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Which Fireplace Door is Right for me ?
There are a few questions that you need to answer to find the perfect doors for you. First, you must find out if you have a masonry or factory-built fireplace. Next, determine a style that will reflect your décor. Finally, determine your price range to find what's best for you.
Masonry vs. Factory-built. Factory built fireplaces are easy to spot. If your outside chimney is faced with the same siding material as your house, you have a factory built fireplace. Masonry fireplaces require brick or stone chimneys. You must also check the fireplace itself. If there is any metal around the fireplace, you have a factory-built fireplace.
Factory-built fireplaces, also called "Zero Clearance" or ZC fireplaces, are designed to be built with very little clearance to combustible components of your home. They can do this because they have designed the fireplace so that cooling air insulates the hot firebox from the structure of the home. The glass doors must be designed to allow that cooling air to flow the way the firebox manufacturer designed it to flow. Gaps between the glass and frame vents exist on ZC doors to allow for this airflow. All doors for factory-built fireplaces are designed to these parameters.
Masonry fireplaces can accommodate a variety of fireplace doors. Aluminum and steel doors are available in many styles and finishes to accommodate nearly every décor and price range. From classic to contemporary, the possibilities are endless!
Next you must decide on the style and the quality level of the door. Glass doors are available in a wide range of styles and price ranges from the $150 doors found in home centers to solid brass barstock doors that can cost $2000 and more. You need to determine how often you use the doors and how long you will be staying in the home. For anyone who uses the doors frequently or plans on being in the home more than a couple of years we recomend purchasing a better quality door.
The lower end doors are made from stamped steel sheet metal with a thin brass plating. They often use 3/16" tempered glass and are generally lightweight and flimsy feeling.
The better quality doors are made from 3/16" or 1/4" steel barstock welded together to form the frame. Some doors are laser or plasma cut from a sheet of 3/16" or 1/4" thick steel sheets which allows the frames to be made in a variety of custom shapes. These doors are finished with either a thick brass plating or are overlayed with sheet of solid brass.(overlaying involves cutting shets or coils of solid brass usually 0.025" thick, bending it to fit the shape of the frame and attaching the brass to the steel frame either mechanically or with a high temperature adhesive or sometime both. The better quality doors will generlly use 1/4" thick tempered glass.
The most expensive doors are those made form solid brass. They are built the same as a better quality door but use 3/16" or 1/4" brass instead of steel. They are then hand polished and finished.
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