How To Buy The Right Fireplace Screens For Your Living Space

A roaring fire in a fireplace is one of the best and most romantic ways to warm up on a cold day. But a fireplace is dangerous as well as beautiful. As long as you have the right tools and accessories you can reduce the risk to your furniture and flooring and make it easier to get and keep the fire burning well.

A fireplace screen is made up of a metal frame that holds metal mesh or screening. You may notice that a screen is normally only used with wood burning fireplaces. Other types of fireplaces, such as pellet stoves or natural gas fireplaces use fire doors or other screening methods. They do not depend as heavily on a fireplace screen to keep embers and sparks in where they will not cause any damage.

Fireplace screens need to be stable and made of metal that is fairly thick and hard. You want to make sure that there is no chance that the screen will fall over if it is accidentally bumped or moved so that you can get at the fire inside the fireplace. You also want to make sure that a very hot fire will not melt or warp the frame of the screen since this can make it unusable. It should not be lined with a solid liner since this can keep necessary air flow from reaching the fire and allowing it to burn properly.

There are a range of different styles you can choose from. The first thing to decide is how many panels you want your screen to have. There are fireplace screens with one panel. These are often a simple piece of mesh held in a metal frame. There are also three panel screens. These have a broad central panel that spans the front of the fireplace, and two side panels which keep it propped up. Often, three panel fireplace screens are some of the most traditionally styled ones.

There are fireplace screens with more than three panels. A four panel screen is the same basic shape as a three panel screen, but has had the front panel divided up into two smaller panels. There are five or even six paneled screens. There are even fan shaped screens where there are six or more panels forming the fan, which sits on a base in front of the fireplace. A good fireplace screen is not so heavily decorated that you cannot see the fire behind it.

It can be hard to access the fire with some screens. They may be too heavy to move. If you plan to be making a fire that will burn for some time, remember that you will need to be able to prod the fire. You want to think about purchasing a screen that can be drawn to the side in order to let you access the flames. Or, you may need to think about a different style of fireplace screen if you find it is too difficult to get at the fire itself.

Finding a fireplace screen is not difficult. They are sold in stores and on websites. You can find them in home improvement shops, furniture stores and fireplace supply stores as well. It may be easy to find them but picking the right one can be a hard decision to make. By thinking about your needs and how you use your fireplace, it should not be hard to make the choice that is right for you.

Jeff Bridges has always enjoyed a warm fire on a cold winter's night he currently helps run a fireplace screens website, which promotes fireplace screens in all shapes and styles.