Attn: Fireplace owners

[Matt G]

With the recent cold weather, I have been trying to seal all the leaks in my house as best as possible. This is my first winter in this house, and it has been a real treat...

Anyhow, the fireplace is a pre-fab unit and leaks cold air in like a sieve. The glass doors don't do much but remind you that the unit is 20 years old. I pulled the doors a while back, and IMO it looks better. It also allows me to do this (sorry for P&S quality pics):



Here is the back and how it works. There is some fairly thick weather stripping to seal the edges and magnets to hold it in place. The cross brace is needed to keep it flat. It is 3/16 oak plywood with oak 1x2 framing. Minimal tools (jigsaw, circular saw, drill) were required. All fastening is done with #6 x 1" wood screws. Please note: When using oak, always pre-drill the holes. Even with pre-drilling, I stopped short a few times and my drill twisted the head off of a few screws.



For the summer (where all of this started) I have a portable A/C unit that goes in my living room. All of my windows downstairs are Anderson crank out windows, so there is no suitable place for the A/C exhaust. Voila!



The room is far less drafty when this is in place and the cycle time for the heat seems to be longer. Even when the flue is closed, there was a significant draft on cold (lower than 20 degrees F) days. I'm probably out around $75 for supplies, but I went with oak so that I can stain it and match the existing woodwork and floors.

I hope a few of you find this useful. I don't use the fireplace much, but even if I need/want to use it, the magnets (which are held on with Super Glue) allow for this to pop on and off in seconds, while maintaining a decent seal.

[MaryAnn]

I've been seven years in my house and haven't used the fireplace once; seems silly to pull air through the house to burn in the fireplace....negative heat gain overall. I've had the flue closed all this time but only a few weeks ago noticed a cold "breeze" coming down the fireplace and blowing on me. I was sitting in a different chair than usual, and had never noticed this before.

So mine is much less pretty than yours....it has a split-open garbage bag pasted over the opening with blue painter's tape. And the bag billows in when the furnace comes on, which I'd guess is indicative of a leak in the system somewhere. A non-leaky duct system is not supposed to cause your house to either blow or suck.

MA

[tubatooter1940]

I made a "fireplace plug" for my 1916 home with no damper in the flue.
The top of the fireplace was arched requiring me to make two mock-ups out of old paneling before I got the arch right.
I copied the shape off onto some pretty 3/4 inch mahogany-faced plywood and gave it four or more coats of high gloss varnish until it looked filled in.
I whittled two "feet" with toes and all (varnished) that extended out four inches from the bottom of the plug and used two long screws each that held the plywood upright when I shoved it into the fireplace inside the brick.I found two decorative antique brass handles to screw in high on each side.
My family thought it was cool. It was a fun little garage project.

[pg]

I use a 2 inch thick 4x8 styrofoam insulation sheet from Home Depot or similar. Cut to fit sung and then coverred with a marble contact paper.

--paul;

[tubatooter1940]

My present house has a brick rectangular fireplace opening.
I measured it and ordered a set of tight fitting glass doors and metal curtain from a local fireplace shop.
I can now let the fire burn with the damper open and shut the doors and go to bed knowing my heater is not pumping warmth out a huge chimney opening.
I shut the damper in the morning when everything's cooled off.

[rocksanddirt]

that's a nice job!

our flue and glass doors keep out most of the drafts....when it bugs me I end up with a moving blanket taped up with blue painters tape.....not very attractive.

[DonShirer]

We installed an Xtrordinare enclosed fireplace which pulls its combustion air from outside and blows heated air out to the house through vents. Net positive heat flow.