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Although fireplaces are often a lovely design aspect to any room in your home, many individuals are stuck with wondering what to do with those that are no longer used. Due to a host of reason, individuals are turning away from using a fireplace that burns off wood or gas, including health concerns, budget issues, and other concerns. If you find that your fireplace is quickly turning from useful and necessary part of your room to an unused eye sore, consider your options. Often, unused fireplaces can be switched to another method of fuel or to completely do away with these aspects.
Keep in mind that fireplaces are a great selling aspect of any home, so if you are looking to sell your home in the future, you should decide against any permanent methods of covering up your fireplace. Although in years past the most popular way to turn an unused fireplace into a usable space was to simply brick up the space or cover the fireplace with plaster, the thoughts today are different. Leave your fireplace in existence so that your home’s value is positively affected by its presence. Furthermore, many home buyers look to fireplaces when purchasing a home, so the buyer of your home may not appreciate your remodeling job. If you have unused fireplaces in your home, consider converting the source of fuel so that you will use them more often. Typically, the most common type of fireplace in a historic or older home is wood burning. Wood is exceptional messy and dirty, often creating a unique smell in the rooms that comes from ash and soot. Furthermore, if the fireplace is not properly cleaned, you may be depositing a layer of soot over everything in your home. Finally, wood burning fireplaces are often associated with aggravating allergies, asthma, or other bronchial problems in afflicted individuals in your home. Many individuals choose to completely put their fireplaces out of commission instead of converting them to an unused focal point in the room. Consider adding fireplace inserts or screens to breathe new live into unused spaces and create an additional sense of design. Use candles to mimic the flickering flames that are typically associated with a fireplace or choose to create a luscious green space in your unused fireplace by housing one large or several smaller plants. These simple ways to update unused fireplaces are easy on the budget, but produce fantastic looks. Finally, if you have no other options, begin the steps involved in completely covering over unused fireplaces. Since a fireplace can be a drafty, smelly, and dirty addition to your room, be sure to completely and correctly cover it up. First, brick up the fireplace or provide insulation to prevent drafts from occurring. Then, completely cover the fireplace with dry wall or plaster depending on the walls in your current home. Finally, finish your fireplace cover up by painting of wall papering the spot to match the rest of your room. However, before you decide to cover up fireplaces in your home, you should be sure to look at all your other available options.
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