Designing a fireplace using Studco steel studs

Over the Christmas break, I built a fireplace using Studco steel studs. 

Why steel studs instead of timber? It’s much easier and requires less equipment than traditional timber stud constructions, especially for a home reno novice. All I needed for the job was a screwdriver and tin scissors. Assembling the steel stud was as simple as putting Lego together. All you need to do is slide the stud into the track and fix them into position using screws.

Why did I choose to build on site? Most of the time, you will find the conditions of your site (home) are very different to what you planned on paper or drawing. For example, my home has more than 20mm difference in height over the 3000mm span of the fireplace. There was also no timber stud in the wall behind the fireplace for fixing. 

Another factor I took into consideration was cost. I wanted to avoid the labour costs of pre-fabrication, as I could easily build it myself using stud and track. Having the flexibility to cut the stud on site and adjust to my site requirements made this little project much easier.

The fireplace turned out better than expected, and my dog Kaputa also approves!