Posts Tagged ‘Fireplaces’
Saturday, February 20th, 2010
Hello good evening to you all im sat again at my desk at 8.30 pm writing a few thoughts about whats going on in our little fireplace bubble.
Today has again been very busy with the first call this morning bang on 9am from Mr Barker asking if he can collect a basket today he had ordered instead of Sunday this turned out to be de ja vu an hour later as Mr Hein said exactly the same it must have been the sunny morning people wanting to get jobs done.
I must admit i was the same i set out to tidy up my front tool shed and in between answering calls and meeting people at the factory i finished it at 4pm after a run to the tip i wouldn’t mind its only an old toilet and is not that big.
Anyway that sorted i sat down with a nice cup of tea and the phone rang again so off back to the office i went, it turned out to be a local developer from Crich who is completing some new builds in Ashover and had seen my van on his way to Denby Pottery and took down website address.
He had visited our Website and chosen the Jubilee and Brompton Limestone Packages for the houses he is finishing and ordered six full gas packages after a little negotiation.
These Packages are to be delivered over the next three weeks two at a time so his fitters can fit them as they are delivered.
As we keep them in stock he was very pleased we could send the first batch out Tuesday next week so they could make a start.
Asking where he found us from he told me about going to Denby Pottery and seeing our sign written van so it just goes to proove it does work having a well sign written van people can see who we are and exactly what we do.
So another nice order placed all thanks to our Van living next to a main road and the way i park it on our drive it really does stand out you really cant miss it
Jubilee and Brompton Limestone
Tags: Brompton, Cast, Fireplaces, Gas, Jubilee, limestone
Posted in Limestone Fireplaces | No Comments »
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
Another busy day sat in front of the pc has seen our care products section updated along with half of the Limestone Fireplaces added too, the website is growing nicely with more sections planned to be increased over the next week.
The Wooden Fireplaces we offer are made by us and we only buy in the Malton MDF (Gallery Collection) and the Large Corbel (Jig Collection) so you can rest assured we only have the best quality to put our name to as its our reputation that goes with these mantels.
So we have around another 20 wooden packages to go onto our site tomorrow which will give us one fo the largest ranges available on or offline.
As you would expect from Cast Fireplaces we do keep all these items in stock so they can be delivered or collected with great speed to ensure our customers get the best service too.
The other ranges we are ready to offer are a selection of JIG Fireplaces and a huge range of buckets companion sets and fire guards.
Our Firebasket section is due to be done with all the new gallery baskets and firebasket suites also ready to be listed so as you can see we are aiming to have the most comprehensive range of Fireplace related products online.
Please remember we dont sell Bathrooms, Furniture or Doors so you can rest assured we only concentrate on one thing supplying the Best Fireplaces at the Best Prices
Tags: Fire Baskets, Fireplaces, JIG, limestone, Wooden
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Friday, February 5th, 2010
Well i can not believe it is Friday again it has been none stop all week which started with our new Fireplace Website going live on monday and with the few hiccups we had that was most of Tuesday and Wednesday gone, Thursday was gone too fast and today i have been delivering in York and Nottingham whilst Stu has been on Bristol Gloucs and Birmingham run.
We have loaded vans for this Sundays london runs and im now sat in my office at 8.30 pm writing this blog after finishing all the delivery notes.
Time always flys when you are busy but this week has been a blur.
Had an early evening visit from Adam our Rep bringing me some more images we have done with various arched and tiled inserts with a variety of different surrounds we have made all these will start to be added next week so again i have a busy week without even starting our day to day running of the business.
Thank god im off Saturday for a little break with my son Jaiden and a few of my mates to watch Forest,also we are meeting Adam there for a beer too and im sure a few of the other Fireplace Lads it really makes a good day out.
So not much will happen to our website over the weekend but keep your eyes out next week for some new categories and many many new Fireplaces and even a few Stoves
Tags: Arched, Fireplaces, Stoves, Surrounds, Tiled
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Monday, January 18th, 2010
How do you control the Stove It just seems to be roaring away and even when i reduce air into the stove it still roars is there anything you can suggest.
This is an unusual question as based on our experaince Tiger Stoves can be controlled very well.
I made enquires as to who had fitted his stove how old it was and did he have an invoice number from us.
It turned out he had bought it from a shop near Buxton who now do not want to know or help him with a solution to this problem and he fitted it himself.
Well its not really our problem but after finding out chimney had not been lined as he didnt want the extra expense it sounds to me like his fireplace chimney breast has one hell of a drawer on it as the stove is nearly new and the seals around the door are fine.
