LESLIE: Yvonne is calling in from South Carolina with a fireplace question. What can we do for you?
YVONNE: Yes, I’d like to know the most economic way to put in a fireplace that can be seen from the dining room as well as the living room – the same exact fireplace; and something that is efficient as well as safe.
TOM: I think that …
YVONNE: Reasonable. (chuckles)
TOM: OK, I got it. (chuckles) I think probably the best way to go would be to look at zero clearance fireplaces. These are manufactured fireplaces that are called zero clearance because they can go against combustible materials with no space in between. If you used a masonry fireplace, obviously you’d have a very expensive project because you’d have to tear up your floor, go down and create a foundation and go right up from there. With a zero clearance, you can put it on an existing floor and then sort of frame around it.
Now there are a lot of options out there. There are a lot of brands. You can even get them to be gas-powered as opposed to wood-powered.
YVONNE: Wonderful. That was my next question; who would you recommend. Whose fireplace would you recommend?
TOM: There are a lot of good brands out there. Let’s see, Heatilator is a good one; Heat & Glo.
LESLIE: Ooh, Heat & Glo always has the real cool ones, too, that look like tornadoes and, you know, interesting takes on a fireplace as well.
YVONNE: Oh, wonderful. Yes, because we do have tornadoes and hurricanes here.
TOM: And you can have a fireplace to match.
LESLIE: Exactly.
YVONNE: (chuckles) OK, thank you so very much.
TOM: You’re welcome, Yvonne. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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