Expert: James Ball - 2/22/2009

Question
have a wood burning fireplace that has gas logs in it now.  the face of the fireplace has vents on either side of opeining and vents above the opening.  Can we wood panel over these?  also have bricks on the adjoing wall we want to take down.  Any suggestions on how to do that?

Answer
Hello Mary, what it sounds like you have is called a "heatolater" this is a metal fire box (back wall and sides) the "vents allow air to circulate behind the metal and as it gets hot vent the warm air out the top vents. do not close them off, it could cause a fire. You could have a local Certified Chimney Sweep (www.csia.org, there you can look up by zip code to find one near you) take a first hand look at what you have they should be able to help.
James