Fireplace Changeouts for Historic New Hampshire Homes

Are you spending a lot of money on repairs for an older fireplace at your historic home? If the fireplace was built with the home, consider a fireplace changeout to restore safety and performance while continuing to lend historic charm to your room.

Fire N’ Stone of Tilton, NH, would like to share a few details about fireplace changeouts and how this work will benefit your home and lifestyle.

What is a historic fireplace changeout?

There are two ways you can go about adding a new fireplace to your home:

1. Completely rebuild your fireplace from scratch
2. Add a fireplace insert and don’t rebuild anything

If you’re happy with the materials and design of your existing historic fireplace, adding a fireplace insert is the best move.

Inserts are designed to be placed into the firebox of an existing masonry fireplace. They can run on gas, wood, pellets, or electricity.

Fireplace insert benefits

No matter the style or fuel type, fireplace inserts bring sizeable benefits:

• Heating efficiency that’s up to four times greater than with a traditional masonry fireplace
• EPA-approved for clean burns and lowered emissions
• Fewer drafts
• Heavy-duty insulation for safety
• No fireplace or chimney structural work needed
• Inserts draft through the existing chimney with their own pipes
• Gorgeous designs, finishes, and styles to complement your room and entire home

Issues with historic fireplaces and chimneys

Aside from the cost of ongoing repairs for older fireplaces and chimneys, there’s the safety factor to consider. Historic fireplaces often develop splits or cracks in the firebox walls, allowing flames, smoke, and deadly carbon monoxide to escape.

There comes a point at which ongoing repair work costs more than a fireplace changeout with a new insert.

When it comes to chimneys, there can be several serious issues. One is a lack of structural soundness. Older brick-and-mortar structures will start to deteriorate, leading to ongoing chimney leaks and structural compromise.

A fireplace changeout project can include replacing damaged bricks or completely rebuilding sections of the chimney with bricks and mortar that match the original materials.

Another very serious issue with older chimneys is that many weren’t built with protective chimney liners. This can result in a destructive chimney fire or house fire, and in leaks that send carbon monoxide and other combustion gases into your home.

The law requires all chimneys built today to have proper chimney liners. If your historic chimney doesn’t have one, now is the time to get one installed.

Start with an inspection

The first step in resolving issues with historic fireplaces and chimneys is an inspection. A licensed inspector can quickly assess the condition of these systems and spot damage that homeowners often miss.

If the original fireplace cannot be repaired to meet the required level of safety and performance, your inspector can recommend a fireplace changeout with the perfect insert model to meet your heating needs and decorative preferences.

Check out some fabulous fireplace inserts

Fire N’ Stone invites you to our showroom at 539 Laconia Road in Tilton, NH, to see some great fireplace insert models that would be perfect fits for your historic home. We’ll answer your questions and explain the advantages of a fireplace changeout.

You can also learn more by giving us a call or using our handy contact form.