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Fireplace Guides |
Purchasing a home with a fireplace or stove or adding one on to your
home can provide tremendous benefit in heat efficiency and home resale
value. In fact, one of the top investments you can do to your
remodeling job is to add a fireplace. Almost 80% of homebuyers look
for homes with a fireplace or stove in homes that cost $100,000 and
consider this as being the most appealing amenity for the home.
Over the years, the purpose of a fireplace has changed. It used to be
that a home would have a fireplace simply for appearance and recreational
use like when entertaining guests for a dinner party. Today, fireplaces
and stoves still provide these benefits but they are also cost and energy
effective.
Many of the designs found today offer something unique. There are
see-through designs where two rooms can share the same beautiful fire,
and even fireplaces and stoves that have glass three- and four-sided
views. This type of design can fit into any style room, offering
something extra special. Many of the old masonry fireplaces do not heat
a home efficiently. They allow the warm indoor air to escape outside,
losing from 80% to 100% of their heat as well as 10% of the indoor air.
That certainly does not do much for keeping a house warm.
Many fireplaces today are factory built and designed specifically to
produce more heat than a traditional masonry fireplace. This type
fireplace is also called low clearance and can be located as close as
one-half inch from the wall with no danger of fire. These fireplaces
are extremely lightweight and reasonably priced. If you are handy
around the home, you might even be able to do the installation yourself.
Just be sure to carefully follow the instructions of the manufacturer
and check with your homeowner's insurance company. You can purchase one
of these fireplaces for as little as $400 for a smaller more simplistic
design.
If you want to increase the efficiency of your masonry fireplace,
consider a slanted back, which allows the heat to radiate into the room
better, an insulated fireplace, a fan-driven heat exchanger to enable the
fire to warm the air as well as radiate it. Glass doors are also heat
efficient. Many are designed to hold in heat after the fire is
extinguished, keeping the room nice and toasty. Check with your local
fireplace specialist for other options for getting the most out of your
fireplace.
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