Suggestions & Ideas Needed

Hello to all:

I am in need of help and suggestions.
I have a fire place that is just for looks at best. Because of this it has been just sitting there for the last 3 years just doing nothing. I have 2 ideas that i would like to share.
One would be to remove the glass doors and place a wood stove in front of the opening and re-lining the chimney. This way would be the easy way and I would have a functioning heat source in my home. But I am unsure if I have the clearance to have a rear exhaust stove and the pipe to fit a 6 to 8 inch fireplace exhaust opening as it has a built in damper.

The other option would be to wall over the fireplace and lay brick to cover the opening and extend the hearth to fit a wood stove by adding another 24 inches. The concern that I have is, that I may not find the brick that would match. Also with this last idea I would use a top exhaust wood stove with a 90 degree elbow going through the wall and then taping to the chimney with another 90 degree elbow.
I am leaning towards the last option but the venting and drafting is a concern as the actual cost of covering the wall and build an extension to the hearth.


Let me give you dimension's for my fireplace.
My chimney is 25 feet tall.
Brand FMI
38 inches wide at the flashing
37 inches tall at the flashing
21 inches deep with door attached

Fire Box Dimensions
30 inches wide inner box
17 inches wide at rear of fire box
15 inches front to rear
17 inches tall

it sits 4 1/2 inches higher than the hearth

Hearth depth to fireplace 19 3/4 inches.

This is what I currently have and would like suggestions on what I could do and what could be done.

I have added pictures to the post
Your Help Is appreciated.

Kind Regards
Merry Christmas & Happy New year

Mike

First I want to thank all that have replied.
Here is the answer to a question.
The size of my home is 1600 sf.

Now looking that the Enviro Kodiak inserts that you recommend, the question that I have is, Do I remove my fireplace or do I install this unit over the existing fireplace?

My apologies to all for my stupid questions? I am still learning.

Mike

Greenteam,

Yes the fire place is a prefabricated unit. Reading some of the posts here, I must reline the flue as per the temperature generated will literally melt the chimney.

To what I gather, I have to find an insert that will fit over the current unit and reline the flue. Is this a correct assumption?


Mike

Good Evening,

I will have a stove dealer come over to verify what I can do with the insert. I think talking to a few dealers that the clearance that I have may not be enough to install a stove. That said, I will let you all know what the recommendation will be.

Mike