The only solution we can offer is a damper pipe which is a small pipe 250mm in length which has an adjustable damper inline which can be altered to reduce the draw from the chimney.
The original stove pipe does have to be removed and then this item placed inline but it is a solution to his problem and he has gone away to think about ordering one.
So the moral of the story is when ordering a stove or Fireplace from someone please make sure they have the background knowledge or experiance to sort out any small problems you may have as our friend found out some companies do not want to know after you have bought items from them.
Tags: Chimney, Damper, Fireplaces, Flue, Gallery, Stove, Tiger
Posted in Fireplace help and advice | No Comments »
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
Today has been the worst experiance delivering fireplaces i have ever had it has been a nightmare, as most of our customers know we deliver fireplaces and stoves all over the UK using our own fantastic delivery service.
Well as we have been so busy and the snow had slightly disrrupted our normal service i was today heading to Esh Winning near Durham.
I set off at 5.30 am this morning and followed the gritting lorry right through to the A38 the road was fine and i carried on to M1,M18 A1 Etc.
All was going nicely and then i took my turn off to Esh Winning the roads again were fine until i came to the road i wanted and im not joking a foot of snow was in my path.
Luckily i wanted number one so i parked on corner and unloaded Firefox 12 onto our wheels and away i went 5 minutes later it was sat in customers house and i was on my way again splipping and sliding back to the main road.
So of to Durham i thought this was going to be easy 5 miles and 15 minutes on the sat nav it said which turned out to be a complete joke.
The road was black iced over all over cars were skidding and smashing into each other and going through peoples hedges and walls i turned straight round and took another route this turned out to be much safer but had the whole of the northern population on this road and it took me 1 hour 24 minutes to travel 5.2 miles.
So i arrived at drop number two to find snow blocked road again with around 400 yards to go so out came the barrow again and i carried a Tulip and Bedford Fireplace Gas package to the customers house in three trips this took me around 25 minutes as cars tried in vain to get off this road ive never seen ice and snow packed in like it it was like a scene from Scandinavia.
Anyway sweating like a pig i was sat back in my van dreading going to Billingham which was clear and then Maunby where i crawled at 10 miles an hour into a the Village which had snow and ice on the road, i thought at this point of RAC advice are fireplaces and Stoves really a neccesary journey but hey im here now and im not going back with them.
After this drop i was now 1 hour and 45 minutes late but it was all plain sailing after here with clear roads to Wetherby and finally home.
So that was my morning and half the afternnon from Hell i hope Stuart fairs better tomorrow in Swansea and Cardiff fingers crossed then.
Tags: delivery, Fireplaces, Stoves
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Thursday, January 7th, 2010
As most of our customers know we do offer a Mainland Uk delivery service and we have a few times before delivered items to shipping agents for them to be packed and sent abroad.
This is not something we advertise but if asked will wrap and palletise these items to be sent this way.
Anway early this evening we had a customer email us asking if we wrapped and palletised a fireplace and some tiles could he arrange to have it collected from our factory by his shipping agents when he next attends the Newark Antiques Fair.
Now i dont think we have dealt with him before but we have had a few orders from a lady from Kansas do this and had goods delivered to a shippers near Newark for them to be crated and sent to the USA.
This is fine with us we do not promote sales of Fireplaces or Stoves to any other country than the UK but it may be worthwhile looking into exporting them.
We do have forklift facilty and plenty of crates so ill investigate the option of sending itemsother than mainland UK.
We do have a fiar amount of items go to Northern Ireland and we use a very good company for delivery who charge around £125 -£150 for delivery but there the same as us Blanket wrapped and individually wrapped with a two hour timed delivery service. Believe me im not sure how some of these companies go on sending everything on carrier and by pallet the damages they must incurr and customers being let down.
Anyway thats not the way we do it our delivery service is the pride of our company.
I will return again to featured items on Friday i just thought i would share the thought of exporting fireplaces and stoves with you
Tags: Export, Fireplaces, Stoves, USA
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Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
As 2009 finishes we all reflect on what the past year has brought us all and i must say with things in our personal lives im glad to see the back of it.
Workwise i dont think things could have gone any better i know times have been tough and money is short for people but we have come through this terrible turbulent times in a new factory which we are in the process of buying and our Fireplace stocks have grown hugely.
Yes profits are down slightly but being house orientated people have mothballed projects and a few developers we deal with have dissapeared.
