emt1581 said:daleeper said:emt1581 said:Den said:Freestanding stove in the living room. No fireplace required. Hearth gate to keep baby at bay.
If there's no second flue in this chimney it won't work. We'd need to build a second pipe (no way she'll go for that look) or another chimney which we can't afford.
If there is a second flue, then yes, that's what I'd prefer a stove.
Thanks!
-Emt1581
After reading your responses to these posts, and re-reading your first, budget is important here. In your first post, you mentioned that for a few thousand, a fireplace could be added to the living room upstairs (which is apparently what your wife wants). I would question what kind of fireplace could be added for a few thousand that will be of any quality compared to a wood stove install at the same cost. It could possibly be a heat loss situation instead of heat gain if a cheap inefficient fireplace is installed.
Most of the high-efficiency zero clearance fireplaces will cost more than a few thousand by the time they are installed. You need to know what fireplace they would be installing before you can make a good decision on that aspect, it could cost more than you think in the long run.
You might be better off just installing the insert downstairs and see what it will do for you. Then if you are not satisfied do the stove or fireplace upstairs when you can afford to do it right.
I've thought about that. Cost-wise.
Initially I'm betting we'll start downstairs. And if you look at the pics, a stove isn't possible with the small size of that hearth, and if we do go with something upstairs it'd almost have to be a stove because I can afford a hearth...I can't afford more than a few grand for a fireplace.
One thing I was going to ask is if these are that easy to transfer? That is, say we get an insert in the basement and it doesn't do much to heat upstairs, can we rip it out and put it in a living room fireplace (if we did figure out a way to afford one)?
Lots of homework to do yet though.
Thanks!
-Emt1581
Transferring would depend on both the insert and fireplace installed. In fact, you would need to check with your downstairs fireplace you now have to make sure it will allow an insert to be installed in it, but it does look like an insert would be your best option in the basement. Some of the older prefabricated fireplaces do not have the structural integrity to handle the insert weight, and sometimes opening clearances can be a problem.