Fireplace

Common card · No. 253300

A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used to heat a room or dwelling and also for the relaxing ambiance they create. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design. Historically, they were used for heating a dwelling, cooking, and heating water for laundry and domestic uses. A fire is contained in a firebox or fire pit; a chimney or other flue allows exhaust gas to escape. A fireplace may have the following: a foundation, a hearth, a firebox, a mantel, a chimney crane (used in kitchen and laundry fireplaces), a grate, a lintel, a lintel bar, an overmantel, a damper, a smoke chamber, a throat, a flue, and a chimney filter or afterburner. On the exterior, there is often a corbelled brick or metal crown, in which the projecting courses act as a drip course to keep rainwater from running down the exterior walls. A cap, hood, or shroud serves to keep rainwater out of the exterior of the chimney; rain...

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