Bought used home without fireplace but I want one! What to do?

[sublimesting]

Hi everyone, I'm new here! My wife and I just bought a home that has no fireplace and I have always wanted one. I figured it wouldn't be too hard to install one but I didn't consider that we have a water heat system so the only wall available without a continuous heating pipe at the base board is in a corner or an internal wall.

I looked into getting a direct vent gas fireplace but I don't like how they have to have glass in front of the fire. Is there a way around this? Will I have to build a chimney if I want an open flame gas fireplace? Can I just run a pipe up through the floors of the house through the roof? How much would something like this cost to have installed (buying the hearth and fireplace and connecting gas line and installing (I'm not very handy)). I know it's alot of questions but I hope some people may have some suggestions. Thanks all.

 

[buildingmaint]

If you are willing to go to all of the trouble to build a chimney , why not burn wood?

 

[restorer]

Welcome to the forum. You have chosen a wizened crowd of persons with enough information and a will to share. Tell us about hyour home and what you would really like to see in a burner. We are all over the place on what we burn from coal to pellets, and will argue with the best, but don't let that discourage you. Keep the flame.

 

[jtp10181]

Do you want something for heating or for aesthetics?
Are you set on Gas?

Any gas unit not designed for heating, is basically an energy wasting and IMO not even worth the metal it is made out of, but I would still tell you about them if thats what you want.
On that note, any modern gas unit made for heating is direct vent and will have a sealed glass front. You can get units that are made so well you dont even see the glass.

Example: http://www.heatnglo.com/products/fireplaces/gasFireplaceDetail.asp?f=27075

 

[sublimesting]

Actually I always envisioned having wood, but everyone I know insists gas is cheaper and better. So, now my question is: If there is a chimney you would be wasting wood heat the same as gas heat I would assume....so therefore chimneys waste heat; so the only way to not waste heat would be a direct vent gas. Am I correct in this rationale? Doesn't it cost more per hour burning wood than burning gas? I am not dead-set that I must have gas I just wanted something simple and I thought direct vent gas would be easiest and cheaper than installing a chimeny. I am mainly going for aesthetics anyhow, which is kind of why I don't want glass in front of my fire....I want a nice roaring fire that isn't shielded by glass....but I think the only way around that is the use of a chimney.

How much are chimneys to install? I am probably looking at about 10,000 and up for the whole thing (hearth, mantel, fireplace, chimney, etc.)I would thing I would imagine.

Thanks again for everyone helping me. My brain is rattled with so many home things right now....new roof, mortar work, I want a fence, blah blah blah

 

[NewtownPA]

The price of gas varies depending on the price of oil. The price of trees is much more stable (and free if you wwant!)

My coworker has a gas fireplace. Press one button and away you go. Never have to go outside in the winter, don't have to stack wood etc. For some people this is just perfect.

For others, the "chore" of wood burning, stacking, lighting a fire etc is where the fun is. It's like a hobby.

So if you think you would enjoy spending hours outside tinkering around with wood and gloating about how many cords you have etc, then go with a wood stove. If you want "instant aesthetic fire" then go with gas.

Good luck.

(My brother lives in Pittsburgh. Squirrell Hill.)

 

[Highbeam]

The gas fire is always going to be the same old gas fire. You might as well have glass in front of it because it doesn't make any sounds or smells anyway. The wood fire will have all sorts of varying displays of light, color, sound, and movement as the wood becomes ash. For ambiance and fire watching nothing compares to a wood fire in a fireplace, firepit, or an open doored woodstove (a few are made to operate with doors open). The reason that an open fireplace is so inefficient is because the heat from the fire flies up the open chimney but also the room air is sucked up the chimney to be replaced by cold outside air. Some fireplaces actually cool the house while burning.

 

[jtp10181]

Every fireplace has a chimney, direct vent just can have horizontal chimneys.

There are EPA approved high effeciancy wood fireplaces, but they also have sealed glass doors. You can burn them with the doors open but you loose the efficiency when doing this.

EPA wood fireplace: (broken link removed to http://www.quadrafire.com/products/fireplaces/woodFireplaceDetail.asp?f=7100fp)

Open Wood fireplace 50" http://www.heatnglo.com/products/fireplaces/woodFireplaceDetail.asp?f=MLEX50

In the Exclaim 50 you can put a 36" gas log in it to make it gas, 120,000 BTU of energy right up the chimney.


I think you should take a look at this fireplace. http://www.heatnglo.com/products/fireplaces/gasFireplaceDetail.asp?f=02300
Find a dealer with a burning display and have them run it for like 30 mins before you get there. It looks awesome. Make sure its the "TRS" (Supreme) model.

I don't know how big your room is, but that fireplace fits good in moderate sized rooms.

