Preston Hollow Whole-Hearth Renovation — Three Fireplaces, One…" loading="eager" / fetchpriority="high" decoding="async">Preston Hollow Whole-Hearth Renovation — Three Fireplaces, One…
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Title (60ch): Preston Hollow Whole-Hearth Renovation, 3 Fireplaces | TSE Meta Description (150ch): A single Preston Hollow estate, three working fireplaces — principal living, primary suite, and loggia — scoped, sequenced, and completed in one continuous build window.—
Preston Hollow Whole-Hearth Renovation — Three Fireplaces, One Estate
Three fireplaces, three solutions, one continuous build
The estate is in central Preston Hollow on a deep Walnut Hill-area lot, with a principal house in the late-traditional vocabulary and a separate guest house at the rear of the property. Three working fireplaces — the principal living room, the primary suite, and a covered loggia — were on the punch list when the owners brought us in. They were working with a Dallas interior designer on a larger interior refresh and wanted the fireplace work scoped, sequenced, and completed inside a single continuous build window.
This is the case study. Not three separate projects. One project, three fireplaces, one timeline.
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The brief
The principal living room fireplace needed a full mantel redesign. The existing mantel was an early-2000s build that did not flatter the room and did not reflect the owners’ taste. The firebox itself was sound but needed a gas conversion.
The primary suite fireplace needed a complete firebox restoration. The flue had a hairline crack on Level 2 inspection">Level 2 inspection. The mantel was original to the room and the owners loved it; the work had to happen without removing it.
The loggia fireplace was a 2008 outdoor masonry unit that had never drafted correctly. The smoke chamber had been built incorrectly at original construction. The owners wanted the unit fixed — meaning rebuilt internally — without changing the visible exterior masonry.
Three different fireplaces. Three different scopes. One continuous build window agreed with the designer.
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The work
Sequencing. Whole-hearth projects live or die on sequencing. We mapped the three scopes against material lead times, household disruption, and the designer’s timeline for the rest of the interior refresh. The sequence we ran was: (1) primary suite firebox restoration first, since the owners were going to be traveling for two weeks and that work would benefit most from an empty wing; (2) loggia rebuild second, since it was self-contained and could happen with the family in residence; (3) principal living room mantel redesign third, with the longest material lead time and the most household-visible disruption. Primary suite (Weeks 1–3). Firebox refractory replacement, smoke chamber parge, stainless flue reline through the existing clay flue, original mantel masked and protected throughout. The mantel was not removed; access was through the firebox opening only. Loggia (Weeks 3–5). Diagnostic on the smoke chamber confirmed the original 2008 build had an undersized smoke shelf and an incorrect chamber profile. We pulled the chamber back to the firebox and rebuilt it to spec, parged to current code, with a corrected flue connection. The visible exterior masonry was untouched. After rebuild and cure the unit drafted correctly through a controlled burn test. Principal living room (Weeks 5–10). Old mantel removed cleanly. Wall reframed where needed for the new mantel’s dead load. New mantel — designed in coordination with the interior designer over four working sessions — milled in poplar, primed for paint, with a Carrara slip and a Cordova Cream hearth. Firebox converted to a sealed direct-vent gas system with a remote, log set proportioned to the period of the room, vent run through the existing flue. Commissioning across all three (Week 10–11). Each fireplace was commissioned individually with the owners and the designer present. Documentation, photographs, and Level 2 records were produced for each fireplace and bundled into a single project file delivered to the owners.—
Materials
- Refractory panels, refractory mortar
- 304-stainless flue liner, insulated (primary suite)
- Hand-matched mortar (loggia smoke chamber rebuild)
- Poplar mantel, primed and painted (principal LR)
- Carrara marble slip, Cordova Cream hearth (principal LR)
- Sealed direct-vent gas firebox, remote-controlled (principal LR)
- Period-proportioned ceramic log set (principal LR)
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Timeline
Eleven weeks total, single continuous window. The sequence was: weeks 1–3 primary suite, weeks 3–5 loggia, weeks 5–10 principal living room, weeks 10–11 commissioning and documentation. No fireplace overlapped meaningfully with another in the work phase, which kept household disruption to a single zone at a time.
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Outcome
Three fireplaces, three different scopes, one project file, one consistent quality of work and documentation. The estate now has a working hearth in the principal living room, a working primary suite fireplace, and a loggia that drafts correctly for the first time since it was built. The interior designer has referred us into two additional Preston Hollow estate-scale projects since.
For homeowners considering a whole-hearth renovation, the sequencing matters as much as the work itself. Each fireplace is a project. The whole estate is a meta-project. We scope, sequence, and run them as a coordinated build.
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Project credits
Contractor of record: Texas Service Experts Interior designer: Credited at firm’s request Inspection and documentation: CSIA Certified, F.I.R.E. Certified Millwork: Texas hardwood shop, long-term partner—
Adjacent work
For other estate-scale projects, see the Old Preston Hollow French chateau mantel, the Volk Estates traditional mantel redesign, or the Preston Hollow modern limestone surround.
Return to the main portfolio index or browse the Preston Hollow area page.
To scope a multi-fireplace estate project, reach the design team at 214-444-8094.
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