Only Choose A Well-designed Fireplace Screen
A fireplace screen was originally intended to protect persons in a room from the fireplace started. Its chief purpose was to lower the stress suffered from too much heat generated by the hearth. The earliest screens were shaped flat and positioned upright on attached feet, or as adjustable shield-shaped panels on tripod table legs.
In modern homes, screens are now more decorative shields made of sheet metal, wire mesh, or even glass, positioned in front of a fireplace opening to protect the rooms open flames and flying embers and ash produced by the fire. Screens were once used to cover the fireplace when nothing was being burned inside it. Fortunately, they were soon used to make the hearth more than just a device to warm the house inhabitants when it got too cold, developing their look to be more decorative.
You can order a screen by mail or through the Internet. The unit will be sent to you pre-arranged to match the fireplace or living room. You can also go to a store and pick a particular brand or ask the stores design experts for help in choosing the screen that is right for your decor, fireplace, and budget. The good thing is that you have a choice on how to select and pay for the item at your convenience.
There are stores that offer special service; they will make a fireplace screen to your specifications. Custom-made screens are practical. Fireplaces come in different shapes and sizes, and finding a screen that perfectly fits is not easy.
Lead times are required in custom work, usually longer than you prefer. So make your order in advance. You do not want to use your fireplace sans screen putting your house in peril because of an unscreened fire in the hearth.
Some large fireplace openings of more than 60 inches wide or more than 48 inches tall should use a boston spark guard. This is intended to fit flat up against the fireplaces outer portion and overlap the opening by at least an inch on the top and sides. This screen presents far greater protection against sparks, and is perfect for keeping little kids and pet animals from straying too near the fireplace.
They will fit standard-sized hearths with big openings or odd-sized models. Choose a model with frames that use hefty steel rods welded to very heavy kick plates for strong support. Make sure you find no exposed jagged edges, with handles firmly bolted to the frame and not to the mesh, for a really durable fireplace screen.