CONSTRUCTION

The chief difficulty in attaining a successful fireplace design does not
lie in securing an abundant draft. In fact it is an easy matter to make
a fireplace draw if the flue is large enough and the opening from the
fire chamber into the flue unobstructed. There will never be any
question of getting a roaring blaze the moment the fire is lighted.

This is, in a way, the type of fireplace that our Colonial ancestors
built--great cavernous openings and generous flues, with the result that
the more wood was piled upon the blaze the more they blistered their
toes and at the same time chilled their backs. For it is evident that
when we secure such a strong, unobstructed current of hot air up the
chimney, enough cool air to take its place must be drawn into the room
through every opening and crevice. The result is a mighty draft that
rushes past those unfortunate enough to be sitting about the fire and
carries rapidly up the chimney almost all of the heat of combustion.

In the fireplace of our Colonial ancestors probably ninety per cent. of
the heat was entirely lost, being carried up the chimney. However, cord
wood was then to be had for the cutting.

We want a different sort of a fire in these days--one that will burn
with a steady, constant blaze or glow, conserving most of its heat,
which the back and sides of the fire chamber will reflect out into the
room.

Such a fireplace will not necessarily be a large one. It is amusing to
hear how universally the demand goes up for large fireplaces--"great
big fellows that will burn full cord wood." It is hard to see just why
this is. It may be based on the assumption that if a small fireplace is
desirable a large one is more so. This is a fallacy that the architect
and fireplace builder find it hard to dispel. There is no objection
whatever to a large fireplace in a summer camp or informal shack of that
sort. In fact a small one would in such a place be ridiculous, but when
we come to our year-round living-room or dining-room or den, where the
walls of the room are tight and the whole atmosphere quieter and more
restrained, a large fireplace would be distinctly a disturbing element.
Such a room as this, unless very poorly built, would not permit the
in-take of sufficient air for the draft of a big fireplace, whereas in
our slab cabin or log bungalow the conditions are quite different.

[Illustration: A section through the fireplace and chimney. The