Henry H. Saylor

“ Too many home-builders have instructed their architects to provide a fireplace or two in the fond hope that the matter was then practically closed—a mere matter of time until they might be sitting before the fire’s cheerful glow. Too frequently the result has been a disappointment when the first few trials introduced into the room more smoke than heat or cheer. The reason for this is that there is a scientific basis for fireplace building which is frequently ignored absolutely by an over-confident and stupid mason. ”

“ It unquestionably doubles the fire’s efficiency in throwing heat out into the room, it halves the care and attention needed to keep the fire burning, and it increases beyond measure the beauty of a wood fire, when it is nearing its end, by rekindling itself with the [52] embers and keeping alive for a long time the quiet, dull red glow. Stop your ears to the importunities of the over-zealous housekeeper and steel yourself against the pricks of the conscience of cleanliness. If need be, fight for the retention of that bed of ashes. You can scarcely get it too large or too deep. ”

“ We want a different sort of a fire in these days—one that will burn with a steady, constant blaze or glow, conserving most of its heat, which the back and sides of the fire chamber will reflect out into the room.
Such a fireplace will not necessarily be a large one. It is amusing to hear how [9] universally the demand goes up for large fireplaces—“great big fellows that will burn full cord wood.” It is hard to see just why this is. It may be based on the assumption that if a small fireplace is desirable a large one is more so. ”

“ Where the work of building the home has been entrusted to an architect’s hands the latter usually appreciates the fact that the building of the fireplaces is liable more than any other part of the house to be taken into the mason’s own hands with, if he is not watched, disastrous results. Undoubtedly every mason [5] would resent most strongly any insinuation as to his lack of knowledge regarding fireplace construction. Each mason not only thinks that he knows how a fireplace should be built, but it is almost as general a rule that he feels that his particular method is the only correct one. ”

“ This is a fallacy that the architect and fireplace builder find it hard to dispel. There is no objection whatever to a large fireplace in a summer camp or informal shack of that sort. In fact a small one would in such a place be ridiculous, but when we come to our year-round living-room or dining-room or den, where the walls of the room are tight and the whole atmosphere quieter and more restrained, a large fireplace would be distinctly a disturbing element. ”

“ A wood receptacle of some form is a convenient accessory, as one will avoid the task of carrying fuel up from the cellar or in from the woodpile whenever a fire is desired. There is a broad field from which to choose—brass-bound boxes of many sizes and forms, sturdy baskets and the metal wood baskets which are made for holding the logs themselves. There are those who prefer not to encumber [43] the vicinity of the fireplace with these rather bulky receptacles, but who find it convenient to have a box built in near by in the form of a window-seat or perhaps as a part of built-in bookcases. ”

“ Caen stone or its clever representation in cement serves well for the more formal type of mantel and facing
Tile, the last of the four materials, gives more latitude in design than any of the others, sometimes too much latitude we feel. If understandingly used, nothing could be more appropriate and attractive, but tile has been used so carelessly that somehow we have a feeling that the tiled fireplace is for show rather than for use. In any case, there is no question whatever regarding the unfitness of the glazed tiles which have made horrors of thousands of pseudo fireplace openings. ”

“ It is dangerous to build a chimney with a single four-inch thickness of brick between the flue and whatever may adjoin the chimney. Of course no wood should be allowed to come within an inch or two of the brickwork in any event, but with a single thickness of brick, unlined, there is always the danger that the mortar will crumble from a joint and leave an opening through which it would be an easy matter [17] for sparks or flame to do considerable damage. ”

“ This latter fuel is not nearly so well known in this country as in England where the scarcity of wood necessarily makes coal the more commonly used fuel. With our own abundance of wood, however, there will perhaps be little hesitancy in choosing the open fireplace rather than the basket grate for coal, although in certain cases, [3] for example an apartment where the flue has been built too small, or in a house where an available chimney offers only a small flue area for fireplace use, the basket grate will prove a welcome solution of the problem. ”

“ This is drawn to show that when a fire is kindled on the hearth the warm air current, which is generated immediately, begins to rise through the throat (the opening between the fire chamber and the smoke chamber) and at once induces a down-draft of cold air. If the back of the fireplace were on the same continuous plane with the rear side of the chimney flue, this downward current of cold air would strike directly upon the fire itself and force smoke out into the room. The smoke shelf is built just where it will prevent this action. ”

“ CONSTRUCTION The chief difficulty in attaining a successful fireplace design does not lie in securing an abundant draft. In fact it is an easy matter to make a fireplace draw if the flue is large enough and the opening from the fire chamber into the flue unobstructed. There will never be any question of getting a roaring blaze the moment the fire is lighted. ”

