There are a few things that we associate with the lifestyle and beauty of Colorado—fresh powder, golden aspen leaves, monsoon season, and cozying up around a crackling fire. What is better than a warm fire on a cold night? A real wood fire is sensational: the flickering of the light, the smell of the logs, the crackling and popping sounds. For this reason, many homes in our communities were built with wood burning fireplaces as an amenity. If you still have your original firebox and if you’ve ever thought your wood burning fireplace is outdated, ugly, dirty, drafty, or ineffective; upgrade it! A new fireplace has five benefits: warmth, safety, beauty, saves money, and improves air quality.
Mountain Hearth & Patio installed this wood burning insert in a home in Evergreen, CO.
Wood burning Regulations | What You Should Know
Since the Environmental Protection Agency started regulating burning wood, fireplace technology has improved dramatically. Not solely a benefit for our air quality, EPA-certified appliances are more effective at heating your home. The glass front is ceramic glass for additional heat transfer. Another part of the EPA certification is combustion air control, so less air is being removed from your home to fuel the fire. This also slows the burn of the wood, saving you money.
Another way a new fireplace can save you money is by eliminating the draft you feel through your old fireplace. Outdated fireplaces draw a large volume of air out of your home right up your chimney—making surrounding rooms colder. Even when your fireplace isn’t in use, you’re losing heated air from your home to a poorly fitting damper or doors. Updating your fireplace can also help you save money by reducing heat loss of your home.
Modern Wood burners | Efficient Home Heating Solutions
Our certified technicians installed this efficient wood fireplace in Conifer, CO.
Newer wood burning units are efficient and they burn much cleaner; reducing creosote buildup and the risk of a hostile chimney fire. That’s not the only safety benefit you get when you upgrade your old fireplace system. Our pre-installation inspection process evaluates your entire fireplace and chimney system inside and out for signs of degradation, a spark-arresting chimney cap, clearance to combustibles, and more. You will have peace of mind that your home will be safe for years to come.
You will be surprised at the variety of styles available for new wood burning appliances. Whether you want a new fireplace, stove or insert, you can have a traditional design or contemporary. New units are made of steel, soapstone or cast iron. The cast iron can be enameled, available in an assortment of colors! Some manufacturers, like Fireplace Xtrordinair, offer hand-hammered artisan steel doors, or metal overlays such as bronze. Your new wood burning unit will heat great and look great too!
Wood burning Benefits | A Natural Source of Heat
If knowing that a new wood burning appliance can bring warmth, beauty, safety and savings to your life isn’t enough… there is yet another benefit! Burning wood is good for the environment! Trees are a renewable resource and there are plenty of them. RSF (Renewable Solid Fuel) who makes efficient, contemporary EPA-Certified wood burning fireplaces, has a great explanation of nature’s carbon cycle:
“In nature, carbon uses energy from the sun to cycle from the atmosphere to the forest and back again. Here’s how it works: trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air as they grow. In fact, about half their dry weight is absorbed carbon. When old trees die and decay, or are consumed in a forest fire, all that carbon is re-released into the air as carbon dioxide. This is nature’s carbon cycle. Heating with firewood means heating your home using the natural carbon cycle.”
Now that you know there are a multitude of reasons to upgrade your wood burning system, here’s how: If you have a masonry fireplace, there is an appliance called an insert that is designed to fit into the existing firebox. As part of that installation, we reline the chimney and install a spark-arresting cap. Then you’ll have a completely upgraded system that will provide warmth, safety, beauty and save you money for years and years.
We put this spectacular woodburner into a home in the Foothills west of Denver.
Upgrade Your Fireplace!
If you have an outdated factory-built fireplace, we can sometimes fit that with an insert as well. But- factory-built fireplaces are easier to remove and replace than you’d think. This way you get the opportunity to upgrade your façade material around the fireplace as well.
An EPA-certified stove is the easiest upgrade! We can put an efficient, attractive stove where your old one stood. There are many sizes of stoves, we will have the right one for your space.
There is a common misconception that you can’t burn wood anymore. That’s just not true! If the wood burning fireplace, stove or insert meets the EPA standards, you can use it whenever and wherever you want in the entire Denver-metro area. You should also know that in 2020, the EPA will be tightening their requirements for wood burning appliances. But that will only make the newer units even more efficient and better for air quality. Our wood burning manufacturers, RSF, FPX, Lopi, Hearthstone, Vermont Castings; all already offer 2020 EPA-Certified appliances.
You’re invited to see our variety of wood burning appliances in our showroom at 7001 Highway 73 in Marshdale. We have a large assortment of sizes, shapes, and styles for your home! Visit us from 9am-5pm Monday through Friday, and 8am-4pm Saturdays. You can also see our products and portfolio of work on our website or reach us by phone at 303-679-1601, and email at Office@MtnHP.com.
