Old Smokey's Fireplace & Chimney's Blog

It’s Not Too Late to Get a New Fireplace

You may think it is too late to get a new fireplace installed before winter comes, but think again! Options exist that do not require the construction and masonry effort of a full chimney system installation. Here are a few less costly and efficient options provided and installed by Old Smokey’s Fireplace and Chimney.

Wood Stoves

A free standing wood stove can be the perfect addition to your home. Not only are wood stoves relatively easy to install, but they are more efficient and safer than a fireplace.

An EPA certified freestanding wood stove minimizes the amount of particulate matter emitted into the air. This means that they offer a more complete combustion process than fireplaces, leading to hotter and more efficient fires. They emit fewer byproducts from the firebox, reducing creosote buildup and therefore your chances of a house fire.

The risks of open fire systems include stray sparks and embers escaping the fire box. However, wood stove fires are contained in an enclosed combustion system that traps sparks and stray embers, translating into a safer fire.

Finally, wood stoves are much more efficient than open fire systems. Wood fireplaces give off heat, but unfortunately, most of it is lost out of the chimney. On the other hand, wood stoves offer as much as 3 times the heat of a fire place with just about ⅓ the amount of firewood.

Gas Stoves

Old Smokey’s Fireplace and Chimney also offers a variety of gas stoves as well. Gas stoves are even more energy efficient than wood stoves, translating to lower energy costs regardless of gas prices. Gas stoves also burn cleaner and generally safe. However, you need a gas line available to run your gas stove, so factors such as gas line location play a role in their installation price.

Let Us Help You!

With winter just around the corner, now is the perfect time to have a wood or gas stove installed by one of our CSIA certified heating technicians. Our busy time of year is almost among us, so contact us today to set up an appointment to ensure you beat the cold weather rush!

Firebrick Patterns For Your Fireplace

Old Smokey’s Fireplace & Chimney knows a thing or two about fireplaces, including firebrick design patterns for your interior fireplace. We’re pleased to share our experience and expertise – and imagination.

Many aspects enter into consideration for firebrick design.

These include brick patterns, textures, and color selection. Whatever you select, your firebrick can accentuate the beauty of your fireplace room — as well as your entire interior space.

What other considerations come into play? Aesthetics. It’s all about aesthetics. With that in mind, understand that you’ll want to effortlessly coordinate and balance your firebrick design in harmony with everything around it.

Therefore, we suggest you pay attention to lighting, spatial relationships, accenting and contrasting, scale, and context. In other words, choose textures and materials that play off of one another. As a case in point, white bricks and a white mantel can brighten a formerly dark space and set up a nice contrast with other rooms.

What about firebrick patterns themselves?

Several firebrick patterns are commonly used by homeowners.

Take split herringbone. It consists of interlocking V patterns stacked one on top of the other. Similarly, regular herringbone features interlocking L’s, stacked to resemble upside-down V’s.

Running bond is a popular firebrick pattern, perhaps the most popular. Quite simply, the pattern is standard brickwork, the kind you would see anywhere, such as the exterior of a brick building.

As the name suggests, stacked bond, or stack bond, is a firebrick pattern that stacks the bricks in parallel rows, from bottom to top.

Another popular choice is basket weave, which conveys a bucolic setting. This pattern consists of alternating placements of two bricks, with a pair of adjacent bricks perpendicular to the first two, then two more pairs “weaved” similarly.

If your home is a historical structure, Old Smokey’s can assist you in matching your firebrick pattern and materials to the traditional design and materials used in your original structure. In this instance, you will most likely want the interior fireplace characteristics to echo those of the exterior brickwork. Our artisanal masons have the talent and experience to meet those challenges.

Old Smokey’s offers industry-leading fireplace brands!

We will collaborate with you to create the right look and feel through firebrick design.

Call us today at 260-424-0009 or 800-876-6539 or set up an appointment online.

For 20+ years, Old Smokey’s has served homeowners in northern Indiana, northern Ohio and mid-Michigan. Homeowners from Elkhart in the west to Ypsilanti in the east, from Lansing in the north to Defiance and Fort Wayne in the south are served by Old Smokey’s.

Our experience testifies to the trust we have built throughout the region.

Firebrick patterns and design open the door to a refreshed look for your living space. Perhaps you are building from scratch. That’s all the more reason to set the right tone at the outset. Old Smokey’s would love to be your partner in this endeavor.