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There are some real advantages to using solid glass doors to control your fireplace as opposed to a screen.  The doors are usually permanently attached to the fireplace and work on hinges that allow you to virtually seal off the fireplace entirely from the room.  For one thing, compared to the typical three-fold screen, doors are far more stable because the typical fireplace screens are freestanding which means they can be knocked over by something thrown in the room, a wayward pet or by something coming out of the firebox.  And the idea of a metal screen heated to a dangerous temperature falling freely toward a living room full of family and friends can be frightening to say the least.

Sometimes the reason people don’t go with an installation of doors is that if you close the doors for safety, you cannot experience the fire as well because the smell and sound of a crackling fire is captured behind the doors.  But an easy answer to that is to add to your glass doors the installation of metal screen curtains that are suspended from the frame of the doors and that can be pulled across the front of the fire when you want to have the doors open for atmosphere.  This is the best of both worlds and still more sturdy and safe than the freestanding screen arrangement.

With a fireplace screen, when a piece of wood “pops”, it can still send sparks flying into the room.  The screen will stop any pieces of burning ember that are big enough to be repelled by the grid.  But the screen is a matrix of wires with more open space than closed.  Sparks will fly right through it and those sparks can land on the carpet, a newspaper left on the hearth by mistake or on a child.  That is a risk many of us are not willing to take.  So glass doors are an approach to protecting your home from the fire in the fireplace that is reliable and foolproof.

Another great benefit of putting in permanent fireplace doors is they look great when the fireplace is not in use.  The glass panels can be shined to add to the dÈcor of your living room and the styles that are available in fireplace doors are diverse so you will be able to find one that fits your home.

Maybe just as importantly, when the doors are shut completely, you can cut off any airflow to or from the firebox.  Very often even after you close the fireplace flue, some air comes down that chimney into the house.  And your heating or air conditioning can go right up that chimney as well which is not good management of your home resources.  Well built and installed fireplace doors can stop that leakage which makes your home more efficient.