Choose Sturdy A Sturdy 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.
Today, screens are more decorative shields of sheet metal, wire mesh, or glass, placed in front of a hearth opening to keep the flames, embers and ash in. It used to be that screens were just used to cover the fireplace when there was no fired burning. They soon became more than just devices to warm the inhabitants of a house when it was too cold, becoming more decorative.
An order for a screen can be made by mail or on the Internet. It can be pre-arranged when sent to you to match the fireplace. You may go to a store and ask customer service to help you pick the screen to fit your fireplace and decor. It sure is convenient having a choice on how to select and pay for the screen.
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.
A boston spark guard is used in some large fireplace openings more than 60 inches wide or more than 48 inches tall. This will fit flat up against the fireplaces outer part, overlapping the opening by an inch at least on the top and sides. This screen gives greater protection against sparks, and keeps small children and animals from getting too close to the fireplace.
They fit fireplaces of standard size or with huge openings or of odd sizes. Look for the model whose frames have large diameter steel rods soldered to extra-heavy kick plates for firm support. Then see if there are no exposed jagged edges, and that handles are firmly bolted to the frame and not to the mesh, making it self-supporting when tending fire for an ideal fireplace screen.