today we're going to be installing a cast own reproduction mantle from architectural accents in Atlanta and the first thing that we're going to have to do is to install a half so welcome to our world first first things first we have to mix up a mortar mix this is six parts sand to one part Portland cement with a very very good mix before you add a little bit of water and it has to be not too much but fairly dry to the touch with just a little moisture here we're going to start to install our hearth it's a three part cast stone half we're going to put it on a bed of one and a half to two inches over that dry mix that I just mentioned which is that six parts of sand to one part of Portland cement and now we're laying it out dry to see exactly how it sets measuring it making sure that all the gaps and all the clearances are the way we want it to be and after having laid this third stone Jose who who's done this many many times is going to level it with my my help and space it as you can see we have a level there and as you can see I'm measuring to make sure the gaps between these three blocks are equidistant and I'm writing down anything I need to write and marking so that when I put it back down it'll be in exactly that position now as you can see we're adding that water that I mentioned before and it's as I say it's very dry mix it's just a little moisture I'm laying it out just shoveling it down and then we screed it so that it's nice and even and level before we put the stones down the actual three half stones we're going to damp the back of the stones and then sprinkle a little Portland cement on top of that bed that we've already laid and just a little water to give it that adhesion you can see now where we're tamping down that stone to make sure that it's got a solid solid sand of being there and attached to that underlayment by the side of this you can hear whether there's if there's a hollow sound you don't have it vetted properly if it's very properly that adhesion which is that that little last sprinkle of Portland cement with a little spray of water will give it enough tap to let it bed in nicely and it'll be it will not move at all as you can see again the last stone where we're damping down and then lay and you see now that I've where we're tamping down that last one will level it diagonally and will level it along the face along the back and when we're happy with that we can make adjustments and then we can just finish off that mortar and make a clean edge on the backside of the fireplace as you can see I'm just pouring a little slurry in there to make sure that that's nicely fixed behind so now you've got a three-part heart that's on a very very solid foundation and it's got enough cushioning in in that bed and it'll set up slowly and that that six parts of sand will really come into play because it'll cure and it'll give it the give but at the same time the weight and the adhesion to be continued in our next thrilling installment which is going to be part two