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You and Your Fireplace by Nikki Willhite Is there anything more warm and inviting in a home than a fireplace? Is there anything that makes you feel more secure in a storm than being inside a warm room with a crackling wood burning fireplace and a big stack of logs? Except for houses in the desert, I think all homes should have fireplaces. Lots of people prefer the convenience of gas fireplaces. When our power went out for several days a few years ago, we lived in front of the gas fireplace. The rest of the house turned into a hostile environment. Many men prefer gas fireplaces because they don't have to find sources of wood, split logs and then store them. Many women prefer gas fireplaces because they are clean, and you don't have to deal with the bugs that can come in with the wood. You don't get some of the ambiance of a wood burning fireplace with gas. You don't get the crackling sound of the burning logs, but the fire is still lovely to look at. Both wood and gas stoves can save you money. If you spend a lot of time in the main living areas of your home, which usually is where the fireplace is located, you can turn the heat down in the rest of your home and still be very warm. When I first moved to the Northwest, many people were heating their homes with nothing but their fireplace inserts. They would keep them burning all day, and  then turn down the air flow at night to just keep embers burning.  In the morning they would put in fresh wood and get them going on high again. As more people started coming into the Northwest, air quality became a consideration, and burn bans started when air quality was low.  However, if your stove was the only source of heat for your home, you were still allowed to burn firewood. With the emergence of so many gas stoves, air quality is no longer being affected. Gas stoves burn a lot cleaner and are more energy efficient. Most gas fireplaces come with a fan to blow the heated air into the room.  They can make a room warm very quickly. You can add a masonry fireplace to your home, or add a free standing insert.  The vent on a free standing insert can either go straight up and through the roof, or it can turn at 90 degrees, and go out the wall. You can almost always convert a wood burning fireplace into a gas fireplace if you have access to gas. In order for regular fireplaces to be energy efficient, you need to put in an insert.  This will keep the warm air in your house from doing up the chimney.  The insert will get very hot and radiate the heat back into the room. You can also buy them with blowers.  While fireplace inserts are considered out of style, I believe the function outweighs any design considerations. Whether you have a free standing fireplace or an insert, it is good to have a flat shelf on top of it. If you lose your power, you can place pans of this shelf, and heat your food. Unfortunately, most fireplace inserts are not cheap. However, if you have the money for this purchase, it will make you feel more comfortable and more secure. This is the kind of item I want in my home that makes me save money on other things so that I can afford it. Give some thought to putting a fireplace on your wish list. It can both save you money in the long run, provide comfort and warmth, and give you a lot of peace of mind during the cold winter months.   About the Author: Nikki Willhite, mother of 3 and an interior design graduate, has been writing and publishing articles on the topic of frugal living for over a decade. Visit her at www.frugalhappyfamilies.com - where you will find hundreds of frugal living tips and articles. Frugal Happy Families- more than just money!

 

 

 

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