West Granville fireplace repair
Fireplace Repair? For Safety’s Sake, You Might Need a Fireplace Replacement
Many things can transpire during construction of a West Granville home – not all desirable.
A new West Granville home has multiple working elements. Some need very specific installations to operate safely and efficiently. House builders, while good at many things, are hardly ever experts in the detailed installations of every mechanical element.
Enclosed fireplaces are often one. While welcomed for their comfy ambiance and efficient room heating, wrong installation of fireplace inserts can cause hazards that threaten life and home: carbon monoxide escaping. Smoke backup. Live embers leaping onto outside surfaces.
Safety issues with a fireplace insert are often uncovered during a fireplace inspection and cleaning in West Granville. Occasionally a fireplace repair is not feasible. If the fireplace is compromised, a complete fireplace replacement is required.
Regular fireplace inspections are always prudent, for both safety and operational efficiency. Hiring an expert such as Butler Chimneys, your fireplace and chimney inspection company in West Granville, ensures that a fireplace is operating correctly and your family protected.
Safety concerns can be revealed with both gas and wood-burning fireplaces. More often than not, the cause is incorrect installation. Usually an issue isn’t obvious from outside the fireplace – a closer check inside, by a trained eye, discovers a compromised joint, section or non-working part.
If a part can be replaced, it must be substituted with the exact manufacturer’s part. Aftermarket parts are notorious for generating problems such as smoke backup, or exhaust not drafting correctly. If a fireplace causes a house fire, insurance benefits could be turned down if substitute aftermarket parts were involved.
Often, though, conditions mandate a total 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 entire 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 institute improvements they might have already thought about.
Many use the opportunity to convert from wood burning to gas. Though without the heat generation of wood, gas is far more user friendly (and less labor intensive) as fuel.
Others might opt for an open wood-burning fireplace, rather than enclosed. While a net minus for heat, this design has traditional aesthetics that many find charming. An open fireplace is far less costly, too – typically one-third the price of a replacement insert.
The façade buttressing the fireplace can be completely 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 desirable feature in West Granville homes for a variety of reasons. Realistically, these benefits come with 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 work wasn’t done correctly initially, doesn’t mean you have to live with its risks.