Fireplace Screens: Protect Your Home While Enhancing the Decor
Fireplace screens can be both decorative and important for safety. If you have a wood fireplace, a screen is a necessity. But even if you use gas or electric, a fireplace screen will complete the overall look of your fireplace.
Screens keep smoke and ash from entering the home from wood burning fires. And they will also keep potentially fire causing sparks from flying out as well. You can also purchase a style of screen that hides the ash build up at the bottom.
Screens also protect children and pets from getting dangerously close to the heat. This is an important safety feature for whatever type of fireplace you have, wood, gas or electric. It is easy to forget that there are dangers associated even when there is no open flame.
More and more people are choosing electric or gas fireplaces over wood. They tend to be much easier for maintain and keep clean. Even with these types of fireplaces, most people want them to resemble the old fashioned kind as much as they can. The screen, then, provides that final touch as they are almost always present with wood burning fireplaces. Often, people will buy a screen for their fireplace even if they never use it for finishing touch.
Fireplace screens are available in many styles and materials. They may be glass or metal, such as iron, brass or gold. They can be in single or multiple pieces or may be folding screens. Designs range from the very simple to the extremely ornate, so you will be able to find one that matches whatever decor you have in the room.
To ensure that your fireplace screen actually fulfills the purpose of safety, it needs to be sized properly. This means that for screens that are not fitted directly into the fireplace, you need to account for the sides, not just the very front of the fireplace. It will need to extend higher as well.
There can be some concern with stability of fireplace screens that are freestanding. You want to ensure that they cannot be easily knocked over, especially by any small children or pets. This can be a particular danger with folding screens. It may be necessary to look into a way to attach the screen to the fireplace to avoid any accidents.
With the variety of fireplace screens on the market today, you are sure to find one that answers your needs. You can protect your home and family as well as add to the beauty of your fireplace and the room it is in.
Jeff Bridges has always enjoyed a warm fire on a cold winter’s night he currently helps run a fireplace screens website, which promotes fireplace screens in all shapes and styles.