Holy Cross fireplace repair
Fireplace Repair? For Safety’s Sake, You Might Require a Fireplace Replacement
Many things can happen during erection of a Holy Cross home – not all welcome.
A new Holy Cross home has multiple working components. Some involve very detailed installations to operate safely and properly. Home builders, while skilled at many things, are hardly ever experts in the precise installations of every mechanical component.
Enclosed fireplaces are one example. While welcomed for their comfy ambiance and effective space heating, improper installation of fireplace inserts can cause hazards that threaten life and home: carbon monoxide escaping. Smoke backup. Live embers leaping onto outside surfaces.
Safety threats with a fireplace insert are often discovered during a fireplace inspection and cleaning in Holy Cross. Occasionally a fireplace repair is not workable. If the fireplace is compromised, a complete fireplace replacement is needed.
Regular fireplace inspections are always prudent, for both safety and operational efficiency. Hiring a professional service such as Butler Chimneys, your fireplace and chimney inspection company in Holy Cross, ensures that a fireplace is functioning correctly and your family protected.
Safety concerns can be identified with both gas and wood-burning fireplaces. More often than not, the reason is improper installation. Typically an issue isn’t identifiable 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 changed, it must be swapped out with the exact manufacturer’s part. Aftermarket parts are infamous for causing issues such as smoke backup, or exhaust not drafting correctly. If a fireplace ignites a house fire, insurance benefits could be denied if substitute aftermarket parts were involved.
Often, though, conditions merit a total fireplace replacement. A box with rust is immediately marked as unsafe. If a fan stops working, replacement is not an option. A degraded refractory panel must be replaced.
In these cases, the total fireplace system should be taken out, 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 considered.
Many grab the moment to convert from wood burning to gas. Though lacking the heat production of wood, gas is far more user friendly (and less labor intensive) as fuel.
Others might choose an open wood-burning fireplace, rather than enclosed. While a net minus for warmth, this design has old-fashioned aesthetics that many find comforting. An open fireplace is far less expensive, too – usually one-third the cost of a replacement insert.
The façade surrounding the fireplace can be majorly reworked, as well. 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 look like steel or wood.
Fireplaces are a wanted feature in Holy Cross homes for multiple reasons. Realistically, these benefits involve potential 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 properly the first time, doesn’t mean you have to live with its risks.