what I do for a living. Glass doors or mesh curtains are great for this type of application.

It is on wood since it is a second story. Thanks for the info. I’ll keep the hearth then. Now my question is white painted brick or stucco or plaster? I told my husband that I was thinking of painting the brick white and he said it would be hard to keep clean. Is that true?

It could have a concrete hearth set into the framing. I lived on the third and forth floors of a very large house and all four fireplaces had masonry hearths built as part of the overall chimney kinda cantilevered out in from of the firebox, and the framing went around in front of that.

How would I even know if that were the case without destroying the existing hearth in the meantime?

Peek up in the ceiling from the room below?

If you are burning wood, there will be ashes that get on the hearth despite a screen. Plus putting logs into the fire. But since you have gas, it won’t get dirty from the ashes, so the answer is No, it won’t get dirty.

Actually, gas logs burn just as dirty as wood, some even dirtier. Although the hearth may not get dirty from sparks and ashes, the surrounding bricks, particularly above the opening, will likely get blackened from soot if your fireplace has any draft issues. That is to be expected with any wood burning fireplace whether burning wood or gas logs. An occasional coat of paint may be needed every few years. You will have the same issue with stucco or plaster, so deciding which way to do it is more a matter of what you like the looks of the most.

Regarding the hearth: If you really like the look of a hole-in-the-wall fireplace and want to remove the hearth, there is no reason you cannot remove it and then decide how to rebuild it to the lowest possible thickness that meets code in your city. Most cities require 2" to 4" concrete or non-combustible material, so just talk to your local building department if you want to explore this idea.

I painted my fireplace white about 8 years ago and it still does not need another coat above the opening. The hearth is also painted white, and we’ve repainted it twice. I am thinking of laying dark gray slate over the white brick hearth since it does look messy when in heavy use from the bits of wood and occasional ash.

I love the look of a fireplace (especially during the holidays) But we probably won’t use the fireplace that often. Hopefully it will get some use in the winter. But that said, I like the look of the black slate too. So I might do that anyway.

Black slate on the top of the hearth…

Side note - initially when we talked about doing this, my contractor included “tiling over the brick on the fireplace surround” in overall project budget. Im just not finding any style of tile that I like. Im more drawn to the white fireplace. Would painting be considered easier and cheaper than tile? I haven’t mentioned this to my contractor yet as we have not gotten to this yet. It just seems that everything else I pick out for our whole house remodel is more expensive than in budget. I’m hoping this will actually be within budget (ie less than tiling).

Hell yeah! Painting will cost you a quart of primer and a quart of paint and you can do it yourself.

If you are looking for a real upgrade to the space ( which many would consider the most important focal pt of the house - consider a cast stone fireplace - not super expensive, adds a natural element to the space , and is not hard to self assemble Ferland has one for $700 that would do the trick - remember if you remove the raised heath you still would need to replace it with a stone like material ( fire resistant ) which is required by code (18" deep) good luck -if that is not possible consider a cheap lime wash finish on brick (speak to your painter )

You might consider consider painting the hearth portion something other than white if you're concerned about the "dirty factor"... You could paint the hearth a color that blends with floor color. We have a wood stove on a large corner raised brick hearth with brick walls behind. We painted the wall portion white and the hearth portion a taupe color (Smoked Oyster by Valspar) that fits in with our rooms' color scheme and is way better than white at not looking so dirty. It is in need of a new paint job after 6 years but that has more to do with bits of wood scratching the finish over time rather than just ash/soot mess.

We plan on having a grey or charcoal hearth slab. I like the look of concrete. Any reason slate or bluestone would be better than concrete?

Price?

I vote for painting the brick. I love the texture and patterning you get with painted brick.

We haven’t priced that out yet. Is concrete more expensive than the other options?

Im also reading that you can use regular low heat resistant interior latex paint on the fireplace surround and hearth. But my concern is that the brick wraps around into the fireplace for about 4 inches. Is that part of the firebox that needs to be painted with masonry paint?

This is the part I’m talking about that wraps into the inside facing the flame. It’s just the width of the brick. Can it be painted in “heat resistant” latex paint or does it need the masonry paint?