 

[colsmith]

I have a few friends with gas fireplaces. They have the same flames over and over and over. Can't see that glass being there or not has much effect. The view is monotonous. We have a wood stove with a good sized glass door. It provides EXCELLENT fire watching opportunities. There being glass between me and the fire just makes us safer and warmer, and the air in the house cleaner, that never bothers me. The fire is awesome to watch, any stage from starting it up to falling into ashes. In fact, the problem both my hubby and I have is that we get the fire started, and watch to be sure it is burning okay, and 20 minutes later we are still there staring at the fire because the viewing has sucked us in. If you are planning to BUY all your wood, it could cost more than gas, although as gas prices rise I find that hard to believe. We get all our wood "free"/the hard way. We get a lot of exercise and outdoor work. I enjoy it, mostly. I am a little nervous about the enormous quantity of wood I have to split this year, but oh well. You could buy a splitter and still save money. We did just spring almost $400 for a good chainsaw.

We got a lovely soapstone woodstove installed for around $4000 total. We built the hearth, mostly because we had something unusual in mind, and that was something we could handle. A hearth pad is not very expensive if you are having that put down for you as well, I think a few hundred dollars. The stovepipe goes up to the ceiling and the (attractive stainless steel) chimney goes through the second floor and attic. It is right in the middle of the house, no messing with the outside walls. I would recommend it highly if you are keen on flames. I don't know why you think looking through glass is a negative. Just go for a stove with a big window. The Hearthstone Heritage has a slightly larger window than our Phoenix even, and costs about $100 more. With a good fire the glass is kept pretty clean. Anyway, I guess you are keen on gas, but if you are going for the flames, wood is SO much more interesting.

 

[Gooserider]

Actually I always envisioned having wood, but everyone I know insists gas is cheaper and better.

"Better" is a matter of opinion. Gas is more convenient, but IMHO a gas fireplace doesn't have much more aesthetic appeal than watching the burner on your gas stove... Wood is more work, but will give you a more aesthetic fire, if you want the "real thing" wood is the way to go... Cost is also a matter of opinion... For the cost of gas. look at your utility bill - expect it to go up... Wood can vary from "free" if you can scrounge it, fairly cheap if you can buy "log length" and process it yourself, to a few hundred bucks a cord if you get "cut & split" from the wood guy. Wood will always be more work - gas is just a matter of turning it on, wood has to be moved, fires built, etc. There are also "hidden costs" to wood, pretty much the less you pay for the wood, the more it will cost you in the equipment to get it home and process it. OTOH, if you process your own wood, you won't need a health club.... However we now heat with wood, and our gas bill has gone from thousands per winter to a few hundred, most of that just for cooking and hot water, with a bit of "backup heat" when we aren't home to feed the fire. I notice you say you are in Pittsburgh - are you in the city proper or out in the 'burbs'? How much yard space do you have available to store / process wood in?

So, now my question is: If there is a chimney you would be wasting wood heat the same as gas heat I would assume....so therefore chimneys waste heat; so the only way to not waste heat would be a direct vent gas. Am I correct in this rationale?

An OPEN fireplace is like having an open door - the heat goes out the chimney, and worse it continues to do so when the fire is not burning. A modern EPA fireplace insert or woodstove controls the flow of air such that you get MUCH more heat out of the unit - a traditional masonry fireplace was in the range of 20-30% efficient if you are lucky, a modern unit is more like 80% or better, similar to a high efficiency furnace. However you DO have to run the unit properly with dry wood to get those results.

Doesn't it cost more per hour burning wood than burning gas? I am not dead-set that I must have gas I just wanted something simple and I thought direct vent gas would be easiest and cheaper than installing a chimeny. I am mainly going for aesthetics anyhow, which is kind of why I don't want glass in front of my fire....I want a nice roaring fire that isn't shielded by glass....but I think the only way around that is the use of a chimney.

See the above discussion. Most of the people here that heat with wood will tell you how much less it costs to heat with wood than it does with gas, but it basically boils down to how much you pay for each fuel.

How much are chimneys to install? I am probably looking at about 10,000 and up for the whole thing (hearth, mantel, fireplace, chimney, etc.)I would thing I would imagine.

Thanks again for everyone helping me. My brain is rattled with so many home things right now....new roof, mortar work, I want a fence, blah blah blah

The cost to install will depend tremendously on what you get, the design of your house, etc. The chimney should probably be a Class A insulated stainless, which is not cheap, but far less expensive than a masonry fireplace and chimney, and is going to be pretty much the same regardless of what you put in for a wood burning unit. I suspect that you would find a prefab fireplace to be a very expensive way to go, as it would probably be a major project to retrofit one into your existing house structure (they are mostly intended to go into new construction that's designed for them) I would suggest looking for a wood-stove instead, as that would require much less rebuilding of the house - you'd need to build a non-combustible hearth, and possibly put some fireproofing on the nearby walls (to keep your clearances reasonable) and drop the prefab chimney down to it. The stove itself would probably cost about the same as the fireplace, but require far less work. Many modern stoves have BIG windows to watch the fire through, and some can be operated with the doors open and a screen in place (at some loss of efficiency)

Hope this helps,

Gooserider