Affordable Fireplace at Your House, Let’s Try! (4)

Date: 2011.11.06 | Category: Home Decoration, Home Improvement, Home Remodelling, House & Home | Tags: chimney,fireplace

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When a house is being completely rehabbed, getting a fireplace to work again isn’t all that difficult, especially with the floors and joists exposed. If you stand in front of the fireplace, about chest-high is where it has been bricked in. You open it up, and stand back while the years of dirt and dead birds fall out. Then you drop a stainlesssteel liner down from the top of the chimney, and it is ready to work again.

Most home inspectors recommend that stainless-steel liners be installed in old chimneys, because terracotta inside old chimneys tends to last only about 50 years. But liners are expensive. From top to bottom of the chimney, fourth floor to the basement, a liner costs $3,000 for about 11/2 hours’ work. Few companies install the liners, and when you pay, you are paying for quality.

If you have a house that was built when fireplaces were considered passé, then you have to start from scratch. Contractor John Burke owned such a house and wanted a gas fireplace. His choice: a ventfree fireplace. Burke spent a lot of time researching before he bought and installed it. The main issue was safety.

A constant supply of fresh air was required to guarantee safe operation. Fortunately, the house was old and drafty. Also, the unit he bought had both a carbon monoxide monitor and an oxygen-depletion sensor. If the level of oxygen in the room with the fireplace reached a dangerous level, the flame would shut off immediately.