Nothing warms your home up on a cold wintry day quite like a roaring fire. No matter how experienced with burning you are, having a fireplace comes with certain safety risks. However, many safety risks associated with fireplaces can be greatly reduced by using a fireplace screen. Screens in front of the fireplace are an important part of keeping you and your family safe, as well as protecting your home from stray sparks or embers.
Fireplace screens and safety
Even with a controlled burn in a fireplace, it is still important to be as safe as possible around fire. In order to keep your home and your family safe, we often recommend that our customers use fireplace screens. Fireplace screens not only prevent hot embers and coals from popping out of the fireplace and onto your floors or furnishings, but also keep curious children and pets a safe distance away from the fire.
Fireplace screens can be found as either freestanding screens or be installed directly to the front of the fireplace or stove. However, attaching an aftermarket screen directly to the fireplace may change its functionality. Because of this, we recommend having a hearth professional attach any permanent screens to avoid damaging your fireplace unit.
New gas fireplace safety standards
All gas fireplaces and stoves with glass fronts manufactured after January 1, 2015 are required to have a fireplace screen. This safety standard was put into effect by the American National Standards Institute in order to reduce the number of accidental burns associated with touching the hot glass panels of gas fireplaces.
“While gas fireplaces, stoves and inserts are a great asset to any home, the glass can become very hot during operation and stay hot long afterwards, creating a potential burn hazard,” said Hearth, Patio, and Barbeque Association president Jack Goldman. “In the past several years, there have been reports of burns involving young children and others who may not been aware of the potential risk of touching the hot glass on gas fireplaces, inserts and stoves. While we believe these incidents are few, even one is too many. We believe the new safety standard will provide greater protection to young children and others with special needs.”
Decorative fireplace screens
While fireplace screens serve an important role in protecting your home and family, they don’t have to be a utilitarian or ugly addition to your home. In fact, most fireplace screens come in a variety of decorative styles, allowing homeowners to choose and customize a fireplace screen that fits in with their home’s décor.
Fireplace screens are also an easy and inexpensive way to update the look of your fireplace. A sleek, modern fireplace screen can help update a dated fireplace without the cost of a fireplace rebuild. Likewise, if you rarely use your fireplace opt for a more delicate artist created screen. These handcrafted screens can be created using metalwork, paint, and even stained glass to add a one-of-a-kind design element to your fireplace.
No matter what kind of heating appliance you have or how often you use it, a fireplace screen can improve the safety and aesthetics of your fireplace. To find the fireplace screen that is right for your family, visit the showroom at New Buck Chimney Services today!