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Choosing The Right Fireplace For Your Home



A fireplace can offer warmth, ambience, and an inviting focal point in a home. Fire provides the perfect atmosphere for social interaction, and watching the dancing flames is a primal and sensual experience which awakens the senses of sight, sound, smell and of touch.

If you want a reasonably priced heater to heat a specific room in your house that always seems to be chilly, you can install a vent free gas fireplace installed which cost a lot less than any kind of traditional fireplace or the electric that you would have to spend on with an electric heater.

The ventless gas fireplace uses no exhaust vent. This style includes an oxygen depletion sensor that turns off the gas if it senses a dangerous lack of oxygen inside the room or house. For safety purposes, it is crucial that you do not fall asleep or leave the unit burning unattended. While fireplace manufacturers claim that vent-free fireplaces burn clean, are energy efficient and don’t threaten indoor air quality, be aware that some states don’t permit the installation of vent-free fireplaces.

Fireplace options

If you enjoy using your masonry fireplace but don’t like the associated energy costs, you might want to consider purchasing a fireplace insert. Fireplace Inserts are specially designed to fit into a pre-existing Masonry Fireplace to increase heat output, reduce pollutant output, and increase heat efficiency. They can also drastically change the appearance of your fireplace and bring a modern element to your home.

If you want to utilize natural or propane gas, you can either choose between a direct vent or ventless gas fireplace inserts. If wood is readily available, you may want to consider a wood burning fireplace insert. If neither gas nor wood are viable options, you can consider electric fireplace inserts that can simply be plugged in and are ready for operation. If you have small children, there is an added bonus. Unlike other fireplaces, the electric fireplace is always cool to the touch.

If you want to install a wood stove into your home, the easiest way is to pick up a wood stove insert; a ready-made metal wood stove that simply slides into the cavity left by your original fireplace. Attractive yet unobtrusive, inserts are easy to install and easily provide more than enough heat for several adjacent rooms.

There are several things you need to do before making your initial purchase and choosing the stove itself. Firstly, ensure that the chimney and fireplace is cleaned and inspected by a certified technician before making any kind of decision. Then spend a few days mulling over websites and literature to familiarize yourself with modern wood stoves before starting out on the hunt.

Another great option is the pellet stove insert. There are several reasons pellet stoves have an advantage over other types of inserts. First is the convenience of the pellet fuel. The fuel is made of pressure compacted sawdust, corn or other biomass.

These pellets are very clean, unlike loads of wood that often leave bark, leaves, and shavings behind. They come in bags, and can be easily stacked and stored indoors or in a shed or garage. They take up less space than wood also.

The stoves are environmentally friendly, since the pellets burn very clean with very few emissions, and because the fuel pellets utilize waste matter that would otherwise be put into a landfill. They also create less ash, therefore less mess and waste as an after product.

Outdoor Fireplaces

When compared to indoor fireplaces, outdoor fireplaces burn brighter and radiate more heat. As the outdoor fireplaces are highly exposed to wind and rain, it is crucial to build shelters for these fireplaces. You can consider an outdoor stone fireplace.

It is an inexpensive way to add elegance and style to the outdoor space. A stone fireplace is easier to install and clean when compared to other outdoor fireplaces and it can withstand harsh climatic conditions.

Even though wood-burning outdoor fireplaces are attractive additions to the outdoor space, they cause air pollution and accumulation of creosote (a highly flammable residue formed by wood gases). This is why outdoor gas fireplaces (propane or natural gas) are a more popular choice. They prevent the excess emission of carbon monoxide and other hazardous pollutants.

For Hearth Maintenance

You will need a set of fireplace tool set which include a shovel, a poker, a brush and tongs. You have to keep the hearth area clear of ash because this will suffocate fires and make it very difficult to keep a good blaze going. The poker is used to help move logs about so that the wood can burn more evenly. Without these fundamental tools, you will not be able to effectively manage or maintain a fire.

Fireplaces are an excellent way of gathering your family together or a romantic evening with your significant other. Either way, the fireplace creates a family-friendly atmosphere while adding the perfect bit of ambiance to your home.

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Freestanding Electric Fireplace?



I have an Freestanding Electric Fireplace that works fine however, I makes the most God awful noise when it is running. It sounds like a screw is being churned in the motor. I have no Idea what it could be. Any ideas?


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Where can I buy a round firewood log grate to place inside?



I recently had a paver brick patio built with a fire pit built into the ground. I’m having a hard time finding a round grate to place inside the pit for firewood.


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Hallmark stores had an electric fireplace(full size) that they used for display last year. Where to purchase ?




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    Is it okay to have a china hutch in the living room?



    Other things in the room is a fireplace, a big square ottoman, a modern love seat and a rocking chair. Thanks for any suggestions.


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    Call Direct tv first or have best buy install the tv wall mount.?



    Trying to figure out the best approach here. We have a living room bare wall for the soon tv wall mount but the cable outlet is on top of a fireplace which is just beside this wall. Can Geek squad fish the cable to this wall? Or do I set up direct tv first to come and re route the cable wires and place a cable out let on the wall first.

    Geek squad says they can fish it out but I’m not confident if they can re-route the cables. Direct tv is 49$ to do the custom cable wire installation.


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    Is this house Victorian or Edwardian?



    I’m talking about my grandma’s house. (I asked this question somewhere else and got 0 answers, so polls & surveys it the best for answers)
    I think it’s late Victorian but my mum thinks it’s Edwardian.
    Go to google earth and type in…
    18 Hull Street, Richmond, Victoria.
    The exact result is her house and look at the outside using the street view . Oh, yes, she’s moved out of the house and it’s empty now because it’s very, very, very sadly getting knocked down in two weeks.. :( . Stalk her all you want, you won’t find her!

    Anyway, the front of the house is double fronted, door in the middle, two single sash windows to either side, a veranda, tin roof and decorative architraves around the door and windows. The original house was four rooms and a hallway, an outdoor kitchen, bathroom, laundry and toilet.

    Walk through the front door, probably changed in the 60’s to a porthole door, into an hallway. In the middle of the hallway, there is a hallway arch which looks victorian to me, not the wooden edwardian kind, similar to this one…

    http://www.gardeniahouse.com/p/arch.jpg

    On the left, you enter through a four panelled door (two top panels longer than the bottom), like this one…

    http://www.terracehousefactory.com.au/product_images/Door-Vic-Red-C_1475.jpg

    …into the main bedroom, with single sash window, vented ceiling rose, like this one…

    http://www.dunstoneplaster.com.au/PLASTER%20PRODUCTS/CEILING%20ROSES/CEILING%20ROSE%20660_PUB.jpg

    …and you can see where the chimney breast used to be, but all of them in the house were taken out in the 60’s. It has no cornicing but has detailed skirting boards. Go back out of the hallway and turn right is another bedroom, same stuff, sash window, you can see where the chimney breast was, four panelled door and ceiling rose. Go down the hallway, turn left, another bedroom, sash window, four panelled door, old chimney breast, no cornicing and an un-vented ceiling rose. Turn back into the hallway and turn right into a living room, no cornicing, ceiling rose, no door, like the other rooms. Go back into the hallway and go to the end where an extension was added in the early 70’s. My mum told me the kitchen, bathroom, laundry and toilet were all outside, if that helps. Then the extension connected the bathroom and kitchen to the main house.

    Nothing great about the extension, just a long room. Then there’s the kitchen, which has a low ceiling height, and the bathroom which which is even shorter than the kitchen. Then outside, is the laundry which has an edwardian looking door and an old fireplace. There is the outside toilet which is just a toilet and a door made out of a few boards and nails.

    The whole house is built out of brick but has weatherboard at the front. It looks very similar to this house…

    http://www.realestate.com.au/property-ho…

    but with no cast iron.

    So what do you think?


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    What room size does a 1500 Watt, 5000 BTU electric heater heat ?



    The product is a freestanding 2005 Charmglow Colonial Electric Heater / Fireplace.


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    soo… the world news says…?



    .. we are in a recession! general electric reported a 6% drop… is this enough to convince the republicans that we are at least close to recession, if not IN one right now?

    and please dont accuse me of being a lib who just loves bad news.. i wouldn even consider myself completely liberal at all…and i HATE that we are in a recession as me and my hubby are small business owners… we have a fireplace business where we do sales and every service for fireplaces… and no one is building.. when no one is building a home.. no one needs a fireplace… about 60% of our sales come from new homes… so please dont accuse me of being a lover of bad news like the republicans tried to suggest the last time i posted a question like this… and how many of you believed tyrant goerge w when he confidently said, "WE ARE NOT HEADED TOWARDS A RECESSION!" he knew we were/are.. why cant he EVER tell the truth??
    xiphos: yes, if our business goes under, george bush will be partly to blame…. he is to blame for the ridiculous price of oil and the price of everything else goin up.. i know he isnt the only one responsible, but he plays a big part… invading acountry we should have stayed out of was HIS FAULT! i cant wait until ppl see bush for the lying greedy, evil and corrupt demon he is… but i dont think his supporters will ever see that no matter what he does… if they havnt seen it by now, there is no hope for them.
    oh, and hes responsible for the fact that we are paying almost 10 billion a month in iraq and if mccain is elected we will cntinue to pay that.. and you dont think THAT is gonna make taxes go up?? please! or that we have a deficit higher than ever?? oh no, the president of the united states couldnt possibly have anything to do with it…
    and i do believe that change is the answer for sure, but that doesnt mean i will be voting obama or hilary… i dont support ANY candidates in this election… especially mccain!
    hmmm… why am i not surprised there isnt more repblicans answering this question?? usually they are pouring answers in left and right tryin to shoot down my ?
    euro: what do you mean we never really got out of a recession?? when recently was there a recession?? there hasnt been one in my lifetime, except for in the 80’s.. i know that when i was growing up as a teen, the economy was booming! my parents business was the best it had been…it didnt start to decline until recently…and when i got married in 2003, the eeconomy was ok then too… not as good as in the 90’s but it was still ok.heck, i would love to go back to payin .24 for gas like it was in 2003.


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    What is an electric fireplace?



    How would you install it and what is needed. Where can i get one? What would also be an option I dont want to have it installed by a professional, but i want to have a form of heat in an existing fireplace that is non-usable.


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