Oakwood fireplace repair
Fireplace Repair? For Safety’s Sake, You Could Require a Fireplace Replacement
Many things can occur during construction of a Oakwood home – not all wanted.
A new Oakwood home has myriad working components. Some involve very exacting installations to function safely and efficiently. Home builders, while skilled at many things, are not always experts in the detailed installations of every mechanical element.
Enclosed fireplaces are often one. While enjoyed for their comfy ambiance and effective space heating, wrong installation of fireplace inserts can create risks that threaten life and home: carbon monoxide escaping. Smoke backup. Live embers leaping onto outside surfaces.
Safety issues with a fireplace insert are often identified during a fireplace inspection and cleaning in Oakwood. Periodically a fireplace repair is not workable. If the fireplace is compromised, a complete fireplace replacement is needed.
Regular fireplace inspections are always advisable, for both safety and operational efficiency. Hiring a professional service such as Butler Chimneys, your fireplace and chimney inspection company in Oakwood, ensures that a fireplace is operating correctly and your loved ones protected.
Safety concerns can be revealed with both gas and wood-burning fireplaces. More regularly than not, the culprit is improper installation. Usually an issue isn’t viewable from outside the fireplace – a closer look inside, by a trained eye, finds 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 infamous for creating issues such as smoke backup, or exhaust not drafting correctly. If a fireplace ignites a house fire, insurance coverage could be turned down if substitute aftermarket parts were used.
Often, though, conditions require a complete fireplace replacement. A box with rust is immediately flagged as unsafe. If a fan stops functioning, replacement is not a choice. A degraded refractory panel has to be replaced.
In these examples, the entire fireplace system should be removed, 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 considered.
Many seize the moment to convert from wood burning to gas. Though without 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 heat, this design has traditional aesthetics that many find comforting. An open fireplace is far less pricey, too – typically one-third the cost of a replacement insert.
The façade surrounding the fireplace can be majorly reworked, too. Tile, stone or brick veneer, or composite wood are popular selections. The hearth might be redone in limestone, tile, brick or stone. The mantle can be reworked to resemble steel or wood.
Fireplaces are a wanted feature in Oakwood homes for many reasons. Realistically, these benefits come with potential 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 something wasn’t done properly initially, doesn’t mean you have to co-exist with its risks.