Adding a fireplace to house insert

[CBM22]

New to the forums and looking for advice/suggestions on adding a fireplace to our house which is in East Texas on a pier and beam foundation and around 1,000 sq ft. Winter is pretty short and mild in this area but we love the look of a fireplace with a mantel. So it is partially decorative but needs to be functional as our main source of heat for at least the main living area a couple times out of the year. We really want to add a fireplace to a corner in our living room with a mantel over it and mount our TV above the mantel. We originally were looking at wood burning free standing stoves but could not find a decent priced one that had glass in it to view the fire. We finally found and purchased a used wood burning insert that has a window in it and thought maybe we could build a brick or stone “fireplace” that doesn’t have to be fully functional to set the insert into and run the flue pipe from the insert out the side wall or through the roof if the wall isn’t a good idea. Can you build a faux fireplace to house the wood burning insert and if so I was wondering specifics on how to insulate that corner and the wood floor beneath it so I don’t burn the house down! I am hoping I don’t have to rip out the floor and put a concrete footer down to the soil to build on top of to make this happen. If so we may need to think about selling this insert and keep looking for the right free standing stove if that is a much easier route.

 

[webby3650]

Sounds like you may already know the answer to your question..
The insert cannot be used unless you build a solid masonry structure. This will require way more money and time than just buying a new woodstove. I’m not sure what your budget is, but the market is full of stoves with big glass doors.

If you really like the idea of a Fireplace, then you should be looking at high efficiency prefabricated fireplaces. Here’s an example:http://www.kozyheat.com/product/z42-cd-wood-burning-fireplace/

 

[bholler]

New to the forums and looking for advice/suggestions on adding a fireplace to our house which is in East Texas on a pier and beam foundation and around 1,000 sq ft. Winter is pretty short and mild in this area but we love the look of a fireplace with a mantel. So it is partially decorative but needs to be functional as our main source of heat for at least the main living area a couple times out of the year. We really want to add a fireplace to a corner in our living room with a mantel over it and mount our TV above the mantel. We originally were looking at wood burning free standing stoves but could not find a decent priced one that had glass in it to view the fire. We finally found and purchased a used wood burning insert that has a window in it and thought maybe we could build a brick or stone “fireplace” that doesn’t have to be fully functional to set the insert into and run the flue pipe from the insert out the side wall or through the roof if the wall isn’t a good idea. Can you build a faux fireplace to house the wood burning insert and if so I was wondering specifics on how to insulate that corner and the wood floor beneath it so I don’t burn the house down! I am hoping I don’t have to rip out the floor and put a concrete footer down to the soil to build on top of to make this happen. If so we may need to think about selling this insert and keep looking for the right free standing stove if that is a much easier route.

Yes you need a footer and a fully functional and code compliant wood burning fireplace to put an insert in.