I am working on remodeling my fireplace and decided that I wanted to use a solid wood mantel. Though I have some trees on my place that might work I went around locally to fireplace stores, rock and stone yards, etc to see what might be available and how much it would cost to buy one ready to install versus cutting one from my place and installing it.
In one local fireplace store they have a great selection of wood mantels from many varieties of hardwoods, all prefinished and ready to install. As I checked all of them available with the dimensions that would fit my particular needs, I found one oak mantel with a live edge front (bark still in place) and clinging to the bark all along the front of this mantel was a 2" thick (5 cm) poison ivy vine that had been cut to the same length. I told the owner what he had for sale but I don't know whether he ever removed that vine. The way it had all been finished looked like they treated it as an extra decorative element. I don't remember whether they were charging more for the mantel with the built-in irritant but it wouldn't surprise me to find that they were.
It seems to me that once you install that over a nice heat source it may start to liberate some of the oils and really cause an allergic reaction among anyone who buys that mantel without recognizing that vine.
For anyone trying to remove poison ivy from your property with the least amount of work, I have had luck covering it with 6" or more of straw hay and leaving that in place for at least one year. If you cut the vines and bushes to the ground and then cover the area leaving all the cuttings in place they will decompose. Just add some straw if any of it pokes through. It's a plant and so it needs light to grow. In a couple of growing seasons it will be gone.
In one local fireplace store they have a great selection of wood mantels from many varieties of hardwoods, all prefinished and ready to install. As I checked all of them available with the dimensions that would fit my particular needs, I found one oak mantel with a live edge front (bark still in place) and clinging to the bark all along the front of this mantel was a 2" thick (5 cm) poison ivy vine that had been cut to the same length. I told the owner what he had for sale but I don't know whether he ever removed that vine. The way it had all been finished looked like they treated it as an extra decorative element. I don't remember whether they were charging more for the mantel with the built-in irritant but it wouldn't surprise me to find that they were.
It seems to me that once you install that over a nice heat source it may start to liberate some of the oils and really cause an allergic reaction among anyone who buys that mantel without recognizing that vine.
For anyone trying to remove poison ivy from your property with the least amount of work, I have had luck covering it with 6" or more of straw hay and leaving that in place for at least one year. If you cut the vines and bushes to the ground and then cover the area leaving all the cuttings in place they will decompose. Just add some straw if any of it pokes through. It's a plant and so it needs light to grow. In a couple of growing seasons it will be gone.