DIY Fireplace Fail? Do I Have to Tear It Down? (The Monstrosity)

Some of you have been with me since the very beginning of this build, back when the old built-in still lived on this wall. Greg was oddly attached to it. I was not. Taking it down felt amazing, and I thought that meant a fresh start was right around the corner. Instead, this project sat and sat and sat. It stared at me. It genuinely haunted me for close to nine months while other projects, a full season of filming, and a renovation in another state pulled my attention away. I kept telling myself I would get back to it next week, and next week kept turning into something else.

But with the holidays coming, I decided enough was enough. I was determined to get this wall done before Christmas. This post walks through exactly how that attempt went, including the part where it did not go the way I planned.

Where We Started

By the time I picked this project back up, the frame was mostly built, but I still had the hardest parts left: the arches on either side of the fireplace and the TV cutout above it. Before any of that could happen, I needed supplies, and I was almost completely out of usable lumber even though my garage did not look that way.

So I made a run to the home improvement store. Here is what went into the cart:

• Three sheets of drywall

• A stack of 2x3 boards

• Bendable corner round for the arches, plus regular corner round for the rest

• A thin, inexpensive board to shape the arch trim out of, since it was going to be covered anyway

• Pieces for the front of our floating shelves, in case the ones I ordered online did not work out

• Cheap furring strips to support the drywall inside the arches

• Dura Rock cement backer board for the area where stone will eventually go, chosen over Hardy Backer because the rougher texture works better under a scratch coat and it matches the thickness of our drywall

• Stain samples to compare against our cabinet color

I will admit, I love spending time in home improvement stores. It might not be the most useful confession for this blog, but it is true.

Cutting the Arches

The arches were the part that made me the most nervous and the most excited at the same time, so I decided to tackle them first instead of putting them off. I grabbed a sheet of OSB and quickly realized it probably was not enough for both arches, which meant I would be supplementing with scrap wood from the garage if needed.

Before any cutting happened, I put on my Aleah Safety Glasses. They are ANSI Z87.1 plus certified, so they are rated for real jobsite use, not just for looks, even though the cheetah print makes them pretty cute too. If you are working around a table saw, a circular saw, and a jigsaw in the same afternoon like I was, proper eye protection is not optional.

For the arch shape itself, I cheated a little. I had an arched mirror in the house that was almost the exact dimensions I needed, so instead of measuring out a string and pencil method to find a perfect curve, I traced the top of that mirror directly onto the board. It is a shortcut, but it gave me a clean, precise line to work from.

Once I had the first arch cut with the jigsaw, I used that piece as a pattern for the rest. A circular saw kept the repeat cuts straighter than the jigsaw did, which mattered once I needed matching left and right pieces for two arches. I also marked each piece as I went so I would not lose track of which side it belonged to. My Aleah Cheetah Print Pencils got a lot of use here, mostly because they were the only pencils I could actually find in the chaos of the garage.

Partway through, my drill battery died. Then my backup battery only had one bar left. Then that one died too. My third battery finally got me through the rest of the cuts, which is a good reminder to always keep more than one charged battery on hand when you are deep into a project like this.

For the back braces and interior supports of the arches, I used scrap wood, including a bunch of leftover picket stakes that were never meant for this purpose. There is an old saying about using it up, wearing it out, making it do, or doing without, and that is basically how I approached this part of the build. Once both arches were framed, tacked, and reinforced with a framing nailer, they were not perfect, but I felt confident that drywall would clean up the rough edges.

Framing the TV Box

After a short break, it was time to frame the box that would hold the TV above the fireplace, sized at 20 inches tall by 36 inches wide. I built the two side pieces first, then ran into a problem almost immediately. Both side panels went in crooked. On closer inspection, a knot in the wood had pushed the nail out at an angle in one piece, and something similar had happened in the second.

Getting those nails back out was not easy, and at one point I considered just cutting the boards off and starting over rather than fighting with them. In the end, that is exactly what I did with one of the pieces since the knot placement made it impossible to fix cleanly. I cut a new board, redid the cut, and moved on.

Once the TV box frame was solid, I clamped it into place on both sides before nailing it up, mostly so I did not have to hold thirty-plus pounds of framing above my head while also trying to nail it in. My saw blade was overdue for a swap by this point too, which is its own lesson in staying on top of maintenance instead of pushing through with a dull blade because you do not want to stop and deal with it.

