Karin's Adventures

Our house came with an open fireplace built in 1969. The unlined, uncovered chimney hadn't been swept in years. You could see a crack in the bricks from inside the garage. To make this at least usable we had the minimum of repairs done and burned logs only occasionally, always worried about setting the house on fire.

This year we decided to give ourselves a Christmas present. We had a wood-burning fireplace insert installed, vented through a stainless steel liner in the chimney. Our new EPA certified fireplace insert is rated over 75% efficiency and provides the added benefit of reducing our emissions to almost zero.

Here's to long, cold winter nights, sitting by the fireplace and drinking Glühwein!