Good evening

So a strange thing to ask me what steps to take next we never recommend customers fitting there own solid fuel appliance whether it is a fireplace or stove from our range.
I do understand customers try to keep costs to abare minimum but with bulilding controls charging around £150 there are quite a few diy fitters who do not even approach them.
It is a legal requirement to either have your solid fuel fireplace either fitted by a competent person such as a HEATAS registered fitter or to have it inspected and tested by your local council building controls department.
Luckily for our customer the reasons for refusal are pretty simple
One is the fact he has no carbon monoxide dectector or room vent in the room but the second is the fact the register plate is spilling fumes into the room as its not correctly sealed.
Now if he had it fitted by HETAS fitter this would have been done correctly as a matter of course and appropiate vents installed in to the room of the stove and a carbon monoxide detector fitted at the same time.
I am not sure if building controls will charge a reinspection fee if so hes going to be beyond the fee of what a normal stove install costs.
So please bear this in mind when thinking abaout install costs if you has fitted it yourself or got your builder to do it if it is wrong you may well end up paying someone else to rectify the problems.

This morning again it has started snowing in Ripley Derbyshire and when i returned from my day out in Nottingham with our suppliers it was starting to snow when i got home late last night.
On awaking this morning (no hangover at all) i looked out the window to see around an inch of snow covering the ground, i was up and about and let the dog out of his kennel and returned into the house and into the middle room where our Tiger Stove is.
Its roaring away burning logs and coal and its such alovely feeling to return from the cold and then get warmed through.
Theres no other feeling like it its just fantastic, and a huge amount of our customers say the same when emailing us feedback for our website.
So as im sat in front of it writing this little blog on my laptop i really am just relaxing in front of the fireplace feeling very christmassy as the snow comes down and Rhian has gone to the shops to buy all the Christmas day veg etc.
Im so looking forward to Christmas day i feel like a child so im off to the woodshed now to stock up with logs and Coal to keep our Tiger Stove ticking over all day warming our home.
Must put kettle on and turn up the fire a little more for when my wife and eldest return home

Hooray the coal bunker has arrived, well actually it arrived Saturday morning and today has been filled by Signal Fuels our local coal merchant with Ovals.
This is a smokless fuel even though we do not live in smokless zone it burns hotter and lasts longer than normal house coal and along with that i suppose is better for the atmosphere.
Our Tiger Plus Stove has been running constantly for the past few days and now it has the ovals in it before we go to bed we can just come down in the morning and refill it and away it goes again.
We are still burning wood too and throw a log on top of the bed of hot coals, and the heat it gives off is sometimes overwhelming.
So we now have a 600kg large bunker brimming with fuel to see us through the cold winter months and with crates of logs back at the showrrom to im pretty sure noone in house will be cold this winter.
Right its an early blog today as im off out with our fantastic suppliers to my home town of Nottingham to try a few beers and to indulge in some Christmas Dinner.
If its anything like previous years im expecting to feel a littl rough in the morning.
Bye for now

So its officially the coldest November since 1985 and this morning when i set off for work a 4.45 am the van told me it was minus 7.5 degree centigrade.
I though whether it really was a journey worth making and should i just go back indoors and light the fire and sit in front of it all day but that wouldnt get my fireplaces delivered.
As i sat there in my warmest winter coat waiting for screen to clear i thought just how cold it was and thoughts of my log fire returned.
So off i went slip sliding away towards the M1 which i hoped would be clear infact the A610 was fine too it was just our local roads that were like glass with all the ice.
So fully loaded with fireplaces and stoves i slowly made my way down the M1 going quite slowly for me and as i got just past Leicester the snow just dissapeared.
We had had snowfall of 4″ at home but a few miles it was as clear as a bell but still very cold.
Infact so cold it was when i got to a gargae near amersham i had to defrost the filler cap which made me smile, the man behind the counter asked me where i was from as i had snow still over my van.
So when i got to our 1st customers house i was really early as there was no snow at all down south so i had a cup of tea and a sandwich for breakfast.
After that it was plain sailing all day and returned bang on time after 11 drops.
So when i got home i was soon sat in front of our tiger stove loading it with logs and just watching it i really am inlove with a solid fuel fireplace

My brother in law runs a plastering firm who do inside and outside work and has plastered a few chimney breasts for our company in the local area.
Something i have seen on his facebook account today really made me smile its from a job they were working on last week.
Now everyone knows how cold it has been recently and how we have all started to light our fires and stoves and even some odd folk have started to put christmas decorations around the fireplace one i noticed when out walking the dog yesterday.
Well my brother in law has decided to decorate the fireplace too in the photo and make his own fireplace surround which i must admit is quite chunky.
They even have a lovely roaring wood fire burning away in with a nice cup of tea and a sandwich on the mantel shelf but i can honestly say im afraid its not something we will be marketing here at Castfireplaces it can only be described as rustic but i do love the holly/tree etc.
So for a few tips on how to decorate the fireplace for Christams which is the main focal point of your room please try a designer not Paul and Kev from A and B Plastering Services.
However good they are at plastering please dont let these two decorate tyour fireplace this christams and heres the reason why

