Looking for a unique way to upgrade the beauty of your fireplace? Fireplace glass doors are here to rescue.
Let us have a look at how can you update your fireplace with the glass door.
Why glass fireplace doors?
Add-ons for fireplaces are, most of the time, put up to beautify the space and enhance their elegance. Glassdoor is a perfect example that boosts the charm of the fireplace and makes the heating more effective.
A fireplace glass door is an asset that offers you many benefits. Some of them are:
Aesthetics
Glass doors make the fireplace and even the home look more elegant. When you’re not using the fireplace, you can close the doors and hide the ashes and dust of the firebox.
Also, glass doors come in various colors and designs. You can choose one that best compliments your fireplace’s hearth. You can even choose the glass screen that blends with your home décor to give your interior a more polished look.
Helps Balance Temperature
In winters, open-hearth fireplaces and chimneys cause a lot of warmth of your homes that you may want to leave your indoors. In summers, a lot of the cooler air from air conditioners leaves through your chimneys.
Fireplace glass doors help balance the temperature inside your house. It prevents your place from getting too warm in winter and also prevents the leakage of cool air through the chimney in summer.
More effective heating
Glass screens magnify heating effectiveness by absorbing heat and reflecting it better. Your room having a glass screen fireplace will be warmer as compared to one with an open-hearth. Moreover, closed fireboxes help the firewood burn better as compared to the open fireboxes. This causes the generation of more warmth.
Increased safety
No matter where used, glass doors always act as security barriers. Fireplace glass doors prevent sparks and ashes from flying through your fireplace. This ensures a lower likelihood of causing any flammable items in your homes to catch fire.
Furthermore, they also save your possessions like furniture and carpets from damage. You also get to ensure that children or pets don’t accidentally get into the fireplace.
The glass doors are a little hot though. So, all you need to do is add an extra screen in front of the fireplace to prevent children from touching the doors.
Types of glass commonly used in glass fireplace
After you finally decide to install glass doors in your fireplace, you need to select the type of glass to use. It is very important to know the right type of glass installed at your fireplaces.
The heat inside the fireplaces can go to around 1100 to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit. To cater to such high intensity without breaking or cracking, you need a particular type of glass.
Some of the common types of glass used in fireplaces are:
Ceramic Glass
Ceramic glass is the best choice for fireplaces. It is not actually glass but a transparent polycrystalline substance. Ceramic glass is the most optimal choice for fireplaces where temperatures of the glass can go above 500 degrees of Fahrenheit because its melting point goes beyond 1000 degrees of Fahrenheit. Ceramic has fewer chances of shattering because of unexpected temperature variations.
Tempered Glass
Tempered glass undergoes several thermal and chemical treatments. During the toughening process, the outer surface of the glass compresses while the tension increases on the interior surface, making the glass though and robust. It is, thus, more vigorous than ordinary glass. Moreover, if tempered glass door breaks, it spreads into small chunks, thus preventing injuries. This glass also has a huge melting point.
However, you need to know that the tempered glass door can’t handle as much heat from the fireplace as ceramics. But you can still burn the fireplace with doors open, ensuring that glass is not much exposed to heat.
Some common misconceptions about using Glass Fireplace
Glass fireplaces are one of the various equipment that most of you search for when buying a new home. A fireplace is almost a symbol, representing family, home, happiness, and coziness. Glass fireplaces and chimneys also make you think of a conventional style interior. One through which Santa Claus comes to give you gifts.
But there are certain misconceptions you all have about glass fireplaces and their maintenance.
“Because I’m not using my fireplace often, it doesn’t need any inspection or cleaning.”
There are many reasons for your glass fireplace requiring a proper inspection. Some of them are:
- Moisture entering your chimney requiring costly repairs.
- Animals making their homes in your chimney causing harmful blockages
- Formation of cracks damaging the chimney’s structure
- Dust on the glass screen will make it look dull and lifeless.
So, it is vital that you have your chimneys cleaned or inspected by chimney cleaning dallas experts once in a while. This will help ensure your safety.
Also, regular inspections will help you detect and solve issues in the initial stages. This way you can also reduce chances of more issues surfacing later on. Prevention is always better than cure, after all.
“Because of the metal liner inside my chimney, I don’t need annual maintenance.”
Chimney liners increase the effectiveness of your chimneys and extend their lives. But, they do not make your chimneys indestructible. The chimneys still remain vulnerable to frequent inspections and maintenance calls.
Even with the presence of chimney liners, creosote will still gather in your chimneys. Along with this, other blockages may also occur that can lead to chimney fires. To prevent this and void liner warranties, you must carry out yearly inspections.
“I can clean my glass fireplace and chimney by myself just fine.”
I don’t have to spend money on hiring expert chimney cleaners when there are always DIY hacks.
Some of you may clean your fireplace and chimney. But the creosote settling in the chimney might be a big hurdle for the rest. Cleaning creosote needs proper equipment, expertise, and professionals who have experience with what they’re doing.
Cleaning it by yourself may cause you injuring yourself. You may even end up cleaning in a poor way that might cause even more problems later on.
Outlook
A fireplace glass door is an essential accessory for your fireplace. It not only adds the exquisite elegance of your home but offers various other benefits. They are more secured and even hide the dirty, unattractive firebox.
You still though, must ensure to get your fireplace and chimney inspected and cleaned. Proper maintenance, after all, is very essential to prevent hazardous accidents.