to build a fireplace

Hello, iam building a new home & i was wondering if you might know where i can information & diagrams on how to build a fireplace in my home . we would like to build a wood burning one.
I am just not quite sure what kind of bricks i need or any other meterial to use, any help in this feild would be great!

 

Hi, your local library should have books on this subject. I'm building one now on the addition of my home.

 

Tinman:: I am currently trying to figure out just how I want to replace an out-dated fireplace insert; Based on what I've learned to date, I have some ideas:

First, when you say "fireplace" this is a wide open word. You could mean a conventional "masonry fireplace" which is generally extremely inefficient though they may look nice. I believe these are rarely built for residences currently. If someone wants to put in a conventional fireplace I would think they would buy a prefabricated unit like those by Lennox and have it built in:

http://www.lennoxhearthproducts.com/...rpls_body.html

If effecieny is important (if you want to do any heating or are concerned about pollution, as well as a host of other problems created by conventional fireplaces) then you are looking for a "advanced combustion" type of fireplace, which is a pre-manufactured fireplace that is generally professionally installed. With these, depending on the manufacturer, effeciencies and "burntimes" can all increase vs. conventional, with signficant decrease in pollution.

Here are a couple of links that explain a lot of this:

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/publications/...Fireplaces.cfm

(if the specific page doesn't pop up do a search on their site for "fireplace").

http://hearth.com/hearthnet.html

http://www.woodheat.org/

http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/index.htm


That should give you a start. Then you can also go to some of the manufactures sites and pull the pdf file that contains the installation instructions for their fireplace.

Here are three that I am looking at:

http://www.hearth.com/wilkening/head.gif

http://www.napoleon.on.ca/index.htm

http://www.fireplacextrordinair.com/dept.asp

On each of these links for the manufactures you may have to search around the site. At least one of them has downloadable instructions. To me the fireplacextrordinair line is the most interesting, as they are one of the few that meets EPA and Oregon regulations for effeciency/particulate output, and uses outside air for combustion and heat, which put the house under a slight positive pressure which has its advantages. Can also ducted into central heat. May be overkill for some, heaven for others.

Another note: "zero clearance" fireplaces are manufactured units that can be installed butting up against flamable materials, such as 2x4 studs, hence "zero clearance" required.

What I have said here only covers fireplaces. There are also inserts, stoves, etc that are quite different and actually often more efficient.

If you do a search on amazon you will also come up with dozens of books on the topic. Also, get out and talk to the local fireplace dealers, you can learn a lot from them.

As discussed elsewhere, in many, many way this is not a DIY project.

"For a little more money, and a lot more time, I could have done it myself"