Hi everyone! Just found this site via a Google search and after reading some posts, I'm hoping y'all will have the answers we need! 
We moved into the house my in-laws built in 1981. The fireplace was a wood burning one with big hollow (I think) andirons that would heat as the wood burned. There is a control switch on the wall that looks like a round dimmer switch & says the brand of that is Broan. The blower vents are underneath the raised hearth. So, mil got sick of the wood mess so they cleaned all that up, scrubbed the bricks and had gas logs installed around 25 years ago. The gas logs finally died last night so since they are so old, we are going to replace them. Here is the question...The andirons are so large that when the gas logs were installed over the top, the heat came out between thigh and waist high and the blower was useless because they didn't heat the andirons enough to generate much heat. (No metal insert by the way. It's masonry with these built in thick andirons. ) We'd love to remove the andirons before replacing the logs so that the logs sit on the 'floor' of the fireplace instead of in the 'air' so to speak. Has anyone ever done this? If so, what did you do exactly? Can this be a diy project? We don't do welding or metal work of any kind, but have some experience in remodeling. We even thought about leaving the front part of the andirons if need be. Any one have any experience in this type of fireplace before? Thanks in advance!
We moved into the house my in-laws built in 1981. The fireplace was a wood burning one with big hollow (I think) andirons that would heat as the wood burned. There is a control switch on the wall that looks like a round dimmer switch & says the brand of that is Broan. The blower vents are underneath the raised hearth. So, mil got sick of the wood mess so they cleaned all that up, scrubbed the bricks and had gas logs installed around 25 years ago. The gas logs finally died last night so since they are so old, we are going to replace them. Here is the question...The andirons are so large that when the gas logs were installed over the top, the heat came out between thigh and waist high and the blower was useless because they didn't heat the andirons enough to generate much heat. (No metal insert by the way. It's masonry with these built in thick andirons. ) We'd love to remove the andirons before replacing the logs so that the logs sit on the 'floor' of the fireplace instead of in the 'air' so to speak. Has anyone ever done this? If so, what did you do exactly? Can this be a diy project? We don't do welding or metal work of any kind, but have some experience in remodeling. We even thought about leaving the front part of the andirons if need be. Any one have any experience in this type of fireplace before? Thanks in advance!![[Hearth.com] 1980's blower in wood burning fireplace](/talk/data/attachments/266/266161-c7a46a5bf8ea20717e3e2c7419bb3b07.jpg?hash=iOfExWB9CV)
![[Hearth.com] 1980's blower in wood burning fireplace](/talk/data/attachments/266/266162-347d6c3f3d877930392350b7c0a296cd.jpg?hash=VIMWifitTO)
![[Hearth.com] 1980's blower in wood burning fireplace](/talk/data/attachments/266/266163-ea6b6f490ca019e5db6b3fc2d1af8e74.jpg?hash=0crBg9YJ60)
![[Hearth.com] 1980's blower in wood burning fireplace](/talk/data/attachments/266/266164-67b6187984f54bc6d11cea0a08246ab7.jpg?hash=LYJmbSBuWQ)
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