Early Spring Home Decorating Ideas for Fireplace Mantels

Ancient fire pits were sometimes built from the floor, within caves, or in the center of a hut or dwelling. Evidence of ancient, man-made flames exists on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of early indoor flame pits was that they produced hazardous or annoying smoke within the house.Fire pits developed into elevated hearths in buildings, but venting smoke depended on open windows or openings in roofs. The great hall typically needed a centrally located hearth, where a 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 covered so rain and snow would not enter.

Also during the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were devised to prevent smoke from spreading through a room and vent it outside via a ceiling or wall. These can be put against rock walls, instead of taking up the middle of the room, and this allowed smaller rooms to be warmed.Chimneys were devised in northern Europe in the 11th or 12th centuries and mostly fixed the problem of fumes, more reliably venting smoke outside. They made it feasible to provide the fireplace a draft, and also made it feasible to put fireplaces in numerous rooms in buildings handily. They did not come into general use immediately, however, as they were expensive to develop and maintain.

Benjamin Franklin developed a convection room for the fireplace which greatly improved the efficiency of fireplaces and wood stoves. In addition, he enhanced the airflow by pulling air from a cellar and venting a lengthier area on very top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford designed a fireplace using a tall, shallow firebox which has been better at drawing the smoke up and from the construction. The shallow design improved greatly the quantity of radiant warmth projected to the room. Rumford's design is the foundation for modern kitchens.

The Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s took on a more conventional spectra based on stone and deflected unnecessary ornamentation. Rather 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 placed on providing quality gems. Stone fireplaces now have been a sign of prosperity, which to a degree remains the notion today.A fireplace is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a space. Modern fireplaces change in heat efficacy, depending on the plan.

Historically they have been utilized for heating a dwelling, cooking, and heating water for domestic and laundry uses.

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On the exterior there is often a corbeled brick crown, in which the projecting courses of brick act as a drip route to keep rainwater from running down the outside walls. A hood, cap, or shroud serves to keep rainwater from the outside of the chimney; rain at the chimney is a much larger difficulty in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metal liners than with the standard masonry chimney, which soaks up all but the rain. Some chimneys have a spark arrestor integrated into the cap or crown.

The EPA writes"Smoke may smell great, but it is not good for you.

Kinds 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 electrical fireboxes.

Masonry and prefabricated fireplaces can be fueled by wood, natural gas, biomass and gas fuel sources. In the United States, several states and local businesses have laws restricting these kinds of fireplaces. There are also air quality management problems due to the quantity of moisture they release in the room atmosphere, and oxygen sensor and carbon dioxide sensors are security 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 into the exterior of the structure.

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AccessoriesFor the inside, common in recent Western civilizations comprise grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, pellet baskets, along with fire dogs, all which cradle gas and quicken burning. A grate (or flame grate) is a framework, usually of iron bars, to maintain fuel for a fire. Heavy metal firebacks are occasionally used to catch and re-radiate heat, to protect the back of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metal frames placed in front of the fireplace to include embers, soot and ash. Other wider accessories may include log baskets, companion sets, coal buckets, cabinet accessories and much more.

As time passes, the intent behind fireplaces has transformed from one of requirement to one of interest. Early ones were more fire pits compared to modern fireplaces. They have been used for warmth on cold days and nights, as well as for cooking. They also functioned as a gathering place within the house. These fire pits were usually based within a space, allowing more people to gather around it.

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Many flaws were found in ancient fireplace designs. The most renowned fireplace performers of the period were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a style of fireplace design which was used for generations. It had been smaller, more brightly lit, with an emphasis on the quality of the substances used in their construction, instead of their size.

By the 1800s newest fireplaces were composed of 2 parts, the surround and the insert. The encircle consisted of the mantlepiece and sides supports, usually in wood, marble or granite. The insert was where the fire burned, and was built of cast iron often backed with decorative tiles. In addition to providing heat, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were believed to add a cozy ambiance into homes.

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Some fireplace components include a blower which transports more of the fireplace's heat to the atmosphere via convection, leading to a more evenly heated area and a decrease heating load. Fireplace efficiency can also be enhanced with the use of a fireback, a piece 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 complicated notion though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficiency tests consider just the impact of heating of the air. An open fireplace is not, and never was, intended to heat the atmosphere. A fireplace with a fireback is a radiant heater, and has done so as the 15th century. The best method to gauge the output signal of a fireplace is if you notice you're turning the thermostat up or down.

Most older fireplaces have a relatively low efficiency rating. Standard, modern, wood-burning 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 much cleaner and may reach efficiencies as large as 80 percent in heating the air. These modified fireplaces are usually equipped with a large fire window, enabling an efficient heating process in two phases. During the first phase the first heat is provided through a large glass while the fire is burning. In this time period the construction, built of refractory bricks, absorbs the warmth. This warmth is then equally radiated for many hours during the second phase. Masonry fireplaces with no glass fire window only offer heat radiated from its surface. Depending on temperatures 1 to two daily firings are sufficient to ensure a constant room temperature.fireplace mantel decorating ideas