Fireplace Doors Buyer's Guide

Looking to add doors to your fireplace? Learn about the benefits and different types of fireplace doors available for you to add to your fireplace.

For fireplace fanatics, there is usually one hearth accessory that everyone wants: a fireplace door. These doors are installed inside or in front of your fireplace’s opening and are the prism through which you view your fireplace. Fireplace doors, besides adding style, offer a variety of additional benefits to owners.

Below, we will look at what makes a fireplace door useful, different types of doors you may want to consider, and even offer some tips to ensure that you get the right door for your fireplace.

Why Install a New Fireplace Door?

Fireplace doors can take many forms depending on the type of fireplace you have and your space’s accompanying restrictions. However, there are several commonalities that all fireplace doors share that make them a smart investment for anyone looking to increase the efficiency and appeal of their home’s fireplace.

Fireplace doors add visual appeal: A typical fireplace door will be glass-fronted; many homeowners enjoy the look this brings to their hearth. Additionally, a fireplace door can be closed to easily hide the unsightly remnants of a fire such as ashes or burnt logs.
Installing fireplace doors will improve safety: Superior fireplace doors provide a crucial barrier between your fireplace and living space that can help keep pets and small children away from dangerous fireplace elements.
Fireplace doors increase energy efficiency: When not in use, your fireplace’s chimney apparatus can be a prime source of heat loss and drafts. Besides operating a damper, utilizing a fireplace door can help cut down on these energy-draining characteristics by providing a physical block to airflow when the doors are closed between your fireplace’s chimney system and your living area.

The Different Types of Fireplace Doors

Fireplace doors can be divided into three main categories: those for use with masonry fireplaces, doors for prefab or zero-clearance fireplaces, and direct vent and ventless fireplace doors. Which type you should utilize will depend on what type of fireplace you already have or will be installing. Picking the right one, based on your specific needs is important, as you won’t be able to utilize a masonry fireplace door on a fireplace insert or vice versa.

Let’s look at each type of potential fireplace door in greater detail:

Masonry fireplace doors: Masonry fireplaces are what most people who have a pre-existing fireplace in their home will have. While you may think this requires your fireplace to have an outward appearance made of brick, this isn’t always the case and it can be made of any number of materials. The “masonry” in this type of fireplace’s name refers to its internal structure, namely the firebox and a typical brick chimney. Besides adding visual appeal, adding a fireplace door to this style of fireplace can help reduce drafts by up to 90%!
Prefab zero-clearance fireplace doors: Also known as a factory-built fireplace, or a fireplace insert, these types of fireplaces are often a manufactured fireplace that is installed into a masonry fireplaces firebox. While most fireplaces of this type will already come with fireplace doors, these can be easily switched out to improve the look or efficiency of doors that have served their useful lifespan. Making a switch to new doors is easy as long as you have some basic information such as the manufacturer and model of your fireplace.
Direct vent and ventless fireplace doors: While similar to fireplace inserts mentioned above, these fireplaces don’t vent fumes through a traditional chimney, instead they can be expelled through a sidewall or roof. Ventless fireplaces will obviously not have any additional venting capabilities at all. Both of these types of fireplaces typically will already have porous glass fireplace doors that allow heat into the room. Resurfacing such fireplace doors is one option and will allow the addition of other accessories (such as mesh paneling spark guards) that can help provide additional energy efficiency and safety.

Knowing your specific type of fireplace is only half the battle, however, as you will have to make several decisions when it comes to your new door’s frame, opening style, the opacity of its glass panels, and more.

Different Materials Used in Fireplace Door Frame Construction

The frame of your fireplace door is the outward piece that will be inserted into or on top of the firebox and will provide a decorative finish.

You will find you have plenty of options when comparing possible material choices for your fireplace door’s frame. The lowest-quality door frames are typically made of sheet metal and are usually plated with a brass finish. Other options for fireplace door frames include aluminum and steel, which we will touch upon later.

