Bathroom and kitchen remodels are great, but they can also be incredibly expensive. There are other ways to improve your home. One way that doesn’t require a second mortgage is a fireplace remodel. The fireplace is one of the coziest, visible, and practical areas of your home. A remodel is great to ramp up your old fireplace that may be serving you well functionally, but could do so much more with a manageable investment of time and money. Fireplace remodels cost considerably less than the $800 – $3,200 that most homeowners spend on a brand new fireplace installation. There’s also more than one way to renovate a fireplace, and by considering the current condition and its use, you’ll be able to determine what your fireplace really needs.

Changing To Gas

You may have loved your wood-burning fireplace. You may still love it, but you may also realize that it’s no longer worth the trouble. Despite being a renewable resource, wood is still getting more and more expensive. Gas isn’t cheap, either, but a gas fireplace may be a better alternative than pricey wood at your local grocery store. Gas fireplace inserts range in cost and design, but there is one out there that meets your budget and decor needs. Of course, you can find wood for a lot cheaper than it’s being sold at the store down the street, but this requires buying in bulk, hauling the wood to your home, and finding a place to store it.

In addition, gas-burning fireplaces burn a lot cleaner and a lot safer. In some areas where air pollution is an issue, you may be limited to when you can burn your wood. Plus, burning wood in your fireplace can lead to crackling that throws sparks into the surrounding area. This may lead to a fire hazard and, at the very least, requires constant attention and maintenance.

A fireplace remodel can mean many things. Even replacing or upgrading your fireplace surrounds can take on many levels. A new and/or improved mantel can greatly enhance the look. Hiring a customized wood working contractor can do amazing things for your fireplace surrounds for a fraction of the cost of a typical home remodel. Replacing your brick fireplace with marble is a more costly proposition, but will also create an unmatched quality installation. Even more peripheral accessories can be a great source of fireplace remodeling ideas. Simply by adding wall sconces on either side, you can create a truly relaxing and romantic atmosphere in your living room, family room, or den.

For more information on gas fireplaces, contact The Fireplace Shop and Grill Center at West Sport in Sudbury, MA, a fireplace and grill supplier in Sudbury, for more details. Additionally, get $300 off qualifying Majestic Gas Fireplaces and Inserts.

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Winter is fast approaching. If you are interested in making your home warmer and more welcoming this season, then come in and take a look at the fireplaces, inserts and stoves at West Sport in Sudbury.

HearthStone wood stoves, Hearthstone Gas Stoves and Hearthstone Fireplace Inserts are some of the most beautiful and most efficient on the market today. Right now, Hearthstone, West Sport and Smugglers’ Notch have partnered to bring you 4 free 2day lift tickets with the purchase of any Heathstone Stove or Fireplace Insert. We are also offering up to $300 off Majestic Gas Fireplaces and Majestic Gas Stoves.

Designed to fit any décor, you can find a stove, fireplace or fireplace insert to create a beautiful focal point in your home. By enhancing your hearth and adding fire to your home you can create a cozy gathering spot while increasing the value of your home. Stoves, fireplaces and inserts also make your home more efficient.

Before winter hits, make your heat work for you. Between the Hearthstone and Majestic brands you will be sure to find a product to meet your needs and that fit your décor and lifestyle.

Stoves, gorgeous efficient fireplaces, and fireplace inserts increase the value of your home, make your home more attractive, and increase your homes heating efficiency. Now is the time to save, get $300 off on Majestic or receive 4-2day lift tickets when you purchase a Hearthstone.

Contact The Fireplace Shop and Grill Center at West Sport in Sudbury, MA, a fireplace and grill supplier in Sudbury, for more details.

This may be the perfect time to start thinking about heating your home this winter. Right now, at The Fireplace Shop and Grill Center in Sudbury buy any Hearthstone Fireplace insert or gas or wood stove and get 4 FREE 2 Day Lift Tickets to Smugglers' Notch.

This is an In-Store Only special on Hearthstone gas and wood burning stoves and fireplace inserts.

