Can you have a traditional stone fireplace in a house thats built on stilts (flood control)?”
if you were building your house on pilings, and the pilings were not driven to bedrock, then the weight of the fireplace could cause the stilts to sink more on the fireplace side of the house than the other side. traditionally speaking, a stone fireplace is built from the ground up, and does not have any support from the structure of the house itself. (stabilization, yes) if you want your novel to feature such a house, as a scenic element, you could mention that supporting the fireplace was an engineering challenge. if you are having the house be a PLOT element, you can detail the challenges of making a stilt house support the weight of the stonework.
