When I had L.S. Stone Masonry at my house applying the exterior stone, I also had them add it to the back of the chimney that sits inside our greenhouse room. My wife and I knew we wanted to have a flat panel wainscot wall along the bottom, so I installed a stained maple top rail to give the mason’s a stopping point for their stone. Once they had completed their work I was able to get started putting in the final floors and doing the trim work.

Our greenhouse room, along with our mudroom and laundry room, used to be where our porch was before we renovated. We decided we wanted to keep the “porch” feel in those rooms, so we designed them with tongue-and groove board ceilings and brick floors. I had already completed the floors in the mudroom and laundry room, and now it was time to install the greenhouse floors. Using the reclaimed bricks I had collected a few years earlier, I laid the amount I needed out in our driveway so I could clean them off and then pick and choose them as I worked.

After installing the cement backer board, I got to work installing the bricks in a basket weave pattern.

My wife wanted to help so I taught her how to lay brick. Turns out she’s a pretty decent mason.

After the bricks were installed, I sealed them, then pointed them, and then sealed the entire floor again. Sealing the bricks before pointing them allowed me to grout the joints similar to a ceramic tile floor, and it kept the normally porous bricks from getting stained from the mortar.

After the floor was finished I framed up the wall and roughed in the electrical lines for new outlets.

Next, I closed up the wall and then trimmed everything out including adding baseboards and window trim to the remainder of the room. .

The finished product.