Register Restoration

Have you got a Villa or Bungalow with an older, smaller fireplace? Perhaps cast iron with tiles? Does it have layers of house paint on it? Or maybe you have just filled the burner with pinecones? Did you know that Living Flame can restore that little fireplace to its original glory and fit it with a new gas burner so you can start enjoying it again?

Register fireplaces were fitted in New Zealand homes from the 1880s through to the 1950s when the style changed to “fire bricks and wood grates”. There are more than 100 styles of Register castings and many different glazed ceramic tiles that are fitted within them. The fireplace itself has a small area for setting the fire, generally with an ash pan below, and sometimes an ash-out flap below that would empty under the house or behind the fire. The fires were designed so that you light the fire, it would warm the tiles and the large steel castings, and this mass would stay hot, heating the room well after the fire had died down. Houses would have several Registers, in the lounge, kitchen and bedrooms, often back to back.

Over the years, many of these fires have fallen apart, parts have been thrown out or the fires boarded up, but Living Flame can restore and rebuild them. We can fit a new flue system to the back if the chimney has crumbled or the fireplace has been moved. Chipped paint or cracked stone in the back is not a problem. We even have a supply of old parts that may fit your fireplace, or we can fabricate a new one to fill the gap. Once that is done we can custom fit a new gas burner to it with hidden controls below, and with the turn of a knob, you have a beautiful, restored, usable fireplace! The work our guys do and the results they can achieve are something we at Living Flame are truly proud of, and our clients are rarely disappointed.

If you’ve looked at your Register fireplace lately and wondered what you should do with it, maybe it’s time to give us a call. We’d love to hear that you are reading a book in front of your restored fire on a rainy winter’s night…