Fire place renovation
As part of my welding practice with my new welder and to create a cozy atmosphere in my apartment, I decided to construct a fireplace frame with a glass door.
Initially, I tested the fireplace without the frame and glass door, but unfortunately, a significant amount of wood smoke infiltrated the apartment. While I appreciate the aroma of smoke (especially when barbecuing 😉 ), it wasn’t ideal indoors.
I also installed an heat shield at the top of the fire place. As you can see from the foto’s, there is a hole in the wood. That was caused by excesive heating by the previous owner. To help prevent that from hapening again I installed a thin metal plate at the top to help insulate the wood.
The remaining portion of the plate served as an air vent at the bottom of the frame (made from bright steel). Creating a reinforcing strip at the back of the air vent posed a challenge. Given that the plate is only 1mm thick, finding the right welding settings proved difficult, and I accidentally welded through in some spots. Eventually, I fine-tuned the welder settings and got it to work.
The remaining portion of the plate served as an air vent at the bottom of the frame (made from bright steel). Creating a reinforcing strip at the back of the air vent posed a challenge. Given that the plate is only 1mm thick, finding the right welding settings proved difficult, and I accidentally welded through in some spots. Eventually, I fine-tuned the welder settings and got it to work.
However, the air vent proved to have little influence on the air flow to the fire. I didn’t bother to make an air tight connection between the frame and the wall and so a lot of air is still reaching the fire with the air vent closed. But, that is okay.Â
When the air vent is open, the dust pan at the bottom can be removed. So it still proved to be usefull in the end. I opted not to paint the frame and door, because the already existing dust pan was rusted already. I think over time the new frame will blend in nicely.
Slowmo of the fire place in action
