Songs and their lyrics often permeate my thoughts. Take for example, the Mark Chestnut song "Too Cold at Home" http://popup.lala.com/popup/432627047846394812 With a Home Depot gift card in the wallet, I purchased supplies to insulate and seal around the pull-down stairs, doors, plumbing penetrations and elsewhere. The area that remains cold is at the front of the fireplace. Outside temp was 22 this morning and the surface temperature of the front of the fireplace was 49 degrees. Interior walls were 68 degrees.
As you can see, I still have not come up with an aesthetically pleasing solution. The black borders above and below the glass doors are actually stick on magnets I purchased years ago from a sign shop. The blue painters tape was used to partially seal the gaps between the glass panels. The kids are now of age where they will pick me apart. They relentlessly chided me during an earlier failed attempt using plastic sheeting and duct tape.
One solution, (I lack confidence to say "a good solution"), would be to seal the enter opening surrounding by brick. Sandwiched pieces of extruded polystyrene sheeting would provide at least an R-6 value, however, the look of exposed pink would not be classy and my wife's face would instantly turn sour. I could hire a mural artist to paint a rendering of a permanently lit fireplace with all the trimmings and maybe a kitten resting peacefully in a basket in front of it. Instead, I need to save money so we can pay the huge gas bill that's coming.
Comments(7)