Fireplace Mantel Decorating Better Homes Gardens

Ancient fire pits were sometimes built in the ground, within caves, or in the middle of a hut or dwelling. Evidence of prehistoric, man-made fires is present on all five inhabited continents. The drawback of premature indoor flame pits was that they generated toxic and/or annoying smoke inside the dwelling.Fire pits developed into raised hearths in structures, but venting smoke relied on open windows or holes in roofs. The great hall typically had a centrally located hearth, where a open flame burnt with all the smoke climbing into the vent in the roof. Louvers were developed throughout the Middle Ages to enable 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 dispersing an area and vent it outside through a wall or roof. These can be placed against rock walls, rather than taking up the middle of the room, and this enabled smaller chambers to be heated.Chimneys were devised in northern Europe from the 11th or 12th centuries and largely fixed the issue of fumes, more faithfully venting smoke out. They made it possible to provide the fireplace a draft, and also made it possible to put fireplaces in multiple rooms in buildings handily. They did not come into general usage instantly, however, as 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 major developments in the history of fireplaces. Benjamin Franklin developed a convection chamber for the fireplace which greatly improved the efficiency of fireplaces and wood stoves. He also enhanced the airflow by pulling air from a basement and venting out a longer place at the top. In the later 18th century, Count Rumford designed a fireplace using a tall, shallow firebox that was better at drawing up the smoke and out of the building. The shallow design also improved greatly the quantity of radiant heat projected to the room. Rumford's layout is the basis for modern kitchens.

The Aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 1880s took on a more conventional spectra based on rock and deflected unnecessary ornamentation. Instead it relied on simple layouts with little unnecessary ornamentation. From the 1890s the Aesthetic movement gave way into the Arts and Crafts movement, in which the emphasis was still placed on supplying quality stone. Stone fireplaces now have been a sign of wealth, which to a degree remains the idea today.A fireplace is a construction made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for its relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces change in heat efficiency, depending on the design.

Historically they were utilized 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 alternative flue allows exhaust to escape. A fireplace may have the following: a base, a hearth, a firebox, a mantelpiece; a chimney (utilized in laundry and kitchen fireplaces), a grate, a lintel, a lintel pub, house overmantel, a damper, a smoke chamber, 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 course to keep rainwater from running down the exterior walls. A hood, cap, or shroud functions to keep rainwater out of the outside of the chimney; rain at the chimney is a much larger problem in chimneys lined with impervious flue tiles or metal liners than with the traditional masonry chimney, which soaks up all but the most violent rain. A few chimneys have a spark arrestor incorporated into the crown or cap.

The EPA writes"Smoke may smell good, but it's not good for you.

Types of fireplacesArtificial fireplaces are made out of sheet glass or metal fire boxes.Electric fireplaces can be built-in replacements for wood or gas or retrofit with log inserts or electrical fireboxes.A few kinds are, wall mounted electric fireplaces, electric fireplace stoves, electric mantel fireplaces and fixed or free standing gas fireplaces.

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

Fireplace Mantel Decorating Better Homes Gardens

AccessoriesA wide assortment of accessories are used with fireplaces, ranging between states, regions, and historical periods. For the inside, common in current Western civilizations include grates, fireguards, log boxes, andirons, pellet baskets, and fire puppies, all which cradle gas and quicken burning. A grate (or flame grate) is a frame, usually of iron bars, to maintain fuel to your fire. Heavy metallic firebacks are occasionally used to capture and re-radiate warmth, to protect the rear of the fireplace, and as decoration. Fenders are low metallic frames placed before the fireplace to include embers, soot and ash.

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 home. These fire pits were generally 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 designers of this time were the Adam Brothers. They perfected a kind of fireplace design that was used for generations. It had been 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 most new fireplaces were made up of two components, the surround and the add. The surround comprised of the mantlepiece and sides affirms, typically in wood, granite or marble. The insert was where the fire burned, and was built of cast iron often backed with decorative tiles. As well as providing warmth, the fireplaces of the Victorian era were believed to bring a cozy ambiance to homes.

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Some fireplace components incorporate a blower which transports 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 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 made from cast iron, but are also made from stainless steel. Efficiency is a complicated concept 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 toaster, and has done so as the 15th century. The ideal way to estimate the output of a fireplace is in case you notice you are turning the thermostat up or down.

Most elderly fireplaces have a comparatively low efficiency score. Standard, contemporary, weatherproof masonry fireplaces still possess an efficiency rating of 80% (legal minimum necessity for example in Salzburg/Austria). To boost efficiency, fireplaces can also be modified by inserting special heavy fireboxes developed to burn cleaner and can reach efficiencies as high as 80 percent in heating the air. These altered fireplaces are often equipped with a large fire window, enabling an efficient heating system in two stages. During the first phase the initial heat is offered through a large glass 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 second stage. Masonry fireplaces with no glass fire window only provide heat radiated from the surface. Based on outside temperatures 1 to 2 daily firings are sufficient to guarantee a constant room temperature.fireplace mantel decor