Fake It Til You Make ItThe Making of a Faux Fireplace

Ancient fire pits were sometimes built in the floor, in caves, or at the center of a hut or home. Evidence of prehistoric, man-made flames is present on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of premature indoor fire pits was that they generated hazardous or irritating smoke inside the dwelling.Fire pits developed into elevated hearths in structures, but venting smoke relied on open windows or openings in roofs. The great hall typically needed a centrally situated hearth, where an open fire burned with all the smoke rising to the port in the roof. Louvers were developed throughout the Middle Ages to allow the roof vents to be covered so snow and rain would not enter.

Also throughout the Middle Ages, smoke canopies were invented to prevent smoke from dispersing a room and vent it out via a ceiling or wall. These could be put against stone walls, instead of taking up the center of the room, and this allowed smaller rooms to be heated.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 also made it possible to place fireplaces in multiple rooms in buildings conveniently. They did not come into general use immediately, however, since they were expensive to develop and maintain.

Benjamin Franklin developed a convection room for the fireplace that greatly enhanced the efficiency of fireplaces and wood stoves. In addition, he improved the airflow by pulling air from a cellar and venting a longer area at the top. At the later 18th century, Count Rumford made a fireplace with a tall, shallow firebox that was better at drawing the smoke up and from the building. The shallow design also improved greatly the amount of radiant heat projected into the room. Rumford's design is the basis for modern kitchens.

The Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s took on a more traditional spectra based on stone and deflected unnecessary ornamentation. Instead it relied on simple layouts with little unnecessary ornamentation. In the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way to the Arts and Crafts movement, where the emphasis was still placed on supplying quality gems. Stone fireplaces at this time 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 made to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance that they create and for heating a space. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design.

Historically they were used for heating a home, cooking, and heating water for laundry and domestic uses. A fireplace may have the following: a foundation, a hearth, a firebox, a mantelpiece; a chimney crane (utilized in kitchen and laundry fireplaces), a grate, a lintel, a lintel pub, home overmantel, a damper, a smoke room, a neck, a flue, and a chimney filter or afterburner.

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On the exterior there is often a corbeled brick crown, in which the casting courses of brick function as a drip route to keep rainwater from running down the outside walls. A hood, cap, or shroud serves to keep rainwater out of the exterior of the chimney; rain at the chimney is a far greater problem in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metal liners compared with the traditional masonry chimney, that 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 out of sheet metal or glass flame boxes.Electric fireplaces can be built-in replacements for either wood or gas or retrofit with log inserts or electrical fireboxes.A couple of kinds are, wall mounted electric fireplaces, electric fireplace stoves, electrical mantel fireplaces and fixed or free standing electric fireplaces.

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 either gel, liquid propane, bottled gas or natural gas. In the United States, some states and local counties have laws restricting these kinds of fireplaces. They need to be properly sized to the area to be heated. Additionally, there are air quality control issues because of the amount of moisture they discharge into the room air, and oxygen sensor and carbon dioxide sensors are safety essentials. Direct vent fireplaces are fueled by either liquid propane or natural gas. They are totally sealed from the area that is heated, and port all exhaust gasses to the outside of the structure.

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AccessoriesFor the inside, common in recent Western civilizations include grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, bark baskets, along with fire puppies, all of which cradle fuel and accelerate burning. A grate (or fire grate) is a framework, usually of iron bars, to retain fuel for a fire. Heavy metallic firebacks are sometimes utilized to catch and re-radiate heat, to protect the rear of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metallic frames placed in front of the fireplace to contain embers, soot and ashes. For fireplace tending, tools comprise pokers, bellows, tongs, shovels, brushes and instrument racks.

As time passes, the intent behind fireplaces has changed from one of requirement to one of interest. Early ones were fire pits than contemporary fireplaces. They have been used for warmth on chilly days and nights, as well as for cooking. They also served as a gathering place inside the home. These fire pits were generally based within a room, allowing more individuals to gather around it.

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Adding the finishing touch with a faux fireplace mantel Jennifer Rizzo

Many defects were found in early fireplace designs. Together with the Industrial Revolution, came large scale housing developments, requiring a standardization of fireplaces. The most famous fireplace designers of this time were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a style of fireplace design that was used for generations. It was smaller, more brightly colored, with a emphasis on the quality of the materials used in their construction, as opposed to their size.

By the 1800s newest fireplaces were composed of 2 components, the surround as well as the insert. The surround comprised of the mantlepiece and sides affirms, usually in wood, granite or marble. The insert was fire burned, and was built of cast iron often backed with ornamental tiles. In addition to providing warmth, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were believed to bring a cozy ambiance into homes.

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Some fireplace units include a blower that transports more of the fireplace's heat to the air via convection, leading to a more evenly heated space and a lower heating load. Fireplace efficiency can also be increased 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 produced from cast iron, but are also made from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complicated notion though with open hearth fireplaces. Most efficacy tests consider only the impact of heating of the air. An open fireplace isn't, and never was, intended to heat the atmosphere. A fireplace with a fireback is a radiant heater, and has done so since the 15th century. The best way to estimate the output signal of a fireplace is in case you notice you are turning the thermostat down or up.

Most older fireplaces have a relatively low efficiency score. Standard, modern, wood-burning masonry fireplaces though have an efficiency rating of 80% (legal minimum requirement such as in Salzburg/Austria). To boost efficiency, fireplaces may also be modified by inserting special heavy fireboxes designed to burn cleaner and can reach efficiencies as high as 80 percent in heating the air. These modified fireplaces are often equipped with a massive fire window, allowing an efficient heating process in two stages. During the first phase the initial heat is offered through a big glass window while the flame is burning. During this time period the structure, constructed 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 just offer heat radiated from its surface. Based on outside temperatures 1 to 2 daily firings are enough to guarantee a constant room temperature.faux fireplace mantel