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Trying to figure out how to make decent looking trim against round river rock facia on fireplace sides. River rocks wrap around to sides (chimney goes up through middle of house) and I am going to installed T&G boards vertically on the rest of the sides to match other T&G in house. Don't know how best to trim vertical boards next to round irregular rocks. Choices seem to be 1) leave board edge straight and grout to rocks 2) try and trim board edge to fit against irregular round rocks and grout space that's left. The boards are 3/4" think and 8" from floor to ceiling and I think it will look funny with a thick board trimmed next to rocks. (Hard to explain.) Any other ideas on how to do this? Thanks.
I would not recommend trim. Coping your first board to match the stonework is not that difficult. You must start the paneling from either side of the stonework and move away, to the corners of the room.
1) Stand your first board flat against the wall (finish side out) so that one edge touches the farthest protruding stone(s) of the fireplace. Use a long level (4 foot) to get this board vertically level. Temporally tack the board in place with small finish nails top and bottom.
2) Unless you are extremely tall, you will need a latter for this part. Using one of those fat permanent markers. Sliding the marker along the side of the stones, draw the shape of the stones on the board as a rough guide. IMPORTANT; try to hold the marker level and as close to 90 degrees to the panel as you can. Depending on the variation of the stones and mortar, you will only be able to mark parts of the board. That is not a problem!
3) Now take the board down and cut out the marked areas with a coping or jig saw.
4) Repeat steps 1-3 using a slightly smaller marking device, like a fat crayon. This time you will be cutting much more of the board because the previous process allowed the panel to hug more of the stones this time.
5) Repeat steps 1-3 using a slightly smaller marking device, like a number two pencil.
You may need to adjust a few spots by hand carving, depending on the roundness of the stones and where they touch the panel but, I think you will find this method gets you close enough to use a small bead of cement colored caulk as a final touch.