A Guide For Choosing The Right Fireplace

Choosing the right fireplace for your room can be more difficult than you expect.

There are so many types of fires, fireplaces and stoves, combined with varying styles and trends over time. You also need to consider which fuel you want to use – whether to burn solid fuel, gas or electric.

One of the most important factors is how much heat you need from your fire. For example, if you live in an older, more traditional property with solid walls, single glazing and a suspended wooden floor, you might want to consider a multi-fuel stove that will keep most rooms nice and warm.

If you live in a more modern property with cavity wall insulation, double glazing and an insulated floor, a multi-fuel stove may give you too much heat and could make the room uncomfortable to sit in.

You will want your new fireplace to be in keeping with your style of decoration and furniture, whether that is modern, contemporary, traditional or vintage. You’ll want your fireplace to fit nicely into your room so you can sit and relax with your family, and be proud to entertain and chill out with friends and family.

We all have different requirements from the fireplace area and you will want to find something that suits your personal taste. Quite often we keep to the traditional period and style of the house to complement that period, but it is just as popular nowadays to shake things up a little and have an eclectic mix of styles.

Whether you have a chimney is also an important factor – this will determine if you can burn solid fuel or gas. Most traditional period properties built before 1960 will have a chimney. After this time, some houses were still built with chimneys but many had a flue built into the blockwork of the house, which is only suitable for burning gas. With more modern properties there is also the option of a balanced flue gas fire if there is a live gas supply. This type of gas fire works in a similar way to a combi gas boiler, where the gas fumes go directly out of the back of the fire through the wall of the house and vent into open space.

More recently, some new-build properties are so well insulated they don’t have a chimney or a flue, so the option in this case would be an electric fire. The most popular choice for many new-build properties is a media wall fire with the TV recess and soundbar slot built into the media wall. If you consider some of the above information, you can make choosing the right fireplace much easier.

At Midlands Fireplaces, we can guide you through this process with practical help and advice on the best options for your home. We also offer a site survey to make sure that your chosen fire or fireplace will fit. We can install your fireplace for you if required – see our fireplace fitting service for more information.