Hello and hope your all well, a tale of woe im afraid this morning about one of our customers who has broken his limestone fireplace shelf whilst fitting it this morning.
We supplied our Customer a Crown and Brompton Limestone package back in Late November and he has decided to fit it himself as its for electric use which is perfectly fine as there are no laws required for decorative or electric use fitting.
So he has been on the phone for a little advice fitting the cast etc and enquiring about the electric fire, all pretty simple stuff to be honest so this morning i take a phonecall asking if we stock limestone mantel shelfs.
Very odd i thought as its not something we get asked for alot it turns out that whilst fitting his new fireplace the shelf was lent against the wall and simply fell over.
Well limestone is a very fragile stone and there is no chance if dropped it will survive a fall it will crack everytime so our customer is now without a shelf for his finished masterpiece.
I know our suppliers and Castfireplaces did discuss ordering a batch of replacement mantel shelfs in various sizes to offer our customers more choice so i will have to check with them when they repoen on January 3rd.
Lets hope so otherwise a new mantel will be required

One of our customers has rung us today with a common query and im not sure whether we have covered this before so to make sure im writing this post.
Our Limestone fireplace mantels that we supply on our website all have rebates from 1″ to 3″ as theay are designed to be used with the gallery range of cast iron fireplaces and panels that we sell.
They can also be used for mounting around stoves but you have to close up the rebate strip with either a set of slips or either some agean limestone returns so it can sit flush with the wall.
Once i had explained this to the customer in simple terms that the outside legs are longer than the inner legs and in the case of the Asquith mantels she had ordered it then made sense.
The opening they are using them for is to go round a double sided stove so one is required each side and they are having the closing strips made to measure after they have decided how they are going to finish everything.
So in answer to todays question yes they can be used for stoves as well as fireplaces and Castfireplaces normally has a way of doing everything so if your not sure give us a call and we can see what we can work out for you.

When you buy a limestone fireplace from us here at Castfireplaces as a fireplace package we include a free gallery limestone sealer so you can seal your fireplace after fitting.
Today we have had a call from on of our customers who has had the fireplace installed by their builder which is fine as it was for electric use.
So it all looked lovely and worked perfectly untill this morning when a cup of tea was split on the hearth which splashed all up the front leg of the Brompton limestone mantel.
Now this is normally no problem as it can be quickly wiped up with no harm done except this particular builder had not sealed the limestone and the customer was going to do it this weekend.
Now this is now quite a problem as limestone is very porous and soaks stains quite deeply which wiil be hard to remove, we have sent the customer some Lithofin powerclean for cleaning limestone to see if this will work. i will let you all know hopefully good news later.
So use the limestone sealer we send you it is free and is there to be used to seal the limestone properly incase of day toi day dirt and accidents like this.
Dont leave it unsealed you really are asking for trouble and a lot of hard work

Here at Castfireplaces we do have a range of agean limestone hearths on our website and a customer today has asked if we can supply a made to measure one along with a pushunder to go with our 42″ agean limestone corbel surround
As we deal with fantastic suppliers nothing is to much trouble and we have now organized a made to measure herth to be manufactured and colllected by us in time for this weekends delivery to London.
It is this type of service that makes shopping at Castfireplaces one of the best online.
So now to the slips as this fireplace is being used against a flat wall we have also arranged to be made set of limestone slips to conceal the 70mm rebate that this mantel has.
This is so you will not see a gap around the opening of the fireplace mantel as they are designed to be used with fireplaces inserts primarily.
Another thing castfireplaces can arrange for you at very little cost where most companies online do not offer this service we do try to be better than others we what we do for our customers.
So if you do require any made to measure hearths slips or pushunders they can be done in agean limestone, slate and granite on afull bespoke made to measure service so why settle for something thta is not exactly right for what you need

Ive had an email from a customer of ours this morning thanking us for the delivery of there new Clifton Portuguese Limestone Suite and saying how good our service was.
It then went on to say “Unfortunately, some stains are developing on the hearth. We think it is because our plumber didn’t use white cement”
Now this is quite a serious problem basically limestone is a very porous material and will take any any stains quite simply and suck them in the stone.
The fitter has used a normal sand and cement mix under the hearth to level it up and the limestone being porous the water has been sucked into the limestone and stains are now appearing on top of the hearth.
I have suggested trying Lithofin powerclean on it but im pretty sure the hearth will be ruined and a new suite will need ordering.
This is the main reason why we do not use limestone hearths for solid fuel use as the slabbing material we use is also brown and does seep throught on to the surface of the hearth.
We have tried it before so know it does not work.
As limestone is a light colour there is nothing worse than having some brown stains on it it will clearly show through so im afraid there is no happy ending to todays tale just make sure it doesnt happen to you by using the correct cement.

