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Soooo....

Our nice, 8-month-old, cedar fireplace mantle started to bow and warp upward, like an arch.  If you didn't stare at it, you probably wouldn't notice it...but if I told you it was warped and you looked right at it for a few seconds, you'd probably say, "Oh dude...did you know your mantle is warping?"

I know the warping wasn't due to the heat from the fireplace because the last time we had a roaring fire going, we felt around by the mantle and it wasn't that warm at all.  I'm guessing the wood decided it needed to dry out a little more.  And when it dried out, it also warped a bit and pulled away from the brick mortar.  So yeah, it needs to be replaced.

We told "Contractor Charlie" about it  a while back and he ordered a new piece of lumber (which was mistakenly delivered to our house first).  Charlie stained it, varnished it and brought it over.  They removed the old mantle and put up the new one (I was at work while they were doing this), but the new one didn't match the stained mantle supports...Teresa said it wasn't even close.  She said it was orange.

Soooo...

We had Charlie take it back down to try and get it to match.

This is going to be a train wreck...I know it.  It's not going to match and it's going to be a big fat pain in the ass.