What are the different fireplace options? How can you tell the type of fireplace that you have? Find out more.

Fireplaces aren’t only built for heating but also add to the visual appeal of your home’s interior. These structures come in varying designs all targeted toward unique customer needs.

Different Types of Fireplaces In Homes

In other words, the type of fireplace design person A wants might be different from what person B wants.

That’s a natural human characteristic. In line with the choices and options available, this article takes a look at the different fireplace types available.

If you’re having a difficult time settling for a fireplace, a great starting point will be to know the types and options you have. Here is all about fireplace to wood stove conversion.

Fireplace Categories

Having a good understanding of the fireplace types depends heavily on the different categories available.

Here, you want to consider the fuel type, the mounting options, the style or design options, as well as the materials they’re made of.

The most popular types of fireplaces should also be looked at.

i. Fireplace Options By Fuel Type

In choosing a fireplace type, you’ll need to have the fuel type figured out.

In other words, you need to know what fuel type you prefer to burn.

You’ll find gas fireplaces, electric fireplaces, ethanol fireplaces, gel fireplaces, and wood-burning fireplaces.

  • Gas Fireplaces

Gas fireplaces are simply those that use gas fuels for combustion. These are low-cost options that require less maintenance compared to wood-burning fireplaces. They burn cleaner and tend to be very effective.

With this type of fireplace, you get to save on energy in addition to having fewer cleaning demands.

What more? Gas fireplaces are easy to operate, are environmentally friendly, tend to be warmer compared to some other types, and lastly are stylish or more modern in appearance.

  • Electric Fireplaces

Instead of relying on other fuel types like gas, wood, or gel, these types of fireplaces only need to be installed and connected to your mains. It gives off no fumes, requires low maintenance, and costs less compared to others.

Electrical fireplaces tend to be energy efficient and serve for longer.

This type of fireplace is easy to install, has many design options, and is safe. Are there any downsides? There are! Under severe weather conditions, there may be outages.

This fireplace will cease to work unless you have a backup power source.  

  • Ethanol Fireplaces

These types of fireplaces are designed to use ethanol fuels. Such fuels are liquid bioethanol fuels.

With these types of fireplaces, you tend to get the benefits of a modern design, incurring minimal installation costs, and also having an excellent source of supplemental heat.

What more? Ethanol fireplaces are quite easy to use and maintain in addition to being a clean source of heat energy that’s environmentally friendly.

On the downside, ethanol fireplaces aren’t ideal as primary heating sources.

Plus, this can be dangerous and also takes up a significant amount of oxygen.

  • Gel Fireplaces

Gel fireplaces aren’t as among the least popular of all the fireplaces mentioned.

These heating systems use gel fuel for combustion. Gel fireplaces are mostly vent-free. Gel fuel is quite easy to use and is environmentally friendly.

There are disadvantages with its use though.

With this fireplace type, you don’t get to control the flame size. Also, it’s not an efficient heating system compared to the others due to the limited amount of heat produced. Plus, it’s not fuel-efficient.

In other words, cans of gel fuel run out easily.

  • Wood Burning Fireplaces

This was the primary fireplace type that was used in the past.

It’s still very much popular today and uses wood fuels for heating. Although there’s a steady shift towards other fuel types like gas, wood-burning fireplaces have their benefits.

With wood-burning fireplaces, you can continue heating during power outages. They offer increased home value. You get to incur cheaper utility bills during winter while also enjoying the pleasant wood aroma.

Wood burning fireplaces offer natural lighting and cost less than gas fireplaces.

It’s an environmentally friendly way of heating your home. However, there are certain disadvantages associated with wood-burning fireplace use. First off, you’ll need to attend to the fires to prevent them from going out.

Also, there are safety issues as sparks and warm ashes can result in fire hazards.

ii. Classes Of  Fireplace By Mounting Options

Before buying a fireplace, you’ll need to figure out available mounting options.

You’ll need to choose what best serves your needs. Speaking of mounting options, there are free-standing fireplaces as well as traditional open-hearth fireplaces.

Other types include the built-in fireplace insert, wall-mounted fireplace, two-sided fireplace, hanging fireplace, and tabletop fireplace. All of these are great options to choose from.

What you pick will like to be influenced by your home’s design and available spacing among others.

iii. Styles Of Fireplace & Design Options

What style or feel do you need your fireplace to have?

Do you want a contemporary look or prefer adding a rustic feel to your home’s interior?

You can also go for a modern fireplace style based on your unique needs and your interior décor preferences.

iv. Fireplace Classified By Materials they’re Made of

Fireplaces are designed from different materials.

Each material type has its advantages. You’ll need to go for what best serves your needs. The type you settle for will consist of one of these or a combination of any of the following;

There are wood fireplaces, brick fireplaces, tile fireplaces as well as those designed from concrete. Other types include stone fireplaces, metal fireplaces as wells as those made from plaster.

According to fireplace sellers, the fireplace materials with the most demand are those made from stone.

Tile fireplaces come at a distant second with wood fireplaces coming in the third position.

This explains why a lot of homeowners settle for stone fireplaces.

v. The Most Popular

We earlier mentioned the different mounting options available for fireplaces to include corner, wood-stove, hanging, two-sided, ribbon, and standard types.

The most popular of these types tend to be the standard type.

This is what’s common in most homes.

However, that doesn’t make it the best. You can introduce some style to your living room by coming up with or picking a different type.

The types of fireplaces cannot fully be exhausted here as there are different product types, brands, and so on.

Here, we’ve only focused on broad categories to give you an idea of where to begin your search from.

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