Both aluminum and steel frames are better options than a door constructed of sheet metal. While the latter will be cheaper at the outset, they generally are of lower quality and will not stand up to years of sustained use. Additionally, sheet metal doors can often feature unsightly seems due to the manufacturing process that aluminum and steel doors can avoid. Lastly, the brass finish on many sheet metal doors will tarnish easily.

Aluminum and steel constructed doors are prized for their durability and variety of styles and finishes. Aluminum doors typically come in an adonized finish, won’t rust when exposed to moisture, and are more economical.

Welded or solid steel doors are even more durable than aluminum doors. They often won’t sway or move during use if properly installed. Steel frames can come in an attractive powder-coated finish.

How to Choose the Right Fireplace Door for You

Once you know if you are purchasing a door for an electric fireplace, log-burning fireplace, or gas fireplace, you have several additional decisions that need to be made. For example, do you want a smoked glass door to provide further visual separation from a spent fire? If so, you should consider a bronze or grey tinted glass door.

How do you want your fireplace doors to open? There are three main door styles to choose from. Do you want doors that are bifold, bi-fold trackless, or cabinet-style? Bifold doors, for instance, mean that they can be tucked open 90 degrees to the side of your fireplace’s front and provide a more limited viewing area of your fire when compared to trackless bifold or cabinet-style doors. Both types of folding doors will take up less space than a cabinet-style door.

What type of spark guard will you want to install in your fireplace? While most modern spark guards are made of mesh, you will still have a choice of doors, curtains, or screens. Your possible choices will hinge on if you are using a gas fireplace or log-burning fireplace and if your fireplace is ventless or not. Mesh doors are recommended for ventless or log burning fires, as they can be kept closed during use and won’t singe or discolor. Mesh curtains won’t prevent a log from rolling out of your fireplace but are the most economical and can even come preinstalled. Mesh curtains are a good all-around choice for those that enjoy their stylishness.

How to Measure for a New Fireplace Door and Ensure a Proper Fit

After you have decided on what features you want in your new superior fireplace door, it is time to take a measurement. This is a vitally important step as (besides maybe not being able to be installed in your fireplace) an ill-fitting fireplace door will be ineffectual and actually can be a dangerous fire hazard.

Luckily, getting an accurate measurement is a simple and straightforward process as long as you know what to look for.

If you have a prefabricated fireplace, the first step is to ascertain what make and model it is. This information is usually contained on a metal plate that is tucked out of sight. Try looking just inside your fireplace’s firebox. This plate will typically have your fireplace inserts maker and model number on it and may even have a manufacture date. Write this information down and save it for later.

Next, you will need to measure the dimensions of your fireplace, specifically the firebox. This process will differ depending on if you have a manufactured or masonry fireplace.

For masonry fireplaces: Simply take measurements of your firebox (the opening where your fire appears) at both the top and bottom for width as well as both the left and right sides for heights. It’s important to measure all sides during this process as slight variations can occur over time and a mismeasured door simply won’t fit into your fireplace’s available space.
For manufactured fireplaces: These measurements are a bit more involved than those required for a masonry fireplace because you will also need to measure the depth of your insert’s metal lip. Luckily, if you know your fireplaces make and model number you can use this information to double-check your work as the depth of the lip should be standardized. However, your fireplace may have shifted over time, so it is still important to take accurate measurements of its height and width. To do so measure the firebox as you would for a masonry fireplace. Once you have done this, it’s time to measure your frame’s depth. This is a straightforward process as long as you know what to look for. Measure from the furthest part of the frame to the outer lip, in some models this will be the track where doors are installed. Be sure to take this measurement for all sides of your firebox.

Now that you have an accurate picture of your fireplace’s needs and size, it’s time to talk to a professional. Our team of NCI-certified experts will be happy to guide you through the next steps towards purchasing your fireplace doors and answering any questions you may have along the way, feel free to send an email or call 866-848-3473. For more information browse our selection check out these other articles from our Learning Center: