hello, I am in the early stages of putting ledgestone around a recent 3 way fireplace i had installed. I have a couple of questions concerning it. 1. The frame the firplace sits on is 18" above the floor. it was farmed flush to the outside dimensions of the fireplace. I need to extnd this farming out slightly to hold the 9" depth hearth i want to incllude around it. My question is, does one normally place the hearth stone so it looks as though the fireplace sits on it so flush with the bottom of the unit, or can i place it so the stone buts up against the fireplace slightly? 2. Has anyone purchased stone from one of the big box stores. I have a Lowes, Home Depot and Menards in my area? 3. Finally, when I spoke to the big box stores they said they boxes contained 8 linear feet( for corners). The specialty stone shop i went to did some sort of .75 multiplication to some number to determine the linear feet. If I have 120 inches of corne needed, is that 10 linear feet wherever i go, or what was this .75 thing they did at the specialy shop? Thanks for all of the help.

i heat my house with two wood stoves but the upstairs is 15 degrees colder than downstairs - planning to cut holes in downstairs ceiling/upstairs floor to get circulation - will use fire dampers for safety - any suggestions for size of holes, use of fans, location of holes, source to buy large floor registers?