Fireplaces & Hearths

Surrey's housing stock is full of fireplaces — Victorian terraces with original surrounds missing their hearths, 1930s semis having chimneys reopened for log burners, and new extensions building media walls around a recessed fire. All of them need accurately cut, heat-tolerant stone, and that is bread-and-butter work for a fabrication workshop.

We cut hearths, back hearths, slips, mantel shelves and full surround sets in granite, marble and honed porcelain, working to building regulations on hearth sizes and to your installer's specifications on clearances. Many hearths come straight from stocked remnants, which keeps a one-off piece surprisingly affordable. Measured, cut, polished and delivered or fitted across Surrey and South West London.

Which stone is best for a hearth?

Granite is the default hearth stone: dense, heat-tolerant and effectively indestructible under a stove, in polished, honed or flamed finishes. Honed marble is the period-correct choice for Victorian and Edwardian surrounds and copes well with radiant heat, though it can mark under dropped embers on open fires. Porcelain, honed, handles stove temperatures comfortably and offers slim modern profiles for media walls.

Slate and limestone have their place but chip and mark more readily — if you love the look, a flamed or leathered granite in similar tones is usually the more durable answer. For a stove sitting on the hearth rather than an open grate, almost any dense stone we cut will serve for decades.

What size does a hearth legally need to be?

UK building regulations (Approved Document J) set the minimums: for most stoves and open fires the hearth must extend at least 300mm in front of the appliance and 150mm each side, and a decorative hearth in front of a closed appliance must sit on a suitable non-combustible base. Your HETAS installer confirms the exact requirement for the specific appliance; we cut to it.

In practice we fabricate hearths from about 1200 x 380mm for slim log-burner setups up to full 1500 x 500mm period hearths and two-piece back-hearth arrangements. If you are unsure, send the appliance model and the fireplace opening sizes — we will spec a compliant hearth with your installer before cutting.

Can you replace just the hearth in an existing fireplace?

Yes — cracked, stained or missing hearths are one of our most common small jobs, and a perfect use of remnant stock. We template or work from your measurements (a cardboard template of an awkward opening works brilliantly), cut the new hearth with polished exposed edges, and either deliver it for your installer or fit it ourselves on a levelled bed.

Matching an original surround is usually possible: honed Carrara-type marble for white Victorian surrounds, black granite or honed black porcelain for slate-look hearths. Bring a photo to the contact form and we will identify the closest honest match from current stock.

Do you make full surrounds and mantel shelves?

We fabricate flat-section surrounds — jambs, frieze panels, slips and mantel shelves — in marble, granite and porcelain, which covers the great majority of modern and simple period designs. Floating mantel shelves above log burners, cut chunky with mitred build-ups, are a current favourite; we confirm the clearance above the appliance with your installer first, since timber-replacement heights do not always suit stone either.

Ornately carved period surrounds (corbels, columns, carved centre plaques) are a specialist carver's work — we will say so rather than approximate it, and we can supply the flat elements around a carved centrepiece you source.

What do stone hearths and surrounds cost?

Guide prices: a remnant-cut granite or marble hearth from £120–£280 depending on size and finish; made-to-measure hearths from full slabs £250–£450; floating mantel shelves from £220; and flat-section surround sets from £750 fabricated and fitted. Templating is free where we fit; supply-only pieces are cut to your confirmed sizes.

As always these are guides — the fixed price comes before any cutting, and we beat any written like-for-like quote. For a hearth, a photo of the fireplace plus three measurements is normally enough to price it the same working day on 0208 123 3004.

How do I care for a stone hearth?

Vacuum ash rather than sweeping it across the surface, clean with pH-neutral soap, and re-seal natural stone annually — the same regime as every stone surface we make. Avoid abrasive stove-glass cleaners dripping onto marble, and lift (never drag) cast-iron companion sets and log baskets across polished finishes.

Heat itself is rarely the problem people expect: stoves stand on air-gapped legs and regulations keep temperatures within what dense stone tolerates. If a hearth does crack — usually from impact or an unsupported void beneath — replacement is straightforward, and minor chips polish out as described in chip & crack repair.