All About Fireplaces and Fireplace Surrounds DIY

Historical fire pits were sometimes constructed from the ground, in caves, or at the middle of a hut or home. Evidence of prehistoric, man-made flames exists on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of premature indoor fire pits was that they generated hazardous or annoying smoke within the house.Fire pits developed into elevated hearths in structures, but ventilation smoke relied on open windows or holes in roofs. The great hall typically needed a centrally situated hearth, where an open flame burnt with all the smoke rising to the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed during the Middle Ages to allow the roof vents to be coated so snow and rain wouldn't enter.

Also throughout the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were invented to stop smoke from spreading through an area and vent it outside via a wall or roof. These can be placed against stone walls, instead of taking up the middle of the room, and this enabled smaller rooms to be warmed.Chimneys were invented in northern Europe from the 11th or 12th centuries and mostly fixed the issue of fumes, more faithfully venting smoke outside. They made it feasible to provide the fireplace a draft, and made it possible to put fireplaces in multiple rooms in buildings conveniently. They did not come into general use immediately, however, since they were expensive to build and maintain.

In 1678 Prince Rupert, nephew of Charles I, raised the grate of the fireplace, improving the venting and airflow system. The 18th century saw two important developments in the history of fireplaces. Benjamin Franklin developed a convection chamber for the fireplace that greatly improved the efficacy of fireplaces and wood stoves. He also improved the airflow by pulling air from a cellar and venting out a lengthier area at the top. At the later 18th century, Count Rumford designed a fireplace using a tall, shallow firebox that has been better at drawing up the smoke and from the construction. The shallow design improved greatly the amount of radiant heat projected to the space. Rumford's layout is the foundation for modern fireplaces.

The Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s took on a more conventional spectra based on rock and deflected unnecessary ornamentation. Instead it depended on simple layouts with small unnecessary ornamentation. In the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way to the Arts and Crafts movement, where the emphasis was still placed on providing quality stone. Stone fireplaces at this time were a sign of wealth, which to some degree is still the idea today.A fireplace is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to include a fire. Fireplaces are utilized for its relaxing ambiance that they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces change in heat efficiency, depending on the design.

Historically they have been used for heating a home, cooking, and heating water for laundry and domestic uses. A fire is contained in a firebox or firepit; a chimney or alternative flue allows exhaust to escape. A fireplace might have the following: a foundation, a hearth, a firebox, a mantelpiece; a chimney (used in kitchen and laundry fireplaces), a grate, a lintel, a lintel bar, home overmantel, a damper, a smoke room, a throat, a flue, and a chimney filter or afterburner.

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On the exterior there is frequently a corbeled brick crown, in which 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 from the exterior of the chimney; rain in the chimney is a far larger problem in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metallic liners compared with the traditional masonry chimney, which soaks up all but the rain. A few chimneys have a spark arrestor integrated into the cap or crown.

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

Types of fireplacesArtificial fireplaces are made with sheet metal or glass flame boxes.Electric fireplaces could be built-in replacements for wood or gas or retrofit with log inserts or electric fireboxes.A couple of types are, wall mounted electric fireplaces, electric fireplace stoves, electric mantel fireplaces and fixed or free standing electric fireplaces.

Ventless Fireplaces (duct free/room-venting fireplaces) are fueled by either gel, liquid propane, bottled gas or natural gas. In the United States, some states and local businesses have laws restricting these types of fireplaces. Additionally, there are air quality management issues because of the quantity of moisture that they discharge into the room air, and oxygen detector and carbon monoxide sensors are safety essentials. Direct vent fireplaces have been fueled by either liquid propane or natural gas. They are totally sealed from the place that's heated, and port all exhaust gasses to the exterior of the structure.

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AccessoriesA vast range of accessories are used with fireplaces, ranging between countries, regions, and historical periods. For the interior, common in recent Western civilizations include grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, bark baskets, along with fire dogs, all of which cradle fuel and accelerate burning. A grate (or flame grate) is a frame, usually of iron bars, to retain fuel to your fire. Heavy metallic firebacks are occasionally utilized to capture and re-radiate heat, to protect the back of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metal frames set in front of the fireplace to include embers, soot and ash. Other wider accessories can consist of log baskets, companion sets, coal buckets, cabinet accessories and much more.

Over time, the purpose of fireplaces has changed from one of necessity to one of interest. Early ones were more fire pits compared to contemporary fireplaces. They were used for heat on cold days and nights, in addition to for cooking. They also served as a gathering place inside the house. These fire pits were usually centered within a room, allowing more individuals to collect around it.

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Many flaws were found in early fireplace designs. Together with the Industrial Revolution, came large scale housing developments, necessitating a standardization of fireplaces. The most renowned fireplace performers of the time were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a style of fireplace design which has been used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly colored, with an emphasis on the level of the materials used in their construction, instead of their dimensions.

By the 1800s newest fireplaces were made up of 2 parts, the surround and the insert. The encircle comprised of the mantlepiece and sides supports, usually in wood, marble or granite. The fit was where the fire burnt, and was built of cast iron often backed with ornamental tiles. In addition to providing warmth, the fireplaces of the Victorian age were believed to bring a cozy ambiance to houses.

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Some fireplace units include a blower which transfers more of the fireplace's heat to the atmosphere via convection, resulting in a more evenly heated area and a lower heating load. Fireplace efficiency can also be enhanced by means of a fireback, a piece of metal which sits behind the fire and reflects heat back into the room. Firebacks are traditionally made from cast iron, but are also manufactured from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complicated concept although with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficiency tests consider just the effect of heating of the atmosphere. An open fireplace is not, and never was, designed to heat the air. A fireplace with a fireback is a toaster, and has done so since the 15th century. The ideal way to gauge the output of a fireplace is in case you notice you're turning the thermostat down or up.

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