Glass Doors for See Thru Fireplaces
See-Through Fireplace Door FAQ

See-Thru Fireplaces Smoke!

If you have a double sided fireplace that is open to two rooms, you probably have a problem with smoke. Truth is, most see through fireplaces smoke because of drafts in the home that push air through the fireplace from one room to the other, bringing with it a puff of smoke. Some see-thru fireplaces are so sensitive that just walking past them can pull a puff of smoke into the room. For this reason many people (maybe even yourself) have found this page in hopes of a solution...so here it is.

Add glass doors to both sides of your fireplace and burn it with the doors closed!

If you add glass doors to both sides of your fireplace that can be burned with the doors closed, you can minimize your smoke problem. You will need special doors to do this, some of which have tempered glass, while others have ceramic glass. Doors made for this purpose will have a draft assembly at the bottom that allows air to feed the fire evenly from both sides causing the smoke to go straight up the flue when the doors are closed. The room air rushing towards the fireplace keeps the glass relatively cool and the flames away from the glass. We will help you determine which doors can be used like this for your particular fireplace.

Lifetime Warranty on Tempered Glass

Some of our Custom Fireplace Doors have a LIFETIME WARRANTY on the tempered glass and can be burned with the doors closed. With See-Through fireplaces, you must have both sides open or both sides closed. You cannot burn a fire with just one side open unless you have ceramic glass. You cannot burn a fire with the doors closed with any of the mass produced brands (like Pleasant Hearth) sold at Home Depot, Lowe's and Amazon. This is stated in their installation guide and other literature, so make sure you buy doors that can be closed and have a warranty to protect you against glass breakage.

Can I close the doors on one side or just seal off one side with a solid piece of glass?

If you attempt to burn the fire with one door open and one door closed, or you are considering sealing off one side with a single fixed piece of glass, you must use ceramic glass. Closing one side causes the flames to blow towards the closed side just like they would on a typical single sided fireplace. Essentially, the closed door or sealed off side acts like the back of the fireplace where the most intense heat builds up. Tempered glass cannot handle this and will eventually shatter.

Can I use ceramic glass to seal off one side?

This may be a potential solution, but may not be the most practical. While tempered glass can handle sustained temperatures of about 400F-500F degrees, pyro ceramic glass can handle upwards to 1400F degrees, which is enough to handle the heat of a typical fireplace. The downside is, ceramic glass very expensive and much more fragile than tempered glass. You can expect to pay an extra $1200 to $2000 more to upgrade to ceramic glass.

With some brands, ceramic glass has rough edges that cannot be smoothed out and must be fully frame while other brands can provide smooth edges for clearview style doors. If you want to seal off one side with a single piece of glass, we can do it, but it is not much less expensive, so we recommend functional doors on both sides so you have full control over how you wish to burn your fires.

Glass Doors with Gas Logs

If gas logs have been added to a wood burning fireplace, you must burn the logs with the doors open, whether it is a single sided or multi-sided fireplace. Not only does it create a potential hazard of explosion, the controls and burners can overheat and fail, it will cause excessive soot and carbon monoxide (a toxic gas). This rule is for gas logs that are made to be installed in a wood burning fireplace, this does not apply to certain gas fireplaces that cannot ever burn wood, they are special appliance that draft completely differently and are made for such purposes.

If you want to add glass doors to your fireplace, please Email Pictures Of Your Fireplace to us so we can make some recommendations.