Old Castle Renovations Blog

A Fireplace

A fireplace is a perfect feature for a new basement renovation. And investment in a fireplace has been shown to increase the value of a home. It can also improve your health and reduce your biggest home bill - your heating bill.

Real estate agents report that fireplaces are among the top amenities homebuyers look for in a new home. So you can enjoy your fireplace now knowing that it increases the value of your home for the future, and improve your health in the interim; researcher shows that staring at flames lowers blood pressure. No wonder a fire feels relaxing.

Fireplaces can be great zone heaters, meaning having heat in a space where you need and want it. With a fireplace providing zone heating, you can turn your central heating thermostat down and use the supplemental heat from the fireplace in the rooms you are in. Heating smaller spaces reduces the overall heating bill.

A fireplace warms the room and creates a natural focus for lounging on your own with a book, or to cozy up with friends and family for movie night. The popularity of fireplaces is increasing as well with people watching television less and rather spending more time on e-readers and tablets.

Locating the fireplace in your new Space

A number of options are available to integrate a fireplace into your new basement renovation. To optimize a smaller area, a media and fireplace wall can be built to include a surround sound system and wall-mounted TV above a fireplace, so the space can transform into a luxury home theatre on movie night or play music with a fire on a quiet night.

For those homeowners who wish to separate the TV area from the fireplace, consider installing a fireplace on your feature wall and flank it with book shelves, lighted cabinets or a built-in length of narrow shelves for storing wine with glass paneled doors on an adjacent wall. Backlighting cabinets or shelving with glass doors gives a light, open feeling to the room removing the old perception that a basement is dark and dreary.

Alternatively, a fireplace can be built into a wall at varying heights. This is a contemporary look that works best when the fireplace is grounded to something else in the room. For a classic fireplace look installing a fireplace over a low hearth gives a traditional look. However, the fireplace can be mounted higher on the wall and held in place with a pool table, a high table and chairs, bench seating or a grouping of office furniture for a home office.

Choosing Gas or Electric Fireplace

Based on current Ontario rates for natural gas and electricity, it costs more per year to run a gas fireplace than to operate an electric fireplace. Most new natural gas fireplaces have a fire- efficiency rating between 30 and 70 percent. Electric fireplaces are about 99% efficient. Efficiency is lower for gas fireplaces because they must be vented to the exterior of the home losing some of the generated heat through the vent or chimney. There is no combustion in an electric fireplace and it requires no venting, so all the heat stays in the room. Electric fireplaces instantly produce heat with a flip of a switch.

Gas fireplaces burn natural gas to create a flame, and because gas is burning, it creates heat whether you need it or not. In an electric fireplace, the heater is separate from the ‘flame’, and may be turned on or off while the flame stays on. When an electric fireplace is running without the heater turned on, only LED light bulbs are on which use very little power. This means that the cost of running the electric ‘flame’ is far less than burning natural gas to create a flame. So you can run an electric fireplace throughout the year, not just when it’s cold, because you can separate the visual ‘flames’ from heat production.

Gas fireplaces are often too hot for effective zone heating, and must be shut off once the desired room temperature is reached. The heater on an electric fireplace can cycle on and off to adjust to the desired, set temperature, which is another practical consideration. When the heater on an electric fireplace shuts off, the flame keeps going; with gas fireplaces, the flame and the heater are interconnected, and they turn on and off at the same time.

Cost, efficiency in heating, flame appearance, fireplace style and size are all elements for consideration when choosing to include a fireplace in your new basement renovation.

Old Castle Renovations is expert installation and custom-built options to give you the fireplace experience you are looking for in your new basement renovation. Call us for a free estimate.

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