Masonary Fireplace wood inset - HELP!!

Hi Ryan, welcome to the forums

Get ready for many questions. I'll start ;-)

Why the basement? If you have a useable fireplace upstairs, and that is where you spend most of your time, I'd rethink that. You'll get more benefit from the insert being in your main living area.

2nd thought is a free standing wood stove upstairs. Again more heat benefit.

If the basement is the place you really must have this, is it insulated? If not, you have a problem losing heat through the walls.

A floor plan would help here.

Start typing/drawing, etc

I to have an older house. A lot of square footage and no space. My basement fireplace sits directly below the main floor fireplace. How much open space in in the basement? Mine has 4 small rooms. A stove in there would have cooked you out. The main floor living room is the largest room in the house and where I elected to put the insert.

edit: just seen the pics. I think that you will cook the room in basement before you get any usable heat upstairs. Might be a good place for a small insert in basement and a larger one in the future on the main floor.Another reason I put mine on the main floor is that I'm hardly in the basement. Bunch of teenagers and kids were down there last time I checked. I didn't want a stove where I wasn't as likely to check on it and the kids could mess with it.

Beamer said:

Doing The Dixie Eyed Hustle said:

Why the basement? If you have a useable fireplace upstairs, and that is where you spend most of your time, I'd rethink that. You'll get more benefit from the insert being in your main living area.

2nd thought is a free standing wood stove upstairs. Again more heat benefit.

If the basement is the place you really must have this, is it insulated? If not, you have a problem losing heat through the walls.

A floor plan would help here.

Start typing/drawing, etc

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Hi Eileen,

Well, we just had our basement renovated, so we were thinking it would be a nice addition. We do plan on spending a fair bit of time downstairs. We also just had a baby, and his playroom is down there to... it will give us a chance to get all the toys and stuff out of the main floor.

A freestanding stove would not really work as the fireplaces are already in place.. it would look odd I think and out of place.

Yes, the basement is insulated.

Here is a VERY ROUGH floor plan.. dont laugh.. lol

Also, I have includd pics of the up and down stairs fireplaces.

Thanks!
ryan

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That second FP is screaming for a wood stove, IMHO ;-)

If the basement it is, how easy for the flow to come upstairs and heat the joint?

If you put it in the basement the stove stove is at the far end of the room. It's not impossible to move the heat out of there but I think that room would be cooking hot compared to others. Heat would radiate upstairs but the stairs are at the far end so that would hinder it as well. Doesn't look like you have clearances now in the basement, may have to remove carpet to get the 16" or 18" in front of the stove that you need. As far as it being a dedicated play area. As the kid gets older (toddler) and can be left unattended to play for a while while you cook, take shower whatever you want an area that is as safe as possible. I didn't worry so much about the occasional burn or bump as I did about kids seeing me load the stove and thinking they could do it to or leaving toys and blankets to close to the fire.

The main floor looks like it has tile in front of the fireplace, if so clearance should be good. Depending on the size of your firebox they do make flush mount inserts that would work well.

Have you burned in either fireplace yet? My home just had unlined masonry chimney and the flues were next to each other. With the negative pressure in the basement it would suck smoke down there everytime I lit a fire on the main floor. I ended up blocking the basement flue several years ago which more or less solved the problem (I think there were still cracks in the inner walls of the flue which would draw some smoke smell down because since I have installed an insulated liner and insert I have no issues. Just saying this to prepare you to either raise the main floor flue higher than the other or block the basement flue off. Also you may want to check the basement flue. I know on mine with the fireplaces on top of each other the bottom flue had to make a wicked bend before it could go up along side the other flue. Not sure I could have got a 6" liner around that bend if I wanted to.

That upstairs fireplace needs a Hearthstone Homestead in SeaFoam Green in front of it so bad it hurts!

My stove insert is in my Main living area which is on the back of my house on a slab foundation. The room is 450sqft. there is a door way on either end that leads to the house which is on a crawl space so you go up 3-4 stairs to getinto that part of house. My bedroom is out the far door from stove and into another room then into a hall and down that 15ft so its a good 50ft around and through a door to my bedroom. I can feel the heat in there as well as the other 2 bedrooms that are just outside of the other door to the stove room. My house was originally 1950 built then added onto 2 other times through the years, far from open yet i can heat my home with the stove on all but the coldest days alone. Have not used the heatpump yet this year and we had 2 nights at 20F and highs in the low 40s. I would put a stove on main floor if you can, pellets in the basement (i hate the idea but if you have to haul wood through the home and only use it occassionaly this may be 4 you?) or a very small insert or freestander there?

Dakotas Dad said:

That upstairs fireplace needs a Hearthstone Homestead in SeaFoam Green in front of it so bad it hurts!

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Naaah, blue/black ;-)

Out of say 2 cuft of wood you will get more heat out on the higher efficientcy, obviously. This will mean that you can either get more total heat to heat up faster by running wide open or that you can draft down more on the higher one meaning that 2cuft of wood will last longer than in the lower one as the lower eff one will have to be run on a higher draft to give you the same heat into your room. That said will you notice the difference, maybe or probly not. BUT the 85% one will qualify you for last year tax credit. Whcih dont help you unless they continue the credit this year.

Beamer, can you provide the measurements on your main floor fireplace?

My inclination would be to go with a freestanding stove inserted into that fireplace. I would go with a 2.5 cu. ft up to 3.0 ft. firebox if permitted.

To do this you need to consider if a stove will fit in there (and maybe protrude out onto your hearth shelf), where the flue exit is compared to your venting flue position, and whether you would consider a freestanding unit.

My bias toward that option is because I would avoid a blower if possible. They require electricity to run, they fail and are expensive to replace, and they are unnecessary if the unit throws adequate heat without it. You can use a regular room fan to push air past the fireplace opening and circulate the air for better heating. A stove the size I suggest should be adequate for your home.

I don't think a unit in the basement is going to be worth it for heating more than just the basement. I say start with the upstairs unit and see how it goes.

I have a generator so i dont worry to much about the blower but that is true. My insert protrudes 30-40% into the room and will heat some without it but your not taking full advantage of it without the blower.

Beamer said:

yukiginger said:

Beamer, can you provide the measurements on your main floor fireplace?

My inclination would be to go with a freestanding stove inserted into that fireplace. I would go with a 2.5 cu. ft up to 3.0 ft. firebox if permitted.

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I think my fireplace is to small for a freestanding stove. It is only 24" high and 30" wide.
Do not think ?i have seen any that would fit that space??

Now I'm thinking the Alterra 1250 might be to small? It says it only does 1000sqtf max.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

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Might take a look at The Avalon flush wood

No idea what the stove costs, but a 25 ft liner kit off Chimney liner depot is a bit less than $400. The install of it alone would be maybe $300 max is what id say it looks pretty easy, gonna do mine this spring. So that leaves the rest for the stove and install of it which should be around $200.