How to Choose the Right Fireplace for Your Home
A fireplace can be a great addition to your house. They can not only bring warmth and cosiness to your home during winters, it can also add aesthetic value and change the interiors of a room dramatically. Adding a fireplace to your house is no longer just about heating. Plus, with the ever rising cost of gas and fuel these days, wood burning is the next best viable option.
However, you should not rush when purchasing your fireplace. There are certain things you have to consider. Rushing and getting yourself a mediocre fireplace will cost you more money in the future and will not look as pleasing as you want it to be. Here are some points you might want to bring up when consulting a professional:
What are your preferences and requirements? The size of your fireplace should be taken into careful consideration. Small stoves generate lower heat and the bigger fireplaces require more maintenance and can cause you hassle and trouble in the future. A wood stove that is too large for a room will heat it up too quickly and you will have to adjust the heat and temperature by cracking a window and stuff like that.
What do you prefer? Firewood or pellets?
Fire wood or logs tend to take up space and is not practical especially for small apartments. You will need a place to pile the fire wood where they are kept away from environmental elements that can cause them to rot and most importantly somewhere they will stay dry. If you do not have all this space at home, you should probably opt for pellets. Pellets come in store bags that can be easily stocked in cabinets. Not only does that, pellets also not require chimneys so it is the best choice when choosing for a stove that will work well in an apartment. On the downside, pellet stoves call for more maintenance than the conventional stoves.
Where do you intend to install your fireplace? It is important to consider where inside a room you intend to place the fireplace and where inside your house is this room located. You want to create as much clearance as possible. Clearance is the space between your fireplace and the walls and ceilings. The bigger the clearance, the lower your chances of catching fires or causing damage to your house is. Check the serial plate of the stove you plan to purchase and see if you can accommodate the clearance it requires at your place.
What is the style you are going for?
After deliberating on the safety, size and burning issues, you now have to come to the last but equally important aspect of choosing a fireplace—design. The design of your fireplace can lift up a dull room and dramatically change the interiors of your home. It is also a statement of your personal style. Fireplaces come in many varieties of style and design from rustic, conventional, traditional or modern you will surely find one that speaks of your taste.