“ While there are those who would not for worlds give up the pleasure of tinkering with the tongs and poker while the fire burns, it will perhaps not detract from this enjoyment if the tinkering is not actually the result of necessity to keep the logs burning. Fire-mending is a delightful recreation only when it is not imposed upon us by becoming an alternative to having the glowing embers become discouraged and give up the fight. ”

“ Frequently it is possible without any very great expense and trouble to correct a fireplace that has been improperly built. If one has in mind a clear comprehension of the few elementary principles of fireplace construction it will usually be an easy matter to determine the reason why a fireplace smokes or fails to draw.
The cross-section area of the flue is likely to prove the most common difficulty. ”

“ The accumulation of two years is a priceless treasure. One of my own fireplaces has a bank that has to be depleted about twice a year to make room for the fire. A peck or two of the fine white powder is then carried out to bring joy to the rose garden. ”

“ One is not likely to go wrong in making a choice of andirons for any given type of fireplace. The simply turned brass patterns belong so obviously to the Colonial brick opening with its surrounding white woodwork; the rougher wrought-iron types are so evidently at home in the craftsman fireplace or the rough opening of stonework, that misfits are hardly possible. ”

“ To touch upon the subject as lightly as space will permit, we can probably do no better than to suggest the obvious type of mantel for one or two of the more common architectural styles, and recommend that in other styles the architect be allowed sufficient latitude in design and expense to distinguish this important feature of hall, living-room, dining-room or library with the characteristics of the style he has worked out for the house itself. ”

“ If it is possible for us to choose between various kinds of wood for our open fire fuel there is opened up one of the most interesting phases of the whole subject. To most people probably a wood fire is a wood fire, whether the logs be of cherry wood, pine, hickory or anything else. ”

“ Such an apparent anomaly could be secured by suspending a metal flue and hood from the roof, so that the lower edge of the truncated pyramidal form at the bottom would form the upper side of the fireplace “opening” at a convenient height above the hearth of brick, stone, tile or concrete. It is conceivable that an effective and thoroughly practical fireplace could be thus devised, having the flue and hood of wrought iron or copper, suspended and steadied by chains or bars from the ceiling and surrounding walls. ”

“ This width in the smoke chamber immediately diminishes in rising until it joins the flue at the flue’s own area.
The sectional diagram indicates a cast-iron damper built in the throat. This is not necessary, for it contributes nothing to the efficiency of the fire itself. Its one great advantage is that by furnishing the mason with an unalterable form, it forces him to build the throat properly rather than in one of the wrong ways that his own judgment might dictate. Such a cast-iron damper also forms a support for the flat arch of brick over the opening if bricks are used. ”

“ Of course there is no excuse whatever for building a modern home with a chimney too small for the sort of fireplace you want, but where the chimney has already been built without this provision it may possibly be found that a small terra cotta flue lining may be inserted in the larger flue without seriously damaging the latter’s power of draft. In that event the addition of a basket grate fireplace to an old house would be an interesting possibility. ”

“ If it is desired to secure a screen that will cut off the heat but not the light of the fire, the craftsman will work with larger areas of clear glass. On the other hand, it may be felt desirable to make a nearly opaque screen to cut off both light and heat. ”

“ In general, with these summer shacks or bungalows, the fireplace is the chief architectural feature of the living-room and for that reason will stand a moderate amount of embellishment, but this latter should take the form of a slightly better finish of the materials used throughout the room rather than the introduction of more elaborate and costly ones. ”

“ How few things there are, after all, which ages ago—probably through a long evolution—were designed to meet a real need in the best possible manner and which still meet that need and combine true beauty with their usefulness. ”

“ The modern home along Colonial lines is perhaps the commonest problem, and incidentally the easiest, for the old models of delicately detailed white-painted wood mantels are so well known and so universally admired that modern reproductions along good lines and reasonable cost are easily obtained. ”

“ There is the simple French screen of glass panes in a gilded frame, and there are wonderful possibilities for the employment of the craftsman’s skill in combining with plain or lightly tinted glass more decorative features in the way of stained glass and leading or in the combination of glass and metals. ”

“ BUILDING THE FIRE Ihave no doubt that the majority of the readers who have patiently found their way thus far through this little book will feel like closing it with a sigh of impatience at the sight of the chapter heading above. “Who doesn’t know how to build a wood fire? ”

“ We might as well seek instruction as to the most approved method of striking a match!” But if you will bear with me for a moment I would say most emphatically that as a matter of fact very few people really do know how to build a fire. ”

“ It is the intention of the publishers to make this series of little volumes, of which Making a Fireplace is one, a complete library of authoritative and well illustrated handbooks dealing with the activities of the home-maker and amateur gardener. ”

“ Making a Lawn; Making a Tennis Court; Making a Water Garden; Making Paths and Driveways; Making a Poultry House; Making a Garden with Hotbed and Coldframe; Making Built-in Furniture; Making a Rock Garden ”