West Milwaukee fireplace repair
Fireplace Repair? For Safety’s Sake, You Might Need a Fireplace Replacement
Many things can happen during building of a West Milwaukee house – not all good.
A new West Milwaukee home has myriad working parts. Some require very specific installations to operate safely and efficiently. Home builders, while skilled at many things, are often not experts in the detailed installations of every mechanical component.
Enclosed fireplaces are a prime example. While enjoyed for their cheery ambiance and efficient room heating, wrong installation of fireplace inserts can cause 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 discovered during a fireplace inspection and cleaning in West Milwaukee. Periodically a fireplace repair is not workable. If the fireplace is compromised, a total fireplace replacement is needed.
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 West Milwaukee, ensures that a fireplace is operating correctly and your loved ones safeguarded.
Safety problems can be discovered with both gas and wood-burning fireplaces. More regularly than not, the culprit is improper installation. Typically a problem 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 changed, 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 sparks 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 automatically marked as unsafe. If a fan stops working, replacement is not an option. A degraded refractory panel must be replaced.
In these examples, the complete fireplace system should be taken out, along with the surrounding 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 considered.
Many grab the moment to transition 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 negative for warmth, this design has traditional aesthetics that many find comforting. An open fireplace is far less pricey, too – typically one-third the price of a replacement insert.
The façade around the fireplace can be majorly 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 desirable feature in West Milwaukee homes for many reasons. Realistically, these benefits carry possible hazards that shouldn’t be overlooked. 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 the first time, doesn’t mean you have to live with its risks.