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Three Faces of fireplaces
Marcia Cocke of Centreville was looking for a fireplace screen in the Fairfax showroom of Offenbacher's. She needed it for her gas fireplace, but still has warm memories of the old wood-burning style. "I miss my wood," she said, "with that smell and the crackling sound."
The gas is more convenient, though. "You just turn it on," rather than bringing logs into the house and then cleaning the ashes out," she added. "With our busy life style, it makes more sense."
She is hardly alone in that feeling. More than 600 years since wood-burning fireplaces first replaced the burning log , they are facing some pretty hot competition from the gas and electric innovations.
"Over the last ten years, the gas fireplaces have really caught on," said Wendell Leverette, manager of the Fairfax location of Offenbacher's, which also has stores in Springfield and Sterling.
Wood and gas are alike in one important way: they both produce real flames. The electric version can be switched on and off like any other appliance.
For this reason, he said, the electric hearth still has a limited appeal. "Most people use them only when they cannot use gas, like in an apartment," he reported. While the electrical "logs" seem to be burning, they produce no fire or smoke, although some models do provide built-in heaters.
They therefore do not require a chimney, unlike the wood or gas versions. The gas fireplace may also do without one, however, if the gas logs are vent-free. On the other hand, a direct-vent log creates the most heat and therefore requires a converted wood-burning fireplace, since wood burns the hottest of all.
In addition to being the most convenient, the electric units are usually the least costly. They usually come in one piece, in the $2,000 range.
For a gas or wood-burning fireplace, all the components, including the logs, firebox, cabinet, glass door and installation, would bring the project to the $5,000 range.
An existing wood-burning fireplace can be converted to gas by installing a new firebox beneath the old mantel. The two components must always be compatible, though, as Leverette warns, so the buyers should choose the firebox carefully, with the expert's advice.
While the electric hearths may be the most modern, they need not look that way. Offenbacher's sales associate Mohammed Mahmood pointed out a white plaster Colonial model, with a fluted frame as well as a Victorian design, with a walnut mantel and antique trim.
"Colonial is the most popular," he said ... and small wonder, since so many Northern Virginia homes follow the same style.
Taking part in the general trend to gas fireplaces, luxury builders like Toll Brothers are using them to cook up home sales.
"In the bigger homes, we can do traditional wood-burning units," he said. "But we are seeing a lot of gas units, which are more convenient and cleaner." As for electric, he adds, "I have not seem them in our products, and I am not sure we even offer them."
Typically, fireplaces are standard in the rear family room, where they are designed to reflect the informal, contemporary atmosphere. But Toll Brothers also offers optional fireplaces in the more formal front parlors, where they tend to follow the Colonial theme.
That is the case with the Chamberlain model, for instance, which is priced in the million-dollar range at Belmont Country Club in Loudoun County.
In addition, some Toll Brothers models offer the optional fireplaces in the recreation room and master suite. A popular variation is the two-sided hearth, often located between the master bedroom and sitting area or the family room and study.
At Poplar Parc in Chantilly, WCI Communities offers an optional two-sided fireplace between the living room and library, for the million-dollar Grand Rembrandt model. Like most of their selections, it also features a standard fireplace in the family room. Both use gas, but a wood-burning upgrade is available.
Homeowners are also following this fashion for their own dwellings. "We have two and even three- and four-sided fireplaces," Mahmood said at Offenbacher's. For those who want to read beside the fire, some fireplaces have built-in bookshelves.
While fireplaces are usually considered a luxury today, you can regard them as an investment,too. They not only brighten and warm your home, they can also help to sell it.
And when they include a chimney, they are very useful to Santa as well.
(For more information go to www.fireplaces-fireplaces.com).
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