Dear Mr. Savage,

My husband and I are building a home nearby and are interested in having a Rumford Fireplace. I got your name off the Rumford website and I was in hopes you could answer a few questions for me: Is it as heat efficient using the fireplace with gas logs (my husband isn't sure he wants a wood burning fireplace)?

Approximate cost?

Many thanks for your help.

Cathy

Dear Cathy,

I'm sure that gas logs will be MORE efficient in a Rumford than a "regular" fireplace. We used just one "guest worker" to build the fireplaces, and he had NO problem in building them, especially given that he (or we!) had never personally built fireplaces before. And this, given that my Spanish is more fuzzy than his English!

Assembly of the Rumford, using the few special parts from Superior Clay, was particularly easy. Most of the parts to such a fireplace are standard and just come from your local brickyard.

All the walls inside the firebox go straight up. The "usual" leaning-toward-the-room type would really be much more complicated. [This "usual" leaning-toward-the-room layout directs the smoke TOWARD your rooms! Thus, the typical blackening of the mantelpiece.]

I invite you to call and come by to see our beautiful Rumfords. You will observe that there is NO darkening of the mantle area (as one usually gets with the "usual" leaning-toward-the-room type fireplace) because the Rumford is SO efficient.

Not only that, but the damper and throat of the Rumford is engineered to be smaller, taking less air out of your room. The wide, tall opening and shallow depth serve to project more heat into your room. I cannot speak highly enough of the Rumford design! There is no reason to expect higher cost using the Rumford design.

Again, I invite you to call and come by to see our beautiful Rumfords. We are located just off Highway 71, about 24 miles due west of Austin, east of the Pedernales River about 3 miles.

See our web site: www.VillaMillennium.com

Yours truly,

BYRON B. SAVAGE, C.I.D.
(512) 264-2756
4220 Bee Creek Road
"Spicewood," Texas 78669-6529 20

I forgot to adequately answer your last question: There is no reason to expect higher cost using the Rumford design. An experienced mason should be able to work faster. Time is money, too!

A novice mason may take longer, just as I would if I tackled it myself. Not longer than a "regular" fireplace, but just longer for not knowing masonry.

The few proprietary parts offered by Superior Clay Products allow even speedier assembly. The proportions of the Rumford fireplace, whether big or small, remain the same.

Ironically, I attended a lecture given by a prominent Austin mason. He was explaining the theories of fireplace building. I asked him, "What about Rumfords?" By his explanation, I could see that he didn't have a clue!

One can learn a WORLD of information at the Rumford web site. There are SO many informative pages there. Obviously, this abovementioned mason had never seen the Rumford web site!

I don't expect masons to have web-connected computers. It would be nice if they did. Certainly, I would not hesitate to specify Rumford. If the mason does not immediately agree, or if he stumbles in answering, I'd let him view the Rumford web site, or print out the construction pages for him. It's really one-two-three!

Hope I've been helpful.

Yours truly,
BYRON SAVAGE