| Author | Message | ||
     Spiderman |
Anyone here have (a) brick fire place(s) in their homes? Thanks | ||
| Hughlysses |
Yea, I've got one. | ||
| Barker |
+1 | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
Got 6 of them. Was their idea of a central heating system when house was built in 1856. They switched to one pipe steam about 75 years ago. I don't use the fireplaces anymore because they are a very inefficient source of heat, are messy, and require a lot of fooling around with wood. There are some new fangled iron and ceramic stoves that actually are useful in heating a house, but a open fireplace is not. Any other questions? (Message edited by gentleman_jon on February 26, 2009) | ||
| Xbrfirebolt |
Yes, use it every winter. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I don't use the fireplaces anymore because they are a very inefficient source of heat, are messy, and require a lot of fooling around with wood. OTOH they help satisfy that pyromaniac streak some of us have...  There is definitely something that appeals to that caveman buried deep in our brains to make a fire and then sit there and watch it. | ||
| Rubberdown |
Better than TV! I have a big brick fireplace. | ||
| Teeps |
My house has one. My wife does not like the smell; so there it sits. I'm thinking of relocating the home theater to that wall for some flow through cooling... | ||
| Loki |
Got one. Its been converted over to use a free standing wood stove though. This was my first winter in this house, so it did not get used. Next winter though it WILL be used. | ||
| Strokizator |
Had one in every home I've had (kind of a Calif thing) but it was very inefficient. Did a house remodel and replaced it with a free-standing soapstone stove. That little sucker can heat my 2000 sq.ft. house with ease. Living room is toasty warm with bedroom down the hall somewhat cooler. Just the way I like it. Uses a lot less wood too. | ||
| Kyrocket |
I've got one but it's got an insert shoved into it. Burn about 2 - 3 truckloads of wood every year. If I get some good seasoned locust and don't watch it close enough it will reach upper 80's halfway down the hallway at the thermostat. | ||
| Hughlysses |
The problem with conventional brick fireplaces is that (1) they aren't very efficient at radiating heat into the house and (2) they draw cold air into the house which normally more than offsets the meager heat they produce. Wood stoves improve this by radiating much more heat, and greatly reducing the cold air that gets drawn into the house by controlling the air used for combustion. It is possible to make reasonably efficient brick fireplaces. You can duct outside air to the fireplace which eliminates the cold air problem. Building your chimney in the center of the house rather than on an outside wall results in much more heat being radiated to the house. Of course, you can always do an insert which gives the advantages of a wood stove. | ||
| Spiderman |
Seeing as some of my PMs may not be getting through. I am re finishing the family room and the length of the fire place is 18 ft. I am replacing the mantle with blue stone and was looking some pics, if people have a similar set up, just for reference. Thanks,  | ||
| Psyclonej |
I've got an idea. I'll be in touch soon | ||
| Newbuellertoo |
Got one in the family room. Sure comes in handy when the power goes off in the winter. | ||
| Hootowl |
I had one. It took up a quarter of the living room, at an angle. I live in Houston. I repeat, I had one. | ||
| Xodot |
Lived with one for about 20 years - fired her up every winter all winter. Moved into town a few years ago and put in a natural gas fireplace - so much easier than carting wood in and ashes out and at the age I'm heading for, ease is everything! | ||
| Gunut75 |
If your gonna go with gas, get a Heatilator. It's a gas fireplace with a circulation fan built in. I have installed dozens of these, and I hear nothing but praise for them. They only need to be ventilated to the outer wall. Or you can route it to a chimney. | ||
| Gunut75 |
Geez, I wish I had pics. of all the fireplaces I've built over the years.  | ||
| Court |
We just built a large one. Building we'd bought as an investment turned out to have one of the very old coal burning stoves in it and was "grandfather". Seemed like the thing to do, since we had the coal burning stove permit, was to build a brick over. . . then it was "what do we do now?" . . so we ended up with a pizza joint. It'll be open in a couple weeks....with luck. | ||
| Bcordb3 |
Court's El Forno Pizza! One large Magharita to go. | ||
| Rubberdown |
Let's ride to Court's new place for pizza this Spring!!!! Are you ready Court? This could be fun. eh .... maybe we should ask Court .... or his wife.... | ||
| Court |
Actually. . . . it's one of my wife's family ventures and it's been a tad hit and miss . . . running well behind schedule. This is the cousin who got the 3 conex shipping containers full of Vespas from Viet Nam in payment of a debt and just, in the last month, evolved to the largest Harley-Davidson shoe (www.papashoe.com) on the internet . . . selling something like $50,000 worth of shoes a day . . . he's the true entrepreneur and holds the patent for the only "glow in the dark" stairwell emergency exit paint approved in NYC. Another typical guy with no education . . .  I'll slip by later today and see how Roger's doing on the place. Could be a fun trip. By the way if you guys are interested I'm thinking about holding a party at Ulysses' some night this summer. | ||
| Xl1200r |
I'm down for a slice. Good reason to take a trip, anyways. | ||
| Rubberdown |
I'm ready!  | ||
| Court |
Made the New York Times today.
Of course . . . ALL the "news from the in-laws" wasn't great. |
