Stone Fireplace, Stone Staircase, Limestone Fireplaces

So you have your stone fireplace all ready, and now you need some logs for your fire. Actually you should have been collecting your wood long before you installed your fire, as the key factor to efficient wood-burning is DRY wood. It doesn’t matter whether your using an open ‘dog’ grate, or a wood stove in your stone fireplaces, you are wasting all the potential heat if your wood is wet. It depends on the size of your logs of course, and the species of tree they came from, but as a general rule logs should be dried for a minimum of one year. That means that ideally, you should be collecting logs now, that should not be burned before this time next year (the start of winter 2010)

The best way to dry your wood is to stack it somewhere south facing; open to the weather, but with a roof of some sort to keep off the rain. It also helps if air can circulate around the wood, so stacking your logs on pallets will let drying air circulate and also keep your logs off the damp ground. You don’t actually have to build a full-on shelter, as if you stack your wood on the pallets, then put some old corrugated sheets over them, they will dry very well.

Size of log is important too. Bigger logs burn slower, and if they are completely dry, they will burn very efficiently and leave a minimum of ash.

Of course space is a problem for some house holds, but ideally you need space for at least two years supply. You’ll be burning your 12 month dried timber, but will be collecting your new supply for the following year. The amount you need depends on size of stone fireplace, size of wood stove; how often you have a fire, and many other factors.

As a bonus, a stack of logs is quite an attractive thing, so you don’t need to hide it round the back of your house. Just think how good those stacks of logs look around mountain chalets if/when you’ve been skiing.

Everyone is aware these days of the cost of fuel, and thus the cost of heating our homes. The days when we would just bang the heating on full in the winter are long over……. unless you’re a billionaire of course! What everyone ideally wants now, is a house that has an efficient heating system, and a level of insulation that retains that heat once you’ve bought the fuel to provide it.  Insulation is compulsory in all new buildings and this aspect of the building regulations is forever being upgraded. (higher and higher levels of insulation required. ) The choice of heating though is still wide.

With the advent of modern insulation, double glazing, and other advances, a solid fuel heat source can be ever more practical. There was a time, when no matter how attractive was your roaring fire in your stone fireplace, the fact is that the majority of the heat was going straight up the chimney, and what little heat did remain in the room was quickly cooled by cold walls and single glazed windows. It was no exaggeration to say that a lot of people woke to ice on the inside of their windows.

There is no need though for that to be the case any longer. You can insulate your house to a level now, where a wood burning stove, will heat most of the house as the heat produced is retained very efficiently.

There is still no substitute for a big roaring log fire in a beautiful stone fireplace, and even that heat source will provide significant amounts of space heating once you’ve taken care of the insulation. Also, if you don’t mind a bit of hard work. You can venture out along roadsides, or in your local woods and collect logs for yourself. That’s practically ‘free’ home heating. (and a bit of keep fit too!)

Stone is old; it’s completely natural; it has natural beauty; and it lasts a very long time…. (so is environmentally friendly?) In any case, like wood, or leather, or wool, or silk, it is a natural material, and has natural beauty. Whatever you make with it, it will retain that natural appeal. Whether it’s a stone fireplace, some stone stairs, a pair of gate pillars or a grand statue, stone makes something beautiful to behold.

Making a stone fireplace is a pleasure, as is making anything from a natural product. The skills involved have invariably been passed down over hundreds and thousands of years. Stone fireplaces and stone stairs are always add something special to a home.

Stone is practical too! A stone fireplace won’t wear out for many generations, if ever! They will carry the scars of a hard life, and yet that will only make them even more beautiful. Most natural materials take on a wonderful patina as they get older, and stone (and oak) are probably the best materials at doing that. A stone fireplace in an ancient house, stained with the smoke of tens of  thousands of roaring fires, is an inspiring thing.

There are stone stairs in equally ancient houses, that show the scars of armour clad knights’ boots and the marks of musket shot; perhaps from the civil war, perhaps from the wars of the roses. Who knows! Truly inspiring things to see.