Fireplace Uses

• Indoor fireplaces give any room a warm and cozy feel. They're generally in living rooms and family rooms, but high-end homes sometimes have them in a bedroom and even a bathroom. Indoor fireplaces can be constructed of brick, fieldstone, marble, tile or metal. Fieldstone is often used to give rooms a rugged, outdoorsy feel, because the stone sizes vary. The colors range from gray to brown. Brick fireplaces tend to look more formal and traditional, largely because the bricks are a consistent size. Bricks are available in hues ranging from light gray to rose, tan and brown.
  
  Both fieldstone and bricks are used in outdoor fireplaces, as well. Although bricks are generally durable, they are graded according to weather resistance, and you should keep this in mind when you're selecting bricks for exterior use.
  
  

Fireplace Construction

• Constructing a brick fireplace is often easier than building a fieldstone fireplace. Because bricks are one size, usually 7 3/5 inches by 3 5/8 inches, they are simpler to work with. Building a fieldstone fireplace often requires a skilled mason who can cut and fit the stones. This can make a fieldstone fireplace considerably more expensive than a brick fireplace, according to the builders website Service Master.
  
  

Brick Fireplaces

• Brick fireplaces offer a solid and clean appearance that complements most decors. Over time, however, brick can begin to deteriorate. Most brick fireplaces can be cleaned with a paste of 1 ounce of soap and 1 ounce of salt mixed in a small amount of water, according to the the Fireplaces Magazine website. This mixture is applied to the brick and scrubbed with a brush or sponge to remove dirt and stains. A brick contractor may be needed to clean a very old brick fireplace.
  
  

Fieldstone Fireplaces

• Fieldstone gets its name from the days of farming in areas of the country where natural stone is common in the soil. The freezing and thawing of the soil lifted the rocks deep within the earth, leaving them on the surface, according to home improvement expert Tim Carter of the AskTheBuilder website. Though a nuisance to those who tilled the soil, these rocks were found to be a useful building material for homes, walls and fireplaces. Fieldstone fireplaces require little maintenance. You can use trisodium phosphate mixed in water to clean them. A quarter cup of cleaner mixed in a gallon of water will remove smoke residue and ash from your stone fireplace.