Wales fireplace repair
Fireplace Repair? For Safety’s Sake, You Could Need a Fireplace Replacement
Many things can transpire during building of a Wales house – not all welcome.
A new Wales home has multiple working elements. Some require very specific installations to operate safely and efficiently. Home builders, while skilled at many things, are hardly ever experts in the precise installations of every mechanical part.
Enclosed fireplaces are one example. While enjoyed for their cheery ambiance and effective room heating, improper installation of fireplace inserts can cause risks that threaten life and home: carbon monoxide escaping. Smoke backup. Live embers flying onto outside surfaces.
Safety risks with a fireplace insert are often identified during a fireplace inspection and cleaning in Wales. Sometimes a fireplace repair is not feasible. If the fireplace is compromised, a total fireplace replacement is necessitated.
Regular 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 Wales, ensures that a fireplace is working properly and your loved ones protected.
Safety issues can be revealed with both gas and wood-burning fireplaces. More often than not, the culprit is improper installation. Typically an issue isn’t obvious from outside the fireplace – a closer check 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 infamous for creating problems such as smoke backup, or exhaust not drafting correctly. If a fireplace sparks a house fire, insurance coverage could be turned down if substitute aftermarket parts were used.
Often, though, conditions require a total fireplace replacement. A box with rust is immediately marked as unsafe. If a fan stops functioning, replacement is not an option. A degraded refractory panel has to be replaced.
In these situations, the complete fireplace system should be removed, along with the surrounding façade. It’s a multi-day undertaking for professionals such as Butler Chimneys. The work creates an opportunity, though, for a homeowner to institute improvements they might have already considered.
Many use the opportunity to transition from wood burning to gas. Though not possessing the heat generation of wood, gas is far more user friendly (and less labor intensive) as fuel.
Others might select an open wood-burning fireplace, rather than enclosed. While a net negative for warmth, 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 totally reworked, 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 welcome feature in Wales homes for many reasons. Realistically, these benefits involve 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 properly initially, doesn’t mean you have to live with its risks.