Need advice on insert and fireplace dimensions

Hello all,

I've been doing a lot of reading on here for a while and wow what a lot of knowledge. I was hoping for some advice. We're redoing an old cabin and tore out a rusty heatilator that had basically fell apart and the brick facing as you can see in the attached picture. I have a mason coming hopefully sometime in the next couple of weeks for a quote. I want to have a pretty good idea of what insert I'm going to put in before he comes.

I'm sold on a Blaze King unless someone convinces me otherwise. We're leaning towards a flush mount insert vs. the Princess or a free standing stove because the living room isn't very big. The cabin itself is about 600 sf on the main level, 300 sf loft and an unfinished basement. The chimney is on an exterior wall and one day we have "considered" adding a bed and bathroom on that end.

My dilemna is, the opening you see in the pic is 48" wide, 54 1/2" high and 25" deep. The hearth that was removed is 28" deep. From what I've seen, the widest surround for the Ashford is 44 1/4 & 38 7/8 on the Sirocco. I'm assuming (hoping) I'll be okay on the height once the mason finishes. Any suggestions on the width, other options or what I may not be thinking of?

Thanks!

Thanks for the reply. We haven't completely ruled out a freestanding. Not sure if you can tell from the picture, broken bricks are what was used on the interior sides. What would you do there if you went with a freestanding?

So going with a freestanding, would you try to have the mason decrease the size of the fire box (I'm assuming with a large hole more heat is escaping) or just have the mason cover the sides and rear with fire bricks for aesthetic reasons?

Thanks for the replies, you both have mentioned adding insulation. I've read the posts on here about adding Roxul and a block-off plate. Will definitely do that. Where else are you suggesting I add insulation?

ColdNorCal, I guess that's where I'm hung up or don't understand. At this point, how can I insulate the exterior wall (rear of fire box), without a big decrease in the depth of the fire box?

If I go with a free standing that is. I understand what to do for an insert.

Thanks again everyone for the feedback, lots to think about. I jump back & forth daily on choosing between an insert or freestanding. In my particular case, is it a fair statement that a freestanding is going to heat the cabin better but the look may not be as appealing if I want to insulate the exterior wall? And with an insert, I can insulate the fireplace much better because it will be covered up, but it won't push the heat to the room like a free standing? I know there are more technical words I should be using to phrase that but I'm a simple man!

Thanks, I've looked at a lot of pics but had not seen many with the inside walls being something other than masonry. A couple of those pics show how that would look. The more I read, I feel like I need to insulate not only the rear but both sides. With that big of an opening I wasn't sure how good it would look with the black walls. Looking at these pics, I think if I take your original advice & drop the lintel and maybe add a course of bricks to the side, with a decent sized stove it should look really nice.

Due to limited space, capping the chimney and using another area in the room I don't think would be feasible, plus the room is on the non-loft side so it's about 18-20 ft to the ceiling in that area. I was thinking I could get by without an elbow but if I add 1.5" of insulation and need 6" clearance that may change. Need to do some more figuring! Thanks all for the continued feedback.