Brick Fireplace - Mantle work

[olds]

Imagine if you will, a horizontal plane streaching 10'.

Now, that plane is broken into 2 sections.
The bottom section represents 98% of the mass.
The top 2% is "floating" upon that 98% is is comprised of mortar..
Upon that 2% is a 6" X 4" wooden mantle that obviously stretches' 10'.

When looking at eye level, there are undulations in that 2% as material is missing. This leaves gaps between the 98% and the wooden mantle.

Question: how can one make forms, without drilling into the brick, that would allow a deviant to pour mortar or other material into the spaces to fill it?

Q2: is mortar best or is there another self leveling material that would be better?

 

[Greenman]

Don't use forms or mortar, place a small trim on the bottom of the mantel to cover the gap.

The golden rule of contracting. If you can't fix it or hide it, decorate it.

 

[herm0016]

what @Greenman said.

and morter would be thick enough to not need forms, you could use a flat whatever and putin on top, then screed it level and tool the front joint to go that way. but it does take some skill to do this so it looks good.

i would be going with some molding around the brick. just leave it in front of the brick a 1/4 in or so. This small gab will not be seen really and hides the unevenness.

 

[mrblotto]

The top brick surface of our FP was uneven as well, but not nearly as much. I used a chisel and took off the mortar, which flaked right off, then used some sort of a carbide stone manual brick ‘sander’ thing to finish smoothing/leveling. It worked quite well. Of course our mantle is sitting/setting right on it so making it smooth was kinda important. If your mantle doesn’t need support underneath, just hide it.

Edit: Looking again I was mistaken on what OP meant by ‘gap’ …..Doh sorry!

 

[olds]

Going to just trim it out.
Thanks all.