Converting a Wood Fireplace to a Gas Fireplace

You may have a wood-burning fireplace in your home and have converted it to gas logs with a gas flame. To complete the upgrade, you may want to put a new granite face on the wall around the fireplace. You may be asking yourself if you can cover the air vents at the top and bottom. Is this safe? The air vents on the front of a manufactured fireplace have two functions. First, they allow some of the heat from the fireplace to warm the air in the room. More importantly, the air vents prevent overheating of the metal casing that surrounds the firebox. If that casing becomes too hot, the wall framing behind the fireplace could potentially be ignited. Now that you are burning gas, the fireplace may not become as hot as when you formerly burned wood. Therefore, professional evaluation of the gas fireplace or gas logs is essential before making further alterations to the hearth and surround. You should contact the fireplace manufacturer to see what they recommend. In nearly all cases, they vo
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