Nothing could be further from thoughts about lighting my Tiger Plus multi fuel stove as i sit in my office and the sun is shining and i have radio on whilst completing a mound of paperwork ive left to build up.
What prompts this article is a phone call from Paul asking me if i want another lorry load of logs dropped off at our warehouse in Langley Mill.
Now lucky for me i have some spare crates for them to be tipped into so i can then move them with the forklift before i manage to get round to spliiting them with my hydraulic log splitter.
At work i have 4 large wooden crates filled with Split logs and my woodshed at home is filled to the Brim with seasoned logs but im still sure i need more for the next Winter.
Now really is the ideal time to start to buy and prepare your logs for the forthcoming Heating Season as they take 6 months air drying time to be perfect for burning.
Wood when fresh cut has a high moisture content and until it is split into logs retains most of this
Also it is always a good idea to buy your chosen logs now as they are always cheaper in the Summer and this is the time most tree work is being undertaken and most tree fellers are glad to be rid of as demand is not as high.
In Winter how many times did you find out everytime you needed a tonne bag or lorry load that they were short in supply and you had to wait a while
So to keep your solid fuel fireplaces and stoves roaring away in Winter why not give your local log supplier a ring and see if you can get yourself a bit of a bargain on your winter fuel.
If you live within 20 miles of us i can always pass you pauls number and he can sort you out as many logs as you require.
Right im off for an ice cold drink all this talk of roaring fires is bringing me out in a sweat
Posts Tagged ‘Fireplaces’
Seasoned logs for all your Fireplaces and Stoves
Thursday, June 24th, 2010Stoves and Fireplace to rise with VAT Increase
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010As expected as it has been posted in most papers and on the news the rate of VAT we all pay on items is due to increase in price to a new rate of 20% which becomes effective from 04/01/2010.
Im not realy suprised by this rise and it will affect everyone and there is no way of avoiding it.
To put it bluntly buying a fireplace package from us before the 4th January at say a cost of £600 the governemnt get a cut of 17.5%, with the new vat rate the rate they recieve will 20% of the sale price which is a cost rise to our customers of around £12.76.
Whilst im sure its going to be unpopular with everyone it can not be avoided and every other company has to pass this cost on.
So really if you are thinking of buying a new Fireplace and Stove you do have a few months of forward planning to avoid this increase in price so make your plans a little earlier and save yourself a little money before the Government gets there hands on your hard earned cash.
And if you do not require one before then you can rest assured Castfireplaces will still be one of the most competitive prices online.
Fireplace Article Section has search feature
Thursday, June 17th, 2010As we now have over 500 posts on our Fireplace Website in our Articles Section it offers a wealth of knowledge about various products and questions we have been asked in the past.
Most of you know we add to this section most days if not everyday so basically its an ever growing wealth of information about Fireplaces and Stoves and all there related Items.
As such it does have a serach bar where you can enter any question or phrase you may have and it picks out all the related articles with that phrase in.
This is not just in the titles it is also in the text too to return more conclusive information so entering just Fireplaces will return 100s of results where if you were to enter say Pembroke Black Fireplace it returns aound 40 posts where this has been mentioned.
The more specific you are about the information you require the more accurate the results are so if you are looking for relevant information about certain items take a look in our article section it just might have the answer or a little bit of information you are after and if you can not find it drop us an email or ring us, we really are hear to help.
Did you used to be Called Derbyshire Fireplaces
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010A very strange question today as to whether we had changed our name and if we ever used to be based at North Mill Belper.
No thats a little odd i thought as before i started CastFireplaces in 2003 i was director of a large Antiques place where we did Fireplaces and Kitchens etc it was at Unity Mill in Belper Derbyshire not North Mill.
He seemed to know where that was but he was adamant we were Derbyshire Fireplaces which im afraid we are not.
Interested to who they were i google searched them and found them to be a manufacturer of Stone Fireplaces which is even stranger seeing he wanted a Cast Firplace and Surround.
Im not even sure how he managed to find us because we do not even list well for that phrase but find us he did.
After i had expalined we are Castfireplaces and what we do he said i only live in Matlock ill come and see you and see what you have in stock.
So thanks Derbyshire Fireplaces from Belper whoever you were or indeed still are i have one of your customers coming to see me Tuesday afternoon.
Things never cease to make me smile it really is a strange world
Bedroom Fireplaces What exactly are they
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010Well a strange question i know but we have been asked this a few times and which paricular fireplaces are suite to the the Bedroom.
Well back in Victorian times before Central Heating the main heat source for heating houses was from an open grate so basically every bedroom had some form of open grate fireplace.
Most of these were small Combination Fireplaces which are around the 30″ to 36″ shelf Width.
We do offer a good selection of this type of fireplace and and all of these are perfect for decorative use or to be used for Gas,solid fuel or even electric.
Most original Victorian houses will have tiles that are set at the same level as the wooden floors in your bedrooms next to the chimney breasts these are what the original fireplaces were sat on such as the image below ive borrowed from google images it shows a nice original fireplace sat on simple quarry tiles all level with the floor so you dont stub your toes.
This type of tiles are pretty common and is ideal for sitting a combination fireplace on for decorative use only.
If using for solid fuel or gas use there are regulations reagarding hearth sizes etc but to be honest it is a waste of money haveing a working fireplace in the bedroom as it will get very little use.
We alos often recomend just tiling over the existing tiles if they are damaged with a few slate or granite tiles you can buy from tile shops it will save you around £90 on the price of a granite fireplace hearth and also being thinner it is easier to walk around in the bedroom.
So if you think you would like to reinstate a Bedroom Fireplace have a look through the options we have on offer or contact us so we can point you in the right direction
No rise in VAT on all our Fireplaces
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010Well it was budget day today and to be honest i really thought we were going to have to alter all our prices on our website and in our showroom with a new VAT rate but thankfully for now thats been put on hold.
As with most products we buy the Gallery range of fireplaces and stoves we sell does include VAT at the present rate of 17.5%.
Its a simple tax that is very difficult for customers to avoid and a lot of talk this week has been centered on an increase to 20% which effectively is you our customers paying £2.50 (aproxx) extra for every £100 you spend.
Anyway im glad that hasn’t come to light the country is in a bad enough state without people being charged extra to compensate banks borrowing our money.
Since the Credit crunch crisis here at Cast Fireplaces people have started to use Debit cards more now than ever before and Cash on Collection is very popular too.
I prefer Debit card for my online shopping as once its been taken from the bank its done then and you dont have to worry about paying credit card bill ontime but i do understand the ease of use with credit card should anything go wrong.
So with this little bit of Good budget news apart from Fuel Duty rise again our prices will remain the same so you can heave a sigh of relief that the Limestone fireplace you are looking to buy for £600 will not cost you £613.
Personally i think with all fireplaces burning wood seeing as it is carbon neutral there should be some form of VAT reduction due to it being GREEN i will write to MP and let him throw my letter in the Bin.
Local Developer Orders Six Jubilee and Brompton Limestone Fireplaces
Saturday, February 20th, 2010Hello 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
Wooden Fireplaces Section is Next
Thursday, February 18th, 2010Another 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
Where has this week gone in my world of Fireplaces
Friday, February 5th, 2010Well 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
How can i control my Gallery Fireplaces Tiger Stove
Monday, January 18th, 2010How 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.