Mantle piece and grate designs have changed but the basic structural elements of a fireside have not radically changed for hundreds of years. The first combination of a big stone or brick opening with a chimney built over it evolved from the obvious truth that smoke rises, instead of from a systematic understanding of how a well-designed flue system works. Hence early wood and later coal-burning fires were very inefficient and it wasn’t till a certain Benjamin Thompson ( also known as Count Rumford ) made his thesis on the principles of hearth design in 1799 that smaller grates and improvements in the inner shape of the openings were introduced.
A brick or stone enclosure forms the root of the fireside. Often called the hearth opening or recess or builders opening, it may be set level with the wall or built out into the room, forming a chimney breast. This chimney breast rises through the height of the house, rising thru the roof to form a chimney stack. At the apex of the opening the gather and flue combine to hold the smoke up the chimney. If the chimney is shared by several fireplaces on different floors, it may include more than one flue.
The masonry over the hearth opening is supported by a lintel or a brick arch. Old inglenook fireplaces used big oak beams, while a robust iron strap sometimes supports an early brick arch. Later fireplaces can have a straight arch supported by angle iron, and by the twentieth century cast concrete lintels were the norm.
A hearth, constructed from non-combustible materials such as stone or tile-faced concrete, projects out into the room to offer protection to the floor from falling ashes. In many old houses the hearth was set level with the floor, though sometimes a superimposed one was employed to raise the level. The space in the fire opening, called the back hearth, is usually level with the hearth itself. A dog grate for burning wood or coal can be put on this back hearth. Yet, by the mid-nineteenth century the mass produced cast-iron register grate which filled the opening, had grown to be the style.
To complete the assembly, a mantelpiece or mantel or fireplace surround, as it is regularly called today is fitted to frame the grate or fireplace opening. The mantel could be constructed from stone, slate, marble, wood or iron. The walls around it could be finished with wood paneling, or more commonly with plaster, and in some cases the mantel extends upwards to form a formidable chimneypiece. Mirrored overmantels were introduced in the late eighteenth century, and these became the classic feature of Victorian sitting rooms.
Within this fire an open fire burning wood or coal is a happy sight, but if it’s your only source of heat, as it was for hundreds of years, this romantic image can shortly fade particularly if the fire doesn’t burn correctly. Getting a fire started and keeping it land then becomes a challenge, if not a pain. For wood and coal fires to combust well a good supply of air is needed under the grate, as well as a strategy of escape for the hot gases and smoke. With the fuel safely contained in the hearth opening on a grate, free circulation of air is possible and waste ash can fall thru the grate so that the fire is not stifled. If the chimney is insufficient or the flow of air is restricted the fire will not work effectively . To select the righ ones be certain to browse all the most important electric fireplace logs and electric logs manufacturer sites.
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