



Produced by Markus Brenner and the Online Distributed
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                               MAKING A
                               FIREPLACE


                         _By_ HENRY H. SAYLOR

                               AUTHOR OF
                 BUNGALOWS, MAKING A ROSE GARDEN, ETC.

                            [Illustration]


                               NEW YORK
                        McBRIDE, NAST & COMPANY
                                 1913



                          Copyright, 1913, by
                          MCBRIDE, NAST & CO.

                       Published, January, 1913



    [Illustration: The fireplace of long ago, made large enough to
    accommodate most of the kitchen's pots and pans beside the fire]




                               CONTENTS


                                                      PAGE
  INTRODUCTION                                           1

  CONSTRUCTION                                           7

  MISCELLANEOUS ODD FORMS                               22

  FACINGS AND MANTELS                                   25

  MENDING POOR FIREPLACES                               31

  FIREPLACE ACCESSORIES                                 36

  BUILDING THE FIRE                                     45




                           THE ILLUSTRATIONS


  THE FIREPLACE OF LONG AGO                 _Frontispiece_

                                             FACING PAGE
  AN ENGLISH BASKET GRATE IN BRASS                       4

  A MODERN ENGLISH FIRE CORNER IN CONTRASTING TILES      4

  AN INGLENOOK WITH STONE HEARTH                        22

  CAEN STONE MANTEL FOR THE FORMAL TYPE                 26

  AN INFORMAL FIREPLACE IN FIELD STONE                  30

  THE MODERN COLONIAL TYPE WITH BRICK FACING AND
  WHITE WOOD MANTEL                                     38

  A CRAFTSMAN TYPE IN BRICK WITH COPPER HOOD            46

  A RECESSED FIREPLACE IN BRICK AND ROUGH PLASTER       50




                             INTRODUCTION


In a book of this kind there is no particular need for dwelling at
length on the desirability of having a fireplace. That will be taken for
granted. It is enough to say that in these days a home can scarcely be
considered worthy of the name if it does not contain at least one
hearth. There is some inexplicable quality in a wood fire that exerts
almost a hypnotic influence upon those who eagerly gather about it. The
smoldering glow of the logs induces a calm and introspective mood that
banishes all the trivialities and distractions of the day's work and
gives one an opportunity to replenish his store of energy for the coming
day.

The open fire, unlike most of the comforts that we demand in a modern
home, has been associated with the race as far back almost as the home
itself. At first, of course, it was as a necessity and the development
from that to a luxury has been an exceedingly slow one extending over
the years down to the present time.

There are two forms of the open fire--a possible third one, the gas log,
being a subject on which the less said the better. We have, therefore, a
choice between the open fireplace designed for wood and the basket grate
in which to burn coal, preferably cannel coal. This latter fuel is not
nearly so well known in this country as in England where the scarcity of
wood necessarily makes coal the more commonly used fuel. With our own
abundance of wood, however, there will perhaps be little hesitancy in
choosing the open fireplace rather than the basket grate for coal,
although in certain cases, for example an apartment where the flue has
been built too small, or in a house where an available chimney offers
only a small flue area for fireplace use, the basket grate will prove a
welcome solution of the problem. Of course there is no excuse whatever
for building a modern home with a chimney too small for the sort of
fireplace you want, but where the chimney has already been built without
this provision it may possibly be found that a small terra cotta flue
lining may be inserted in the larger flue without seriously damaging the
latter's power of draft. In that event the addition of a basket grate
fireplace to an old house would be an interesting possibility.

However fully we may appreciate the desirability of some sort of
fireplace, there seems to be a rather widespread impression that the
attainment is largely a matter of chance. Too many home-builders have
instructed their architects to provide a fireplace or two in the fond
hope that the matter was then practically closed--a mere matter of time
until they might be sitting before the fire's cheerful glow. Too
frequently the result has been a disappointment when the first few
trials introduced into the room more smoke than heat or cheer. The
reason for this is that there is a scientific basis for fireplace
building which is frequently ignored absolutely by an over-confident and
stupid mason. Where the work of building the home has been entrusted to
an architect's hands the latter usually appreciates the fact that the
building of the fireplaces is liable more than any other part of the
house to be taken into the mason's own hands with, if he is not watched,
disastrous results. Undoubtedly every mason would resent most
strongly any insinuation as to his lack