Hello and here is a little bit of advice that is essential to the upkeep of your new limestone fireplace.
If you have ordered it from us here at Castfireplaces as a fireplace package it will have come with a free bottle of Gallery Limestone Sealer which is the product we use.
I would recomend sealing the limestone before installation to make it easier for you to do, make sure the limestone mantel is clean and any filling thats needs to be done is done, any marks on the limestone can simply be sanded off with some very fine sandpaper, dont be afriad to work away at the stone its quite soft and can be sanded easily without scratching it.
As limestone is a porous stone even handling it with clean hands can produce some marks so as i have stated just clean them away with light sanding.
After this has been done get a new clean cloth and apply the limestone selaer directly onto the cloth and work away rubbing it onto the stone.
Wipe away and large excess after 5 minutes as the stone will have soaked the sealer into it to form a barrier.
This is all that needs to be done and if covered correctly you limetone mantel will be perfectly sealed.
If you do find any marks please make sure they are removed before sealing as you will find them difficult to remove once sealed.
After the fireplace has been fitted it can be simply cleaned off and if any minor chips have oocured whilst fitting just sand and reseal them

Good morning i was sat eating breakfast this morning when the phone rang at 7.45 am now thats early i thought i thought it must have been my sister or mum etc.
I did not recognise the voice on the other end and when she asked me if she minded ringing before we opened i knew it was work related.
So she asked me straight away do we have Jubilee and Brompton Limestone in stock with a 56″ mantel which of course we do, can we come and collect it she asked but i need to come over today as our local fireplace shop has let me down on delivery.
Thats no problem where are you coming from i asked
Thatcham came the reply which to be honest is around a three hour drive from us, we do deliver i replied but i need it for Friday as we have installer booked for fitting it came the reply.
Well thats fine then if you dont mind coming to collect it we can load it into your van for you i said, Right im on my way came the reply.
So a customer enroute to us from Thatcham due to the fact her local fireplace supplier has let them down and the shops say the website companies do not offer a good level of service.
Its not the first time i have heard this story its normally about other online fireplace retailers though letting customers down, i can not understand it really there is no excuse its a well stocked item at the suppliers anyway there loss is our gain.

What a lovely day it has been today i have been at the factory this morning and in the office all afternoon approving new page layout on our product pages which we have finally got right now and you can view example here Jubilee and Brompton Limestone Package
This we feel tells customers more about the fireplace package they are buying and whats included and to clarify sizes etc.
Alos you will see at the bottom of the page the Fireplace finish pictures which are a new addition.
Anyway one of the major changes to avoid confusion as to whether you need to seal limestone or not is now that we are offering a free tin of Gallery limestone sealer with every limestone fireplace package bought from Castfireplaces.
Some limestones we offer are presealed but others are not.
You can never be sure how well they have been sealed in the factory at China whilst they do work under iso 2002 standards its pretty easy to miss a part iof the limestone when you are doing hundreds a week.
So what better way to ensure your limestone fireplace looks good for years to come than to seal it with a free bottle of limestone sealer

Here at Castfireplaces we keep the gallery range of limestone fireplaces in stock and sell them on our fireplace website.
Gallery have created the finest range of limestone available in many modern and traditional fireplace styles.
We also offer the largest selection of sizes in these products and aloo stock a few limestone surrounds which we have had made for our range to offer the largest selection to be found online.
The limestone gallery uses is two different types, we use Agean limestone for all our surrounds suitable for cast iron fireplaces and Granite panels etc and portuguese limestone for all our modern fireplace suites.
Both are made from 100% solid stone and are completely natural so you will get small fossil marks and lines of natural colour shading.
This should not be considered a defect and is part of owning a stone that is millions of years old.
As limestone is a nutraul porous stone we do always advise customers to seal the fireplace before using this will help protect it from staining.
There are many products available online and we have found the best product to be Lithofin stain stop which is designed to protect limestone and marble.
There is no better limestone sealer on the market so make sure you ask for it by name to guarantee the limestone fireplace you buy will look good for years to come

Good afternoon a little bit of advice for all customer with a limestone or natural stone fireplace and as to why you need to seal them after installation.
Here at Castfireplaces we sell both Agean Limestone and Portuguese Limestone fireplaces in the galery range we offer.
Both of these are manufactured from100% natural stone and we do not use any man amde materails in these products, and as such you will have flaws in them and even fossils it jsut natural in something years old.
So these producs are very porour and as such wiull need sealing after or before fitting to ensure iot looks good for years to come.
If you do spill anyhting on it prior to fitting we do offer a powerclean product but to be honest im not sure how good it is i have nevere tested it.
So down to sealing choose a product that does what is says on the tin ie slate sealer for slate and stone sealer for stone etc.
We use and sell a product called Lithofin which i can personally vouch for having used it on numerous surfaces including my slate floor at home and the limestone mantels in our showroom.
Just follow the instructions and in no time at all your chsoen fireplace will be sealed and ready for the day to day things it will come into contact with.
If left unsealed anyhting spilt on the stove will be absorbed into it and you will find it almost impossible to remove.