If you want to save money, increase energy efficiency and make your living space more attractive, a fireplace insert or stove is a perfect solution. Traditional open fireplaces are inefficient. An insert or stove is more efficient than a traditional open fireplace because they allow the fire to burn hotter. They also prevent heat from going up the chimney like in an open fireplace. The heat is instead forced out into your home, making it more comfortable.

Additionally, a new stove or fireplace insert is an easy and fairly inexpensive way to update the look of your home. You can add a focal point to your room with the addition of a beautifully crafted stove or fireplace insert and receive 4 FREE 2 Day Lift Tickets.

Massachusetts winters are cold. Everyone wants a welcoming fire at home. Why not burn a fire that is more efficient and cost effective while adding beauty? Many Hearthstone stoves and inserts have efficiency ratings over 80%. If you enjoy winter, want to add beauty and functionality to your home, and want 4 FREE 2-Day Lift Tickets, Contact The Fireplace Shop and Grill Center at West Sport in Sudbury, MA.

The Marquis II series gas fireplace fills your home with comfort. Watch the scene unfold with an expansive view of the flames as they wrap around split logs. The authentic masonry appearance and accent lighting enhance the beautiful fire. Come home to this gas fireplace by Majestic, and enjoy the entertainment and romance you deserve.

• ClearView glass gives you an expansive view of the flames and realistic split logs
• Showcase the interior with accent lighting
• Customize the interior with authentic brick or Reflective Black Glass panels
• Perfect for medium and larger rooms
• Available in 36” or 42” models
• Up to 57,500 BTUs

Watch the video below to learn more.

Right now enjoy the Marquis Direct Vent Gas Fireplace sale, $300 off at The Fireplace Shop and Grill Center at West Sport in Sudbury, MA. If you want more information or if you want to see it burning, come in for a visit or contact us.

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A gas insert is an easy, convenient way to heat your home and to make a traditional open fireplace more attractive. Gas fireplace inserts are a firebox that’s surrounded by steel or cast iron with an insulated glass window for viewing. This sealed box prevents the heat from going up the chimney and forces it into your home instead. Many gas inserts have a blower that helps even more to force the heat into your living space. Fireplace inserts, both wood and gas, are placed directly into your existing open fireplace.

Energy efficiency is one of the biggest benefits of adding a gas insert to your home. Gas Fireplace Inserts average 75% - 80% efficiency and use less gas than gas logs. They can also be thermostat controlled for even heating.

Right now, at West Sport in Sudbury, the Majestic Ruby Gas Fireplace Insert is on sale for $300 off.

Ruby Series Direct Vent Gas Insert

Ruby series gas inserts make relaxing simple. Convert your high-maintenance wood fireplace into a source of warmth and enjoyment.

A quick look:

• Strikingly realistic split logs and flames
• Simple start-up and use for continual enjoyment
• Adjust flame, heat and ambiance
• Heat with more than 70% efficiency
• Available in 30” or 35” models
• Up to 35,000 BTUs

For more information, contact The Fireplace Shop and Grill Center at West Sport in Sudbury, MA.

If you have a traditional open fireplace at home, make it more efficient, easy-to-use and attractive all while increasing your home value and making your home warmer and more comfortable. When you add a wood burning fireplace insert to your home you can have it just in time to enjoy the cool fall nights. Fireplace inserts allow you to enjoy a hotter fire, which burns longer, and produces more effective heat. In fact, fireplace inserts increase the efficiency of your fireplace and your home all while giving your living space a whole new look and feel. It becomes the focal point in any room. There are plenty of older homes around town with open fireplaces. If you enjoy a wood burning fire, and your home has an older , open, masonry fireplace, a wood burning fireplace insert will be more effective, is much easier to use, is far more attractive, and will reduce your monthly heating bills. And, you can choose one to fit any style décor.

Wood burning fireplace inserts are sealed to create a hotter fire. The heat is forced back into your living space, not up the chimney like in an open fireplace. This makes heating your home easier and more efficient. But fireplace inserts are beautiful too. They offer décor accents and large glass doors to enhance the style of any room. Inserts for fireplaces provide a beautiful focal point and complement any style home.

The Fall is a great time to take a look at fireplace inserts. Installation time is fast and you can enjoy them immediately as the nights get cooler. .

For more information, contact The Fireplace Shop and Grill Center at West Sport in Sudbury, MA.

A traditional fireplace creates comforting ambiance on a cold winter day, but its warmth is usually more show than substance. Because hot air rises, most of the heat produced by the fire escapes through the chimney. Additionally, the hot air creates an updraft that sucks warm air out of the room. While you can minimize heat loss by adjusting the damper and create more heat by burning the right kind of wood, the best way to turn your fireplace into an efficient room heater is to install glass fireplace doors, or better yet, a fireplace insert.

Make your Wood Fire the Most Efficient:

Burn seasoned firewood. Freshly cut or green wood burns inefficiently and produces large amounts of smoke. Seasoned wood has had an entire year, or season, to dry.

Open the damper as wide as possible to increase the amount of air to the fire. This will improve combustion and increase the amount of heat the fire produces, but it will make the wood burn faster. The damper handle is usually just above the fireplace opening, and you slide it to the right to open it.

Clean your chimney once a year. Creosote builds up inside and restricts air flow. It can also be a fire hazard.

Replace the screen in front of the fireplace with tempered glass fireplace doors, and keep the doors closed while a fire is burning. This will increase the temperature of the chimney and reduce the amount of warm air that the fire sucks from the room. To work properly, the doors should fit tightly enough against the fireplace opening for you to be able to seal the edges with a fiberglass gasket.

Install a fireplace insert. To get one that fits, measure the length and width of your fireplace with a tape measure. For maximum efficiency, install a double-wall unit with a built-in circulating fan. The warm air circulates between the two walls and the fan blows the warmth into the room. You may not need a fan if you are heating a small room.

For more information on fireplace doors or a wood burning fireplace insert, contact The Fireplace Shop and Grill Center at West Sport in Sudbury, MA.

SF Gate

Majestic fireplaces are safe, reliable and attractive. But, they are also built to be efficient, quality heating appliances, which add value to your home for years. That’s why Majestic has been the fireplace of choice for homes across Massachusetts.

Majestic has been producing wood and gas fireplaces that are known for outstanding durability, superior quality and stunning good looks. Traditional to contemporary. Indoor or outdoor. With a wide range of eye-catching styles, convenient sizes and trending trims, Majestic gas fireplaces are designed be the beautiful heart of your home.

Each Majestic fireplace is engineered for performance, style and lasting reliability.

Why a Fireplace?

Everyone loves a burning fire on cold days and nights. From a design standpoint, the ambiance a fireplace brings to a space is undeniable. With today’s fireplace innovations and technologies, it’s possible to include a fireplace in virtually any room in your home.

Why a Gas Fireplace?

Gas fireplaces offer the most versatility of placement, model variety, and technology. Majestic gas fireplaces will not only add an unforgettable focal point to your home, but ambiance and comfort to the space you’re creating to deliver an experience of royal proportions. Clean-burning and efficient, building and design professionals typically include at least one gas fueled fireplace in new construction homes as well as a second or third fireplace when planning move-up or luxury/custom properties.

Add luxury to your home, contact The Fireplace Shop and Grill Center at West Sport in Sudbury, MA. We now carry Majestic Gas Fireplaces and Inserts.

See more at majesticproducts.com.

If you have a traditional fireplace and chimney, have you considered the benefits of adding glass fireplace doors? Fireplaces are the focal point of any room for good reason, and adding fireplace doors typically adds to their aesthetic beauty. Check out the following five benefits of adding a glass door to your fireplace:

1) Enhanced Safety

Glass doors on a fireplace reduce hazards associated with burning logs in an open hearth. The doors serve as protective barriers that prevent embers and sparks from escaping the fireplace and injuring someone or causing a flammable object to catch fire. Some types of wood are more prone to shoot sparks and embers more than others. No matter what type of firewood you use, however, it is common for logs to shift as the fire begins to die down; and the burning logs can roll out of the fireplace. Glass doors prevent logs from escaping.

In addition to providing safety from physical harm and a dangerous fire, the glass doors can protect your belongings. Stray sparks and logs destroy carpeting and damage all types of flooring, from wood to linoleum and everything in between. Since sparks and cinders can float, any of your home furnishings that are near the fireplace can be better protected with glass doors installed on your fireplace.