Due to the fear of price rises from our major energy companies we have again seen a huge surge towards solid fuel fireplaces so much so that we are very short of 48″ granite hearths for solid fuel use.
As winter draws in and the weather is turning colder people all over the UK are fed up with switching on the gas fire to add extra heat to a room, although conveniant it really is very costly to run.
With price rises again advertised by all major suppliers they have hit us hardest at the worst time of year when we use most of our gas for heating.
Ive heard it numerous times already customers saying they are fed up being ripped of so they are turning to more tradtitional and cheaper forms of heating such as log and coal fires.
Multi Fuel and Clean burn stoves ahve seen massive sales again and we really are struggling to get stoves in again ive never sold so many.
Steve our newest driver commented on the fact that every delivery he has done for Castfireplaces has had a firefox 5 stove on the van.
Alos he said why can customers not buy gas fireplaces as the hearths are so much lighter, i like his thinking it would be better for our backs but not for our customers heating bills.
So long may the reign of heating our homes by solid fuel continue there really is nothing better than a real fire

Whats better on a cold frosty morning than having a real open fireplace for burning logs or in our case a beautiful glowing Tiger Plus Stove.
I was out at the workshop early this morning and at 6.30 am was defrosting and scraping my van window, i had some fireplaces to load on one of our vans for deliveries in Derbyshire and Nottingham this morning.
So i called back home and into the office at around 9am and was greeted by instant heat as i walked into the middle room in our house.
The Stove was roaring away and a steaming cup of tea and some toast were waiting for me too, its a good job this was not done before i went to work as it took me another 30 minutes to move from setee into the office to start work.
I love gazing into a real fire with the flames and crackling it really is one of the best feelings.
So more stoves have arrived today aprt from the Firefox 5 so if you want to feel the real heat of a multifuel; stove take a look through our Stoves section and choose one to warm the whole of your house in the forthcoming very cold winter months.
Its suprising what a frost and cold snap can do for solid fuel sales just ask our drivers how many solid fuel fireplaces and stoves we are selling and exactly how heavy they are im sure we will all be 3″ shorter by christmas.

As the Winter slowly closes in and the clocks have gone back to indicate the end of British Summer time most people thoughts are turning to additional heating as the heating thermostats are turned up at night.
This is always a busy time of year for us and we have seen a huge surge in the sales of solid fuel fireplaces whether burning wood, coal or any other solid fuel source.
Im not suprised in the slightest at the upsurge again in a real fire and im pretty sure house builders are adding solid fuel fireplaces as choices to there customers.
There really is nothing better than having a real fire it really is the best form of heating and if using one of our wood burning stoves offers an extremely efficient way of heating your home.
So busy have we been on the solid fuel sales were are running very short of 48″ granite hearths which fir many of our fireplace packages.
So if you wish to enjoy the benefit and heat a real open fireplace can provide for your home have alook through our website and see what we can offer you from a simple Stove to a full Limestone Fireplace Package.
We really do offer some of the best Fireplaces availble on the market so have a browse throught the website or give us a ring

So early this morning on my way to collect yet more stoves from our suppliers i was leaving the house at around 7am and guess what it was frosty on the vans windscreen and i had to defrost.
Just before i had left Rhian had lit our tiger plus stove and i had been sat in front of it with my son laid out on the hearth rug like a large dog so as the van defrosted i was soon back in front of it.
Its not that strange that all our family seems to congregate around our woodburning fireplace stove and i was thinking just before i set out what a wonderful feeling it is to hear the wood crackling and see the flickering flames through the glass of the stove it really does warm your hearth as well as your home.
I swear if there had been a smell of fresh coffee and warm toast i would not have left.
There really is something about a solid fuel fireplace that draws you towards it for a warm whether it be the heath they give off the moise or indeed the slight smell of wood burning there really is nothing to beat it.
The amount of stoves and open fireplaces for solid fuel use we have sold this month already alot of people will soon be enjoying this warming feeling.
Unfortunately for me when i returned this evening Rhian had let it go out due to the fact it was quite sunny and warm.
So Mr Frost come again in the morning so i can again perch on the edge of my sofa staring into the flames mesmerised whilst drinking a cup of Tea before i leave to meet our suppliers again at the factory for the fourth time this week.
With so many fireplaces and Stoves arriving even the new factory is starting to fill up rather nicely but thats another small story