How To Build a Fireplace

Since the mantel and facing of your fireplace is to be a dec­orative attraction, you can use imagination and ingenuity freely in styling it. The only limitation is that it retain eye-pleasing harmony with the architecture and furnishings of your home. You’ll be happier with the results if it does, for a beautiful fireplace in one set­ting can be a monstrosity in another.

modern or traditional?

Fireplace designs range from the ornate traditional to the severely modern. However, the "in-between" styles of sim­plicity and originality have the widest popular appeal. Two present-day trends in fireplace design are. first, toward more friendly charm and less rigid formality, and sec­ond, toward extreme simplic­ity, or an almost barren mod­ernity.

your fireplace decision

In making your decision, the first step is to compare some existing fireplaces with your ideas on the subject. Many examples of different designs are illustrated in this book . . . perhaps one will appeal to you or suggest the basis for an individual style to match the other design features of your home.

plan for appearance

A fireplace becomes the natural center of interest in a room, and sets the mood for decorating and furnishing. Its position in the room is an important point to consider. Locating your fireplace at the side of the room offers more leeway with respect to grouping for chairs and other fireside comforts. An end position in the room offers seclusion, and is a frequent choice. Corner locations, especi­ally a projecting corner, are becoming more and more popular. Size is another important consideration. As a general rule, a fire­place of modest size looks and works best. The fireplace should be in proportion to the size of the room for example, a fireplace opening 30 to 36 inches wide is usually sufficient in a room with about 300 square feet of floor space.

plan for heat

Your fireplace can be more than an ornament and a social center of attraction. It can also be an economical producer of abundant heat to save the expense of furnace operation in chilly fall and spring weather, or to supplement furnace heat in cold winter months. To get the most from your fireplace as a heating unit, a built-in Majestic Circulator will send warm air to every corner of the room. In sizing the fireplace to the room, remember that a small blaze in a large fireplace lacks heating efficiency. Whatever the width, the height of the opening should be about two-thirds to three-fourths of that dimension. Too high an opening will cause smoking and weak draft; too small an opening restricts the ability of the fireplace to produce heat effectively.

To all who delight in the cozy cheer of an open hearth fire:

Like an old family friend, the fire­place is always good company and shares many of life’s most treasured memories. Alive with merrily crackling logs, brightly blazing coals, or softly simmering embers, it can match any human mood

An open fire kindles and sustains an air of sparkling gaiety or of calm seren­ity, with equal ease. It can be the leav­ening for laughter and conversation in social gatherings. It also can be the touchstone for quiet reminiscence in relaxing solitude. Because of these sub­tle, satisfying influences, the fireplace continues to hold and expand its cen­turies-old popularity as the heart of the home.

Although we cling to the fireplace as a symbol of homey, old-fashioned hos­pitality, it no longer need be old-fashioned in its heating ability. Until recent years, fireplaces had to depend on radiation alone to produce heat. The results were meager, since rm»st of the heat escaped up the chimney. Introduc­tion of the prebuilt. all-metal fireplace unit brought about major development-; in construction for more efficient heat

output. Instead of wasting valuable heat up the flue as conventional fire­places do. these modern, advanced types of fireplaces circulate most of this heat into the home.

This is the function of the Fireplace Unit, a metal heating chamber ready to be enclosed in the masonry. Its operation is very similar to a gravity furnace. It circu­lates heat by means of cool-air intakes and warm-air outlets. The unit is bas­ically simple in design, yet includes all essential operating elements. Scientif­ically proportioned, it serves as an exact form for the fireplace interior masonry. Any type of mantel exterior can be used with the Circulator. While providing the extra dividend of more. usable, smokefree heat, it retains the charm and attraction of an open fire.

As a highly desirable home feature for family enjoyment, your fireplace deserves special care in planning and construction This book has been pre­pared with the earnest desire to be helpful to all who select, supervise, and build fireplaces. It is YOUR FIREPLACE Manual a practical guide to indoor fireplaces that look attractive, work properly, and heat homes with outstanding efficiency.