If you have pets or small children, the glass doors help to protect them from the fire. However, the glass can get extremely hot. For very small children, it’s best to put up a protective screen in front of the fireplace, to ensure that they don’t touch the doors.

2) Lower Utility Costs

An open hearth fireplace and chimney can make heating and cooling costs skyrocket, since dampers don’t usually provide perfect seals that prevent air from escaping or entering a home. In fact, a fireplace has been compared to a window that’s left open in your house, allowing warm air to escape in winter and cool air to escape in summer. With glass doors, energy efficiency is tremendously improved, since they provide a much better seal.

3) Better Heating Efficiency

A traditional fireplace may be a thing of undeniable charm, but it does a poor job of providing a meaningful amount of heat to a room. Experts say that only about 10% of the firewood’s energy is converted to useful heat, in an open hearth fireplace. Glass doors can double the efficiency rate; some experts estimate that glass doors triple the heat that enters the home. Rather than being blocked or contained in the fireplace, the heat from the fire radiates into the room through the glass doors.

4) Keeps Smoke Out

Glass fireplace doors can reduce or eliminate the effects of sudden downdrafts from the chimney.

5) Style and Beauty

Glass doors for a fireplace come in many colors, styles, and shapes. No matter what type of décor you have, glass doors are available that can be a perfect match.

Another factor to consider is that the dirty ashes and blackened logs in a fireplace can create a messy look. Glass doors conceal a dirty firebox; and when the fireplace is lit, the fire commands the attention. Decorative fireplace glass doors can also help to enhance your room’s décor, with or without a fire behind them.

For more information on Fireplace Doors, contact The Fireplace Shop and Grill Center at West Sport in Sudbury, MA.

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A real wood-burning fire is wonderful to relax in front of after a long day during cold weather. But, take a minute to consider the virtues that gas fireplace log sets offer:

1. Modern gas fireplace log sets consist of ceramic logs that rest atop a steel grate just as wood logs do. Below the grate the gas is distributed through a layer of sand with special "glowing embers" which, when operated behind a fire-screen, provide the warmth of fire while being almost indistinguishable from burning wood.
2. Gas logs are extremely easy to operate. Simply hold a fireplace match below the logs and turn on the gas for an instant fire. No more logs to carry, no ashes to clean, no "restocking" the fire as it burns down.
3. Burning natural gas instead of wood is less taxing on the environment. Wood, of course, emits particulate matter into the air, which adds to our pollution problems. Many communities across the country already restrict the burning of wood fires on certain days to help reduce emissions, and some localities are mandating gas-burning fireplaces only in new construction.
4. Burning gas is safer than burning wood. The risk of sparks flying from the chimney is eliminated, as is the buildup of flammable creosote on the inside of the flue. Further, you eliminate the chance of spreading termites inside or around your home from the firewood.
5. Gas logs are cheaper to use than wood. In most communities, the savings realized by burning gas instead of wood will pay for the initial investment in the gas log set in the first year or two and keep saving you money over time. Also, no longer will you need to spend money for chimney cleaning every three or four years. The sets can be purchased in various sizes for generally under $200, sometimes much less if on sale.

Gas log sets are fairly easy to install if you have an existing gas fireplace log lighter. The kit comes with complete installation instructions and it will take most plumbers about an hour.

The kits consist of a metal tray with a burner pipe in the center, an aluminum gas supply tube and fittings to connect to the incoming gas line, a metal log grate, several ceramic logs and a bag of sand and artificial embers.

Installation requires removal of the existing log lighter pipe and fittings, so that only the threaded gas supply nipple remains in the fireplace.

The metal tray is then positioned toward the center of the fireplace, with the supply tube connected between it and the gas nipple. The sand and "embers" are poured over the burner pipe in the metal tray, and finally, the grate and ceramic logs are placed over the tray to distribute the flames as aesthetically as possible.

For more information on gas fireplace logs, contact The Fireplace Shop and Grill Center at West Sport in Sudbury, MA.

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