We all know how cold it can get on Long Island.  The winter of 2010 is a stark example of that!  We were buried twice in February alone.  And after spending hours shoveling our driveways clear, we wanted nothing more than to come inside to a warm home.  Like our ancestors before us, we know the best way to warm up from the outside is to curl up next to the fire.

A luxury that most New Yorkers would love to have in their home is a fireplace.  If it is feasible to do so, a New York fireplace can add to the value of your home, and it can help keep it warm in the winter time.  Make a fireplace your next Long Island masonry project.

There are essentially two types of fireplaces: wood-burning and gas-burning.  The wood-burning fireplace is the more traditional fireplace, and requires a mason-crafted chimney running up to the roof.  While this can add to the aesthetics of the outside of the house, this may not be feasible given the structure of the home as well as for budgetary reasons.

The gas-burning fireplace has a couple of advantages over traditional wood-burning fireplaces.  One has already been stated: it does not require a chimney.  Gas fires are smokeless; this means ventilation to the outside of the house is not needed.  The other advantage is the ease of starting a fire.  It is just like turning on a burner on a gas stove.  With traditional wood-burning fireplaces the wood has to be ignited.  This can be a slow process.

If you’re not sure which fireplace would be best for you, why not get a quote for the kind of work both would need?  Come to Rock Vine Masonry, and we’ll get started on the New York masonry project that’s right for you.  That way this Christmas season you can turn the TV off the burning Yule Log station and set fire to your own Yule Log in your own, newly-crafted brick and stone fireplace.