Most fireplaces look identical from the outside. The difference — and which doors fit yours — lives inside. Scroll through the four parts that decide.
Look up. The chimney tells the whole story before you open a single door. A real masonry chimney is built brick-by-brick from a foundation pad. A prefab unit vents through a thin metal pipe — usually with a square chase or a round cap on the roof.
Crouch in front of the opening with a flashlight. A masonry firebox is lined with real brick or stone, often with visible mortar joints and tile-style fire brick on the floor. A prefab firebox is a sealed steel box with bolted-in refractory panels — flat, geometric, factory-finished.
Run your hand across the floor inside and the slab in front. A masonry hearth is a single piece of stone, brick, or tile, mortared into place. A prefab unit has a thin metal hearth or a glued-down decorative slab — and the front "frame" sits flush against a sheetrock wall, not against brick.
The final clue is the smallest. Every prefab unit ships with a UL-listed metal rating plate riveted inside the firebox, behind the louver, or under the smoke shelf. It carries the manufacturer name, model number, and serial. Masonry fireplaces have nothing — no plate, no number, no manufacturer.
Based on what you've just seen, pick the one that matches.
Hand-built with brick and stone — typically pre-2000. Your firebox accepts custom-measured doors with both tempered and ceramic glass options.
Scan this QR code with your phone to place this fireplace door in your space using AR.
Point your phone camera at the code
