Lac La Belle fireplace repair
Fireplace Repair? For Safety’s Sake, You Could Need a Fireplace Replacement
Many things can happen during building of a Lac La Belle residence – not all welcome.
A new Lac La Belle house has many working parts. Some require very exacting installations to work safely and efficiently. House builders, while good at many things, are hardly ever experts in the precise installations of every mechanical part.
Enclosed fireplaces are a prime example. While welcomed for their comfy ambiance and efficient space heating, incorrect installation of fireplace inserts can generate risks that threaten life and home: carbon monoxide leakage. Smoke backup. Live embers escaping onto outside surfaces.
Safety risks with a fireplace insert are often discovered during a fireplace inspection and cleaning in Lac La Belle. Sometimes a fireplace repair is not workable. If the fireplace is compromised, a total 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 Lac La Belle, ensures that a fireplace is functioning properly and your family safeguarded.
Safety concerns can be revealed with both gas and wood-burning fireplaces. More often than not, the culprit is improper installation. Often an issue 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 changed, it must be swapped out with the duplicate manufacturer’s part. Aftermarket parts are notorious for creating issues such as smoke backup, or exhaust not drafting correctly. If a fireplace causes a house fire, insurance benefits could be denied if substitute aftermarket parts were involved.
Often, though, conditions demand a complete fireplace replacement. A box with rust is immediately verified as unsafe. If a fan stops working, replacement is not an option. A degraded refractory panel must be replaced.
In these cases, the complete fireplace system should be taken out, along with the surrounding façade. It’s a multi-day process for professionals such as Butler Chimneys. The project creates a window, though, for a homeowner to institute improvements they might have already considered.
Many seize the moment to change over from wood burning to gas. Though not possessing the heat generation of wood, gas is far more convenient (and less labor intensive) as fuel.
Others might select an open wood-burning fireplace, rather than enclosed. While a net minus for heat, this design has old-fashioned aesthetics that many find charming. An open fireplace is far less pricey, too – usually one-third the price of a replacement insert.
The façade around the fireplace can be completely redesigned, too. Tile, stone or brick veneer, or composite wood are popular choices. The hearth might be reimagined in limestone, tile, brick or stone. The mantle can be reworked to resemble steel or wood.
Fireplaces are a desirable feature in Lac La Belle homes for many reasons. Realistically, these benefits come with potential hazards that shouldn’t be neglected. 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 the first time, doesn’t mean you have to co-exist with its risks.