Reclaim your old fireplace – Go Electric! | Wall Mounted Electric Fires

Reclaim your old fireplace – Go Electric!

Are you one of those people who, like me, have the remains of a 30 old fireplace in their living room? In the past I tried covering the opening with various ‘decorative’ fire screens, TV stand and even a cupboard at some point. Not only it looked tacky but also I felt like I am missing an important feature of every English living room – a fireplace.

One day about two weeks ago when trying to fit my new ‘decorative fireplace opening cover’ I said.. Enough! And decided to get my old fireplace working again. I looked on the web and in the local newspapers for companies refurbishing old fireplaces, spent hours on the phone and sending emails. Two days later I was sure – it is not easy to find people willing to do it and even harder to find people willing to do it at a reasonable price, and I am not going to sell my car just to get that old monstrosity working again.

Then a friend mentioned gas fireplaces – at first I was excited, started checking on-line retailers’ prices and presto – at least 50% cheaper then refurbishing my old fireplace… but I would have to have my chimney checked and possibly resealed, I would have to pay the fireplace installer to come and connect it, test it and then have my chimney cleaned at least once a year just to be safe.

When browsing for gas fireplaces I noticed a link saying ‘Electric fireplaces‘… I expected those ’80s style outset things with plastic logs on top but no… imagine how surprised I was. Hundreds of styles – modern fireplaces, traditional fireplaces, inset fireplaces, outset fireplaces, wall mounted fireplaces and many, many more. Then I considered the costs – the electric fireplace itself is cheaper that the gas equivalent, it doesn’t need a chimney, no gas connection is needed so no expensive installation and testing and of course its safer. Well… I was impressed… so impressed I bought an inset electric fireplace and even decided to go for a new fireplace surround to go with it.

The same day I received a phone call from the retailer informing me of the expected delivery date and of my rights to cancel, return or have my fireplace replaced if there is anything wrong with it (hopefully not).

Ten days later I got a phone call from the delivery man saying they would deliver my fireplace in ‘about an hour’ so I got up, made tea and waited.

Doorbell… I opened the door – ‘Morning Sir, we got a fireplace for You.’ The delivery guy was really nice, brought the box into my room, unpacked and asked me to check if I am all right with the fireplace. It was actually better than I expected – perfect.

I fitted it myself – now I can brag about how good I am with tools but actually all I needed was a screwdriver and a drill… my son could do it himself with no problems.

All in all I saved a lot of money and hassle, got rid of the nasty old fireplace remains and can now sit in front of a really nice, contemporary fireplace while typing this article on my laptop.

So that’s it – if you are stuck with a nasty hole in your living room wall, go electric – get yourself an electric fireplace and create a stunning focal point in your room… as it was meant to be.

MicK

Article from articlesbase.com