How To Select The Right Fireplace Screens For Your Living Space

By Jeff Bridges

If you love a roaring fire, you know that the right accessories do more than beautify your home. They keep you safe and make manipulating wood and stoking the fire itself safer and easier. Fireplace screens serve several purposes in the home and come in a wide variety of traditional and contemporary styles that can suit anyone's home perfectly.

A fireplace screen is simply a mesh panel that goes in front of the fireplace opening. They are used with wood burning fireplaces rather than natural gas ones. This is because the primary purpose of a fireplace screen is to prevent sparks and burning embers from popping out of the fire and into your home. Most fireplaces are built with a hearth. This is a patch of fire resistant tiling or stone that extends out from the front of the fireplace into the room. However, this does not prevent stray sparks from flying out past the reach of the hearth.

You should look for a few specific features in any fireplace screen you use. The first is that you want air to be able to pass through the screen so that the fire can get the oxygen it needs in order to breathe. Fires require air in order to keep them going and a fireplace screen can help promote the proper flow of air through the fireplace and into the fire. You need to look for a fireplace screen that is made of mesh or screening rather than a solid panel.

If you like a traditional look, you should go for a screen that has three or more panels. There are single panel fireplace screens, but they are often more contemporary in their styling. With a three panel fireplace screen, there will be a wider front panel that extends along the front of the fireplace and two side panels that provide the screen with stability and allow it to stand upright.

There are also screens which have four or more panels, but these are just three panel screens with a divided central screen. When you are shopping for a fireplace screen, you should be able to view the fire behind it since this is part of the fun and enjoyment you get from a fire.

You also need to make sure that you can access the fireplace easily with the screen that you have chosen. Keep in mind that they should be easily movable. You may want to pick a fireplace screen that has mesh that can be drawn aside. You may not want to have to move the screen in order to access the fireplace since the metal can get quite warm the longer it is near the heat of the fire.

Finding fireplace screens is not difficult. You can find them online or in many fireplace and home improvement stores. If you do go to purchase one, you should have an idea of the style you like and the size of your fireplace. Then, any skilled employee can give you good advice about which ones will suit you best. - 30198

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