Sylvan Mounds fireplace repair
Fireplace Repair? For Safety’s Sake, You Could Need a Fireplace Replacement
Many things can happen during building of a Sylvan Mounds home – not all good.
A new Sylvan Mounds house has many working parts. Some require very exacting installations to work safely and efficiently. Home builders, while skilled at many things, are often not experts in the precise installations of every mechanical part.
Enclosed fireplaces are often one. While desired for their cheery ambiance and efficient space heating, improper installation of fireplace inserts can create risks that threaten life and home: carbon monoxide escaping. Smoke backup. Live embers escaping onto outside surfaces.
Safety risks with a fireplace insert are often found during a fireplace inspection and cleaning in Sylvan Mounds. Occasionally a fireplace repair is not workable. If the fireplace is compromised, a complete fireplace replacement is necessitated.
Recurring fireplace inspections are always advisable, for both safety and operational efficiency. Hiring an expert such as Butler Chimneys, your fireplace and chimney inspection company in Sylvan Mounds, ensures that a fireplace is operating correctly and your loved ones protected.
Safety problems can be found with both gas and wood-burning fireplaces. More often than not, the cause is incorrect installation. Normally a problem isn’t identifiable from outside the fireplace – a closer inspection inside, by a trained eye, identifies a compromised joint, section or non-working part.
If a part can be replaced, it must be swapped out with the exact manufacturer’s part. Aftermarket parts are notorious for causing issues such as smoke backup, or exhaust not drafting correctly. If a fireplace sparks a house fire, insurance benefits could be turned down if substitute aftermarket parts were used.
Often, though, conditions demand a complete fireplace replacement. A box with rust is automatically verified as unsafe. If a fan stops functioning, replacement is not a choice. A degraded refractory panel has to be replaced.
In these cases, the total fireplace system should be uninstalled, along with the nearby façade. It’s a multi-day undertaking for professionals such as Butler Chimneys. The project creates a window, though, for a homeowner to make improvements they might have already thought about.
Many grab the moment to transition from wood burning to gas. Though not possessing the heat production of wood, gas is far more user friendly (and less labor intensive) as fuel.
Others might choose an open wood-burning fireplace, rather than enclosed. While a net minus for warmth, this design has traditional aesthetics that many find comforting. An open fireplace is far less expensive, too – usually one-third the price of a replacement insert.
The façade buttressing the fireplace can be majorly redesigned, too. Tile, stone or brick veneer, or composite wood are popular selections. The hearth might be reimagined in limestone, tile, brick or stone. The mantle can be reworked to look like steel or wood.
Fireplaces are a wanted feature in Sylvan Mounds homes for multiple reasons. Realistically, these benefits carry possible hazards that shouldn’t be ignored. So don’t – contact Butler Chimneys for fireplace and chimney inspection and cleaning and, if needed, changing a fireplace insert. Just because installation wasn’t done properly the first time, doesn’t mean you have to live with its risks.