Hi thank you for having this forum and I am grateful I have found it. I am hoping you can help me with my choice of wood burning fireplace. I am up in Canada, and we are wanting to install a new construction fireplace in the room pictured below at our lake-house. The lake-house was built in 1910 as a 12 bedroom inn, almost 3000 square feet, used seasonally. We are in a slow process of winterizing it, which is happening in stages, but we would like to add the fireplace now as it will extend our comfort in the fall if it works correctly. For those who may wonder, this style of roof is insulted from the outside with 2'x10" stringers and thick insulation blocks installed over the existing roof to preserve the historic ceiling.
The lake-house originally had a rather ugly brick fireplace that had been painted a rust color in gloss paint making it even uglier, but we did make a valiant attempt to save it, getting quotes for a insert which would have reduced the size of the woodbox to almost nothing. In the end we took the fireplace out this summer after finding out it was pulling the cottage down and sinking into the mire due to its weight. It was tipped forward by several inches at that point and we were keeping the kids out of the room. We also added new joists to strengthen the floor when removing it.
The issue I am having with looking for a fireplace is the scale of this room. 18'x18' by 20' high. The "efficient" woodbox style fireplaces with the two glass doors that open seem fairly small visually for the scale and height of this room. I also have the issue that this is a historic property and while we have full leeway, there is a local expectation that we try to restore or maintain the original look wherever possible. So after looking at several online and thinking I had narrowed it down to the largest one I could find, I went to a local fireplace dealer today to talk about quotes.
While there he showed me a Renaissance Rumford 1500 fireplace with a pull down door. I was immediately in love with the opening size of this fireplace, but after arriving home I read the specs and they mention that the fireplace is considered only decorative... what?? For $15,000.00? What does that even mean?
So here is the crux of the matter for me. I would love to have this fireplace, but I need it to get this large room warm and toasty when it's burning. It doesn't matter to me how much wood we go through, and it doesn't need to "heat" the whole house by itself. In fact where I am in Canada we get -40 degrees sometimes so we would have other heating in the cottage unless we went with a pellet stove and ducting I am told.
However I do want to know if this fireplace will throw off enough heat to make the room feel toasty like we are sitting in a ski lodge, because thats my goal, and I don't want to make a huge error in buying this if it's going to be impossible to get warm with it.
So any feedback you can give is appreciated, and if there is a different big size wood burning fireplace I can get up here in Canada I would be glad to hear of it. Thank you!
I have attached several photos including:
-The room I am putting the fireplace in which has 20 ft ceilings.
-The original fireplace and tear down just for interest. We were surprised by two things:
#1 The extra fireplace inside the fireplace that was revealed.
#2 The fact that the fireplace was only one brick thick at the back and the back wall had been burned through the cracked mortar. Evidence of why you should not just fire up a 100 year old fireplace.
-I also included two photos of fireplaces that represent the approximate aesthetic "Lodge" look I want for this room. I have no idea if these are wood fireplaces in the photos, I just like the look.
The lake-house originally had a rather ugly brick fireplace that had been painted a rust color in gloss paint making it even uglier, but we did make a valiant attempt to save it, getting quotes for a insert which would have reduced the size of the woodbox to almost nothing. In the end we took the fireplace out this summer after finding out it was pulling the cottage down and sinking into the mire due to its weight. It was tipped forward by several inches at that point and we were keeping the kids out of the room. We also added new joists to strengthen the floor when removing it.
The issue I am having with looking for a fireplace is the scale of this room. 18'x18' by 20' high. The "efficient" woodbox style fireplaces with the two glass doors that open seem fairly small visually for the scale and height of this room. I also have the issue that this is a historic property and while we have full leeway, there is a local expectation that we try to restore or maintain the original look wherever possible. So after looking at several online and thinking I had narrowed it down to the largest one I could find, I went to a local fireplace dealer today to talk about quotes.
While there he showed me a Renaissance Rumford 1500 fireplace with a pull down door. I was immediately in love with the opening size of this fireplace, but after arriving home I read the specs and they mention that the fireplace is considered only decorative... what?? For $15,000.00? What does that even mean?
So here is the crux of the matter for me. I would love to have this fireplace, but I need it to get this large room warm and toasty when it's burning. It doesn't matter to me how much wood we go through, and it doesn't need to "heat" the whole house by itself. In fact where I am in Canada we get -40 degrees sometimes so we would have other heating in the cottage unless we went with a pellet stove and ducting I am told.
However I do want to know if this fireplace will throw off enough heat to make the room feel toasty like we are sitting in a ski lodge, because thats my goal, and I don't want to make a huge error in buying this if it's going to be impossible to get warm with it.
So any feedback you can give is appreciated, and if there is a different big size wood burning fireplace I can get up here in Canada I would be glad to hear of it. Thank you!
I have attached several photos including:
-The room I am putting the fireplace in which has 20 ft ceilings.
-The original fireplace and tear down just for interest. We were surprised by two things:
#1 The extra fireplace inside the fireplace that was revealed.
#2 The fact that the fireplace was only one brick thick at the back and the back wall had been burned through the cracked mortar. Evidence of why you should not just fire up a 100 year old fireplace.
-I also included two photos of fireplaces that represent the approximate aesthetic "Lodge" look I want for this room. I have no idea if these are wood fireplaces in the photos, I just like the look.
