Fireplace Questions...?

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home-of-3

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Hello everyone! Alright, so we just bought our first home, and I bought a fixer so we can make it "ours" so to speak, and my question is: the house does not have a fireplace, and we love fireplaces so, how difficult would it be to put one in? and what is the process like? Thanks! :D
 
home-of-3. welcome to House Repair Talk and congrats on the new house. What type of structure is the exterior? Are you wanting interior on an exterior wall installation. Single or 2 story house? Have you checked with the local codes dept in your area? Do you want a masonry or prefab unit?
 
Fireplaces sound like a nice idea if you've never had one before.
They will soot up the walls and ceilings,
There about 10% if that efficient.
It will suck the air from any rooms away from the fireplace and make them colder from sucking up make up air for combustion.
Your going to have to come up with a way to store the wood away from the house to keep it dry and not attact temites.
The woods going to bring in bugs and dirt.
It would cost a min. of $3000.00 to add a working fire place in a home with out one.
Think about installing a gas vented fireplace with a blower instead. Same look, no dirt, no bugs, no soot. Far more heat output and will not make the other rooms colder.
 
And don't forget the pretty little electric ones, with the rotating fake flames. Take it out of the box and plug it in--presto, you're done! You can move it around the room when the wife does her annual furniture rearrange, and sometimes they even come on sale for less than $100.

All kidding aside, though, I'd be inclined to install a gas-fired "wood" stove. Installation isn't complicated (although some states require a licensed installer), and there's very little maintenance involved. And not much heat loss, either. We had one in our Colorado A-frame log house that did a bang-up job heating the whole place, even with many feet of snow on the ground outside. Just twist the thermostat on the wall, and let the heat flow.
 
We have a ventless NG fireplace in our house. The first few years it was great - took the chill off the room in minutes flat and saved a ton on our winter fuel bills. This year, we simply can't use it. I don't know what the gas company has done to our gas supply, but the thing stinks up the whole house. It is not just our fireplace either. The oven, water heater, and downstairs ventless stove stink as well. Our friends in the neighborhood have noticed the same thing.

So I guess what I am saying is, I would go with vented gas if you want heat, or a pretty electric if you just want ambience. The stuff on the market now is very nice looking without the headache of a real fireplace.
 
Dionysia said:
We have a ventless NG fireplace in our house. The first few years it was great - took the chill off the room in minutes flat and saved a ton on our winter fuel bills. This year, we simply can't use it. I don't know what the gas company has done to our gas supply, but the thing stinks up the whole house. It is not just our fireplace either. The oven, water heater, and downstairs ventless stove stink as well. Our friends in the neighborhood have noticed the same thing.

So I guess what I am saying is, I would go with vented gas if you want heat, or a pretty electric if you just want ambience. The stuff on the market now is very nice looking without the headache of a real fireplace.
Click to expand...

I second that
 
The most economical would be an electric fireplace, but it just doesn't have the ambiance an actual flame has. Our first home had a vent free gas fireplace. It was an add-on to the house a few years prior to us buying it. It worked great; really heated the room up when we lost power for 2 days in winter.

Our new house has a masonry wood burning fireplace. I like the feel of actual wood and flame better than the gas flame, but as others have mentioned they are very inefficient. Having a constant cold air intake would certainly help the efficiency though along with a blower to actually heat the room.
 
Depending on what you want. The full thing built out of brick and wood burning would require a lot of reconstuction of the house. A direct vent gas can be done fairly easy, you have it put in and build a frame around it and cover it with fake rock or what have you and can look good. A wood burning stove can be done quiet easy too unless you have rooms above.
I always remind people about the truck, wood shed, splitter, axe, chainsaw, dirt and bugs.
 
Here is how we usually get that job done ...

1. Gas or electric ?
If you will go with gas which is much more economic then you need to have a gas line at the place of the future fireplace.
If electric then a proper electric installation ready to hook up the unit.
Also a fireplace exhaust line is needed.

2. Shop for a fireplace insert, unit that is a inset only to be used with custom built surroundings and mantels

3. Framing will be needed to support the insert and whatever comes upon it later

4. Sheetrock or plywood on the framing depends on desired finish i.e stone, woodwork, tile, painted sheetrock etc

5. Finishing work, building a mantel with its all elements

Since the picture mean more than 1000 words please take a look at the project that we've done in one of the NJ homes.

Good luck !
Sebastian J.

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It wouldn't be too terribly hard, if that's you guys really want then do it!
 
Wow! Thanks for the posts, yes we have had wood-burning fireplaces in other places we have lived, we need a fireplace because we don't like to use the heater in the house in the winter, so we use it every night for the heat, which works perfect for us. So I have some thinking to do, I'm more partial to a gas reading the responses, but thank you!
 
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