Stone Fireplace, Stone Staircase, Limestone Fireplaces

So you’ve decided on a lovely stone fireplace, and you’re going to install a woodstove, and reduce your fuel bills by burning logs instead of oil and gas. Now wood burning is advantageous for many reasons: It’s eco friendly, and carbon neutral. It can save you a fortune if you are prepared to go out and cut/collect your own logs, and even if you buy logs from your local supplier, then it should be a lot cheaper than coal or gas. The one downside is the physical effort involved.

Carrying a weeks supply of logs to stack up near your stone fireplace is quite a job. It can result in you bringing a bit of mess into the house, and of course you do have to keep the fire going to get the heat (unlike ‘piped’ oil or gas) What you want to be sure of therefore, is that you’re retaining as much as possible of that heat that you’ve worked hard to produce.

One way is to burn the best logs. This means burning well seasoned (dried) logs.  A minimum of one year’s drying is recommended, but if you can keep logs for two years before burning, then even better! The other thing is the type of timber. Ash is king, but oak, beech, and others are not far behind, but in all cases the drier the better.

So you’ve got your stone fireplaces, you’ve got your stove, and you’ve got your well seasoned fuel. Now you want to retain that heat in your home, and there is just no substitute for insulation! Get as much as you can into your roof: Heat rises, so that’s where it’s going to try and escape from first. Then your walls, particularly if they’re only 9″ solid brickwork. Get them drylined and covered in thermal board: you’ll be amazed at the difference. Then your windows: Make sure they’re draught proof, and if possible get them double glazed. It really does make a difference.

Once you’ve done all this insulation, you’ll find that you will cut down on the amount of wood you burn, because your rooms will actually stay warmer because the cold from outside is kept at bay (remember that efficient insulation not only keeps your heat in, but it also keeps the cold out.

Are you thinking about a new stone fireplace, or are you thinking about the World Cup. I’m not a football fan, but do like to watch the England games, and have this naive belief that we could actually win, which would be great wouldn’t it! My more knowledgeable (in football terms) friends tell me though, that we have no chance. Well, as long as we get through a few stages and at least beat a few good teams, then I suppose it’ll be a bit of fun.

The weather is typically ‘British’ at the moment isn’t it? One day warm, the next day cold. One minute it’s raining, and the next it’s clear blue skies. We’ve been moving stuff in and out of the workshop on a regular basis to dodge the showers. Mind you, we’re working on one particularly big and beautiful stone fireplace that is too big to get on the benches inside the workshop anyway, so whatever the weather, we’re working on that stone outside!

I had a couple of very nice people come with a design for two stone fireplaces the other day. They make antique wool fabrics, and they want to build some room sets to use for photographing their products. We’re going to make them look a bit grubby too, so that they can make a ’scene’ that looks genuinely old, as that is the market they sell to.

A beautiful old stone fireplace is very difficult to find, and if you do find a lovely one, it will most probably cost you a great deal of money. We make our stone fireplaces to original and authentic designs. We visit many historic houses to see hundreds of very old stone fireplaces and we base our designs on what we see. Our masons will make you a stone fireplace that is just the same as these ancient examples, and the cost will be far less than that of an antique one (even if you were fortunate enough to find one)

You can distress your new fireplace in many ways if you want a bit of instant ageing, and/or we can use our distressed limestone, to help achieve that original look. Of course there is no substitute for time, and particularly if you have an open fire, or a wood stove, then there will no doubt be the gradual addition of a few soot stains and a bit of coal dust to make the stone fireplace look a little more aged!

If you look on our ’special commission’ page in the stone fireplace section, then you will see many examples of the fireplaces we have made specially to customers’ requirements. Many have been for very old houses that were being restored, but many are also put into newly built character houses. Have a look through the pictures and see if there’s something that would fit into your project.

So what have you been doing over the Bank holiday? Been away to the seaside perhaps, or stayed at home and done a bit of gardening or perhaps some DIY!  It was ‘normal’ bank holiday weather up here in Leicestershire… rain all day Saturday, and cloudy for Sunday and Monday.  We’d supplied a lovely french style stone fireplace to a customer last week so that he could fit it over the bank holiday. The customer is a very practical person and was going to do the fitting himself. He’s had one of our stone fireplaces before; for his previous house, and he fitted that himself too. I hope it all went well.

I went to watch a ‘village’ cricket match. My mate runs a little team who play a few light hearted matches each year. Yesterday they were playing against another local team, and several of the players had their sons playing too. It was a very nice day, and I suppose one of those typically English ’scenes’ that are unique to this country. Would have been nicer with a bit more sun, but lack of sun is an equally typical ’scene’ particularly on a bank holiday.

Back this morning to the business of stone fireplace supply. One has gone off with our part-time driver to Hampshire, and two more to Yorkshire and Northumberland.