What is the right course of action here?

[Useroftheforce]

Our 20mm marble hearth stone has cracked in a fairly central position. The crack is all the way through, but weirdly is wide at the front and closed near the fire.

To properly fix this will require re-painting the 7x3m wall [we just had painted] plastering the damage we do finding the fixings holding the wooden fire surround in place. Sourcing some more green marble from India and having it cut to form three slip plates and a new hearth stone. Then pulling out and replacing all the existing stones.

So, I am a bit daunted by the whole thing.
Do I have any alternatives?

 

[Deluks]

Fill it with resin, add some glitter, make a feature of it.

 

[Useroftheforce]

Thanks for the reply,

Is that a viable option?
Is ‘resin’ a suitable material?
Where can I find the right resin?

Sounds better than pulling it all apart!

Sorry if this is al common knowledge, not to me it isn’t.

Thanks again

 

[Deluks]

I'm not an expert in resin, but I've seen it used to fill cracks in timber for artistic effect. It sounds a lot cheaper than replacing the hearth and redecorating, if you can pull it off.
You should probably research the kind of temperature it can withstand before proceeding.

Maybe start a new thread in the 'tools and materials' section.

 

[kp00110]

do you have any photos? if the hearth has cracked must be inadequate support below?

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Sounds like someone stood on it to take the christmas decorations down.

20mm is very thin.

 

[Useroftheforce]

do you have any photos? if the hearth has cracked must be inadequate support below?

Sounds like someone stood on it to take the christmas decorations down.

20mm is very thin.

Yes I agree, my last hearth was 50mm - but 20mm is apparently standard thickness in the industry. This one is 20mm, and was installed around the turn of the previous century, so it lasted 120 years before I applied too much solid fuel to the fire which made us nice and warm, but the stone has eased open along one of the natural veins which igneous rock contains. And here we are.

Normally a hearth stone of 20mm is "slabbed" to enable expansion to occur without the internal stresses fracturing the stone as has happened here.

 

[noseall]

Sounds like someone stood on it to take the christmas decorations down.

20mm is very thin.

20mm is standard.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Might be standard, but it's thin. Not really loadbearing sort of thickness, especially if there's a timber floor under it, or possibly not very much.