By the end of that night, I was out of energy, not materials. I still had a couple of boards left to mount, but I called it and went to bed.

Where It Went Wrong

The next day, I picked up the last few pieces: support bars on the back of each arch niche to help hold the drywall and eventually support shelves and cabinets. That part went smoothly. I tacked each brace on one side, leveled it, centered it, and secured it with screws instead of just nails for extra stability.

With the frame complete, I was ready to start drywall, and I was genuinely excited. This was supposed to be the moment where the wall finally started looking like something instead of a pile of lumber.

Then I noticed one side of the arch frame looked off. Not dramatically off at first glance, but enough that it bothered me. I called my husband over to check, and he agreed something was not right. We grabbed a carpenter square to check it properly, and that confirmed it: the frame had shifted. One piece was pointed noticeably to the right compared to where it should have been.

The strange part was that the bottom of the frame was still perfectly flush and level, exactly where I had originally set it. The problem was higher up, where the wood had apparently warped or twisted after the fact. Some of the lumber I used had sat around for a while before I got to it, and while I thought the warped pieces had been set aside, it is possible some of that movement happened after the frame was already built and nailed in.

That is the moment this episode turned emotional. After nine months of this project sitting untouched, after finally getting momentum again, after getting through the arches and the TV box and a stomach flu on top of it all, seeing the frame twist out of square felt like a genuine setback. I asked out loud whether I was going to have to tear it down. My husband stayed calm and reassuring, reminding me that the work itself was solid and that we would figure out a fix together, but in the moment it did not feel like an easy problem to solve.

I do not have a tidy resolution to hand you in this post. The episode ends with us still working through what happened and how to correct it, rather than with a finished, drywalled wall. That is the honest state of the project right now.

What I Am Taking Away From This

A few things stood out to me once I had a chance to think it over.

First, wood movement is real, and it does not always show up right away. A board can look fine when you cut and frame it, then shift days or weeks later depending on moisture and how it was stored. If you are working with lumber that has sat around, especially anything you already suspect might be slightly warped, it is worth checking your frame with a square more than once as you go, not just at the very end.

Second, keeping your tools charged and sharp matters more than it seems like it should in the moment. Losing time to dead batteries and a dull blade did not cause the warping, but it added friction to a project that already had enough of it.

Third, eye protection is not something to skip just because a cut looks simple. Between the table saw, the circular saw, and the jigsaw, I was glad to have my Aleah safety glasses on for the entire process.

If you want to see more of my builds, including the ones that go smoothly and the ones that do not, you can check out Aleah's collection of DIY tools or browse more project stories on the Aleah DIY blog.

Watch the Full Build

Want to see the project come to life? Watch the full vlog on Aleah DIY for the complete build, behind-the-scenes moments, and everything that didn't make it into this blog.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did the fireplace frame end up crooked after it was already built square? 

The bottom of the frame was still flush and level, but higher sections had shifted out of position. This points to wood movement, meaning some of the lumber likely warped or twisted after it was cut and nailed into place, rather than the frame being built incorrectly from the start.

What is the difference between Dura Rock and Hardy Backer for a stone fireplace surround? 

Dura Rock has a rougher surface, which works well as a base for a scratch coat before applying stone. Hardy Backer tends to be smoother. Dura Rock was also chosen here because its half-inch thickness matched the drywall being used elsewhere on the wall.

Do I really need safety glasses for basic cuts like a jigsaw or circular saw? 

Yes. Even cuts that look simple can throw debris, especially when working with a table saw, circular saw, and jigsaw in the same session. Certified glasses, like the ANSI Z87.1 plus rated Aleah safety glasses, are built for that kind of jobsite use.

How do you trace a symmetrical arch without a template? 

One method is finding the halfway point of your space, then using a string tied to a pencil as a makeshift compass to draw the curve. It works, but it can come out uneven. Using an existing arched object, like a mirror close to the right dimensions, gives a more precise and repeatable line to trace.

What should I do if I discover my frame has warped after it is already built?

 Start by confirming the problem with a square rather than relying on eyeballing it, since warping can be subtle at first. From there, the fix usually depends on how much of the frame is affected. Sometimes it means replacing individual boards, and sometimes it means reinforcing or bracing the section that has shifted. This build is still working through that exact decision.