It could be alot worse i know of 6 local fireplace companies finishing business this year and i have noticed a few website firms shut too.
So as we await the new year and get things ready for what are normally a few busy months for fireplaces and stoves as the weather starts to get really cold i look back and think yes we have done ok were all intact our company is well known and has respect in the trade and im sure that here at Castfireplaces we have a very exciting 2010 ahead of us.
Im really looking forward to getting back to work and making progress in our aim to be the best known company on the internet and the 1st choice for buying all your fireplace products and im sure with all our staffs help and in particular our customers help we can achieve some real big results this year.
Tags: 2010, Factory, Fireplace, Fireplaces, Stoves
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Thursday, December 24th, 2009
Im like a child when it comes to new things arriving and yesterday my Log Splitter came by pallet delivery and was sitting on my drive when i got back from washing the vans at our local Valet company (Full valet in mine looks like brand new)
Anyway i was told it would arrive between 9 and 5pm there not as good as us with our 1 hour time slot and it duely arrived so i loaded it straight on to me van and rushed off to the factory to play with it.
God it was cold in there the showroom and canteen are the only places with heat in there anyway unpacked and assembled i thought right lets get one of the tree trunk rings in and give it a go
Quick read of the instructions and start it up im not joking it cracked it in to with no effort at all and i spent the next ten minutes splitting it in to fire size pieces this was so much easier than the axe attempt i tried a few days ago.
It made such short work of it i was there for around 40 miutes and split up enough to 3/4 fill a tonne bag which i loaded on my van with the forklift.
I was getting carried away thinking of all this wood to burn in my Gallery Fireplaces Tiger Plus Stove Rhian then rang to ask if i was coming back (told her i was only dropping it off) as she knew i would be playing with my new toy it was getting dark and we were going out at 6pm so i finished off a ring and added them to my bag which was now on the back of my van
So if you do want to know anymore about where i bought it from just let me know and ill point you in the right direction
1 More sleep till santas here cant wait for that too
Tags: Fireplaces, Log splitter, logs, Stove
Posted in Multi-Fuel Stoves | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
Cast Fireplaces can now offer loads of logs for sale via one of my very good friends who has loads of experience in the gardening and log supply industry.
Now im sure you are aware there are differnt types of logs ie hard wood and soft wood and what he supplys is a mixed load so it burns better.
We have been having logs of paul for ages and i can personally guarantee how good they are the latest batch he dropped me off were cherry and they were in tree like form as he had not split them so ill tell you more tomorrow how i got on with that.
He offers the logs he supplys in either tonne bags or as a full load on his transit tipper which is better value for money.
As he is one of my ggod mates ive said ill add him a section on our new website so customers can order and pay for them online.
However at the moment he only sells within a 20 mile Radius of Ripley as this is where we are based and its not economical to send out by Pallet service.
So if you are within 20 miles of us give him a ring on 07970 958432 and im sure he will be more than happy to help you out and if you have ordered a stove from us recently there will be a leteer offering his services coming through the post to you
Tags: Fireplaces, logs, Multi Fuel, Stoves
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Monday, December 7th, 2009
Well what a mad month we are having and the gallery group the people whose range of Fireplaces and Stoves we stock are very busy too.
As always at this time of year we always seem to run short of certain items due to stock shortage us here at Castfireplaces are in a better position than most fireplace shops as we do hold large amounts of stock at our factory.
However this has not proved enough and again we have run out of Firefox 5 Stoves, we also only have 2 Lytton Highlighted fireplaces and 3 Jubilee fireplaces left till after Christmas infact the new year.
Gallery themselves also have none of these items till January so thats it really 1st come 1st served gets the last of thses items.
Im not 100% sure why they have run out im told it is down to order levels and they did not expect to move some many in the Credit crunch crisis.
Well that seems not have hit our trade too hard and as we have seen a large shift again to solid fuel stoves and fireplaces this seems to have carried on right through “Heating Season”
Last week we had hearth deliverys to replace all our sold stock and these arrived just in time as we were down to the last few in stock.
Still only two weeks to go till Party day with the Fireplace Lads looking forward to it again a full day boozing in my home town of Nottingham.
Anyway if we do run out completely of any fireplaces or stoves i will let you know and offer an alternative to the option you have chosen so fingers crossed it wont be too bad but at the rate there going we will be out of lyttons and Jubilees by the end of this week but what can i do about it they are on the way from China.
Tags: Cast, firefox, Fireplace, Fireplaces, Jubilee, Lytton, Stoves
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