The Benefits of Fireplace Glass Doors

Just as it did hundreds of years ago, the fireplace still serves as a gathering point in many homes. While the reasons for this may have changed throughout the years as the fireplace moved from a primary source of heating and cooking, to one used more for enhancement of living space, and to create atmosphere for cozy gatherings, the fireplace remains a staple in many homes. As the purpose of the fireplace has shifted throughout the years, so has its design. A hundred years ago, accessories such as fireplace glass doors or screens might have been viewed as hindrances, while they are now seen as amenities that not only keep homes and families safe, but clean as well.

Whenever a fireplace is used in a home, safety should always be a top priority. Thousands of residences are damaged or destroyed by home fires each year and hundreds of people killed or injured in these blazes. By installing and utilizing fireplace glass doors, you can ensure that not only are your family members and guests protected, but your home and surrounding structures are as well. Glass doors can also create peace of mind through the sizeable difference they make in providing safety as a protective barrier.

Fireplace glass doors can make a considerable impact in reducing the number of injuries suffered each year due to fireplace accidents. No matter how safety conscious you are with your home fires, accidents do occur. By helping to keep hands, hair, clothing, pets, dangling or easily melted home accessories, and other flammable objects out of harm’s way, fireplace glass doors can substantially increase the safety in your home.

Not only do fireplace glass doors decrease the potential for injury to those you care about, but they also significantly reduce the risk of damage to your home. While many think in terms of homes being completely engulfed in flames during a house fire, there are also many other, smaller dangers posed to your home. With the installation of fireplace glass doors, you can greatly reduce the chances of sparks or logs tumbling from the hearth, which can damage tile or wood flooring, melt linoleum, and destroy carpet. Cinders and small sparks can also float or pop from the fireplace, landing on clothing, furniture, and other home furnishings, doing considerable damage.

But there are many other reasons for installing fireplace glass doors in your home besides the safety benefits. Glass doors can help maintain smoke and keep your home smelling fresh. The aroma of wood burning in the fireplace permeating your home can certainly be enjoyable and enhance the entire experience of having a fire. Nevertheless, even the most pleasant of fragrances can become overwhelming at times, and it can be nice to have the ability to contain such a pungent scent with fireplace glass doors.

Glass doors on your fireplace can also accentuate your home. They can help to draw attention to your fireplace, or at the same time, hide remnants from a fire that you haven’t yet had time to clean. By purchasing certain styles or ornamentally designed glass fireplace doors, you can enhance your mantle and hearth area by making your fireplace really stand out by adding charm and character to your living space.

You might be saying to yourself, “But won’t fireplace glass doors affect how much heat my fireplace emits? Won’t I be eliminating a wonderfully economical way of warming my home by installing this type of glass door?” These are common and frankly, quite reasonable questions. Contrary to what you might think though, typically glass doors will help to keep your home warm when you have a fire. While a fireplace will warm the space immediately around it, the movement of heat from the fire up through the chimney will normally create a vacuum, thereby drawing warm air from your home up with it. Fireplace glass doors can help you greatly diminish the amount of air being drawn out of your home, and therefore lost through the chimney.

Fireplace glass doors can also be a wonderful way of keeping fireplace remnants where they are meant to be. This aspect of glass doors can make life much easier when it comes to the dreaded fireplace clean up. By blocking the escape of ash, wood chips, smoke, bark, cinders, and other debris commonly associated with fires and the wood we put in them, fireplace glass doors can greatly reduce the amount of time you spend cleaning up after having a fire. By protecting the surroundings, your fireplace glass doors can also decrease or eliminate the need for sweeping up debris that has fallen from the fireplace, as well as those nasty smudges that are created when ash floats onto carpets, walls and ceilings. This way your clean up is easier, quicker, and you aren’t left wishing you never had the fire in the first place.