DIY Fireplace Mantel The Idea Room

Ancient fire pits were sometimes built in the floor, in caves, or in the middle of a hut or dwelling. Evidence of ancient, man-made fires is present on all five inhabited continents. The disadvantage of premature indoor flame pits was that they generated toxic and/or irritating smoke inside the house.Fire pits developed into raised hearths in buildings, but ventilation smoke relied on open windows or openings in roofs. The great hall typically had a centrally located hearth, where a open flame burnt with the smoke rising to the port in the roof. Louvers were developed throughout the Middle Ages to enable the roof vents to be covered so rain and snow would not enter.

Also throughout the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were invented to prevent smoke from dispersing a room and vent it out through a ceiling or wall. These can be put against rock walls, rather than taking up the middle of the room, and this allowed smaller chambers to be heated.Chimneys were devised in northern Europe from the 11th or 12th centuries and largely fixed the problem of fumes, more reliably venting smoke outside. They made it feasible to give the fireplace a draft, and made it possible to put fireplaces in numerous rooms in buildings handily. They didn't come into general usage instantly, however, as they were expensive to build and maintain.

The 18th century saw two important developments in the history of fireplaces. Benjamin Franklin developed a convection room for the fireplace that greatly enhanced the efficiency of fireplaces and wood stoves. He also improved the airflow by pulling air from a cellar and venting out a longer place at the very top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford made a fireplace using a tall, shallow firebox that has been better at drawing the smoke up and out of the building. The shallow design improved greatly the amount of radiant warmth projected to the space. Rumford's layout is the foundation for modern fireplaces.

The Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s took to a more conventional spectra based on stone and also deflected unnecessary ornamentation. Instead it relied on simple designs with little unnecessary ornamentation. In the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way into the Arts and Crafts movement, in which the emphasis was still placed on providing quality gems. Stone fireplaces at this time were a sign of wealth, which to a degree remains the idea today.A fireplace is a construction made from brick, stone or metal designed to include a fire. Fireplaces are used for its relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending upon the design.

Historically they were used for heating a dwelling, cooking, and heating water for laundry and domestic uses. A fire is contained in a firebox or firepit; a chimney or other flue allows exhaust to escape.

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On the exterior there is frequently a corbeled brick crown, where the projecting courses of brick function as a drip route to keep rainwater from running down the outside walls. A cap, hood, or shroud functions to keep rainwater out of the outside of the chimney; rain at the chimney is a much greater difficulty in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metal liners compared with the traditional masonry chimney, which divides up all but the rain. Some chimneys have a spark arrestor integrated into the cap or crown.

Organizations like the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology warn that, according to various studies, fireplaces could pose a substantial health risk. The EPA writes"Smoke may smell great, but it is not great for you.

Types of fireplacesArtificial fireplaces are made with sheet glass or metal fire boxes.Electric fireplaces could be built-in replacements for wood or gas or retrofit with log inserts or electrical fireboxes.

Masonry and prefabricated fireplaces can be fueled by wood, natural gas, biomass and gas fuel sources. Ventless Fireplaces (duct free/room-venting fireplaces) are fueled by gel, liquid propane, bottled gas or natural gas. In the USA, some states and local counties have laws limiting these kinds of fireplaces. They must be suitably sized to the area to be heated. There are also air quality control issues because of the quantity of moisture that they discharge into the room air, and oxygen detector and carbon dioxide sensors are safety essentials. Direct vent fireplaces have been fueled by either liquid propane or natural gas. They are totally sealed in the area that is heated, and vent all exhaust gasses to the outside of the structure.

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AccessoriesFor the interior, common in recent Western cultures comprise grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, bark baskets, along with fire puppies, all of which cradle gas and quicken burning. A grate (or fire grate) is a framework, usually of iron bars, to retain fuel to your fire. Heavy metal firebacks are occasionally used to capture and re-radiate warmth, to safeguard the rear of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metal frames placed in front of the fireplace to contain embers, soot and ash. For fireplace tending, tools comprise pokers, bellows, tongs, shovels, brushes and instrument stands.

Over time, the purpose of fireplaces has transformed from one of requirement to one of interest. Early ones were fire pits than contemporary fireplaces. They have been used for heat on cold days and nights, in addition to for cooking. They also functioned as a gathering place inside the home. These fire pits were usually centered within a space, allowing more individuals to gather around it.

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Many flaws were found in ancient fireplace designs. Together with the Industrial Revolution, came large scale housing developments, necessitating a standardization of fireplaces. The most renowned fireplace performers of the period were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design which has been used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly lit, with an emphasis on the quality of the substances used in their construction, as opposed to their dimensions.

From the 1800s most new fireplaces were made up of two parts, the surround as well as the insert. The surround comprised of the mantlepiece and sides affirms, typically in wood, marble or granite. The insert was where the fire burnt, and was constructed of cast iron frequently backed with decorative tiles. In addition to providing warmth, the fireplaces of the Victorian age were thought to add a cozy ambiance to homes.

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Some fireplace units include a blower which transfers more of the fireplace's heat to the atmosphere via convection, leading to a more evenly heated space and a lower heating load. Fireplace efficiency is also increased with the use of a fireback, a sheet of metal which sits behind the flame and reflects heat back into the room. Firebacks are traditionally made from cast iron, but can also be manufactured from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complex notion though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficacy tests consider only the impact of heating of the atmosphere. An open fireplace isn't, and never was, designed to warm the air. The best way to gauge the output of a fireplace is if you notice you are turning the thermostat down or up.

Most elderly fireplaces have a comparatively low efficiency score. Standard, contemporary, weatherproof masonry fireplaces still possess an efficiency rating of at least 80% (legal minimum necessity such as in Salzburg/Austria). To improve efficiency, fireplaces may also be altered by adding special heavy fireboxes designed to burn much cleaner and can reach efficiencies as large as 80 percent in heating the atmosphere. These modified fireplaces are often equipped with a massive fire window, enabling an efficient heating system in two phases. During the first phase the first heat is provided through a big glass window while the fire is burning. In this time period the construction, constructed of refractory bricks, absorbs the warmth. This warmth is then equally radiated for several hours during the next phase. Masonry fireplaces without a glass fire window just offer heat radiated from its surface. Depending on temperatures 1 to two daily firings are sufficient to ensure a constant room temperature.fireplace mantles