How to Install A Mantel

By: Harry Sawyers, This Old House magazine

Shopping List

Supplies You Will Need

1. MANTEL
Comes in a kit with legs, a shelf, and interior trim.

2. SHIMS
to level the mantel.

3. 2x4 LUMBER
for cleats on which the mantel will hang. Two 8-foot pieces should do it.

4. 2 1/2-INCH-LONG 1/4-INCH CONCRETE SCREWS
for attaching the mantel to a brick chimney. If the wall isn't brick, use 3-inch decking screws to attach the cleats to the studs.

5. 2-INCH FINISH SCERWS
to fasten the mantel to the cleats. Finish screws (aka trim heads) have small heads that sink below the surface without the need to drill a countersink hole first.

6. 4d FINISH NAILS
to attach the edge molding.

7. WOOD PUTTY
to fill screw holes.

8. CAULK
if you're painting the mantel, to fill gaps where it meets the wall.

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Tools List
Tools You Will Need
- Hammer drill with 3/16-inch masonry bit
- Tape measure
- Saw,
  to cut 2v4s
- 3-foot level
- Torpedo level
- Caulk gun
- Screwdriver
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Product selections for this project
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Photo: Kolin Smith

Introduction
Overview
Steps:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9

Half a day
$400 to $1,400 (depending on style, size and wood chosen)

Difficulty: Easy to moderate Lifting the mantel can be a challenge, but it's easily assembled and attached to the wall

The stockings are hung by the chimney, but who cares? That mantel they're strung from is a joke. Its boring profile may have looked pretty festive dressed up on holidays past, but we all know that sagging shelf's barely fit to foot a mug of eggnog. So why not rip it out and get a new one? The chimney is permanent, but the mantel's just a front. It's basically a frame for the fire, an extremely elaborate piece of molding. Sharp, detailed models come in kits that lock together with a few twists of the Phillips-head. To hang them on the wall you simply attach them to a couple of screwed-on pieces of lumber; as This Old House technical editor Mark Powers shows on the following pages, the whole